Resolved: The Atomic Bombings of Japan were justified.

Alright. I will now begin my rebuttles, I will attempt to group some of my arguments that conflict with my opponent's Contentions. Contention 1: Unnecissary. My opponent uses the argument of the Soviet intervention in the war lead to their surrender, but I bring up the Japanese Cabinent meeting. The second cabinent meeting was on August 8th, one day after the Soviet declaration of war. The cabinet was in an absolute deadlock through the meeting and it wasn't until the second atomic bombing and the emporer's intervention to come to an argeement on surrender. The Japanese Law stated that there must be a 100% agreeance for surrender. Even after Soviet intervention the Japanese didn't agree to it. Nor did they on August 7th. As for his statement on the Prime Minister that was only one man, I am not saying that all Japanese were against surrender. He was only 1 out of three cabinent members who voted for the Japanese surrender. Hiroshima After the Potsdam Declaration Japan was preparing for the Invasion of Japan. In Hiroshima was the Headquarters of Field Marshal Hata, head of the 2nd General Army of Japan which housed over 400,000 troops along with the 59th Army, 5th Division, 224th Division, and the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division. At the time of the bombing there was a total of 340,000 civilians in the city along with the troops stationed there. (Goldstein, Donald; Dillon, Katherine V; Wenger, J Michael (1995). Rain of Ruin: a Photographic History of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's. ISBN 1-57488-033-0. OCLC 31969557) Hiroshima was also a logistics and supply base for the military. After the bombing the Japanese were not considering any type of surrender until the Russians entered the war, but the Minister of War Anami prepared to impose Martial Law over the Empire of Japan in order to prevent anyone from even attempting to surrender. (Goldstein, Donald; Dillon, Katherine V; Wenger, J Michael (1995). Rain of Ruin: a Photographic History of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's page 288-289). Nagasaki In Nagasaki there was approximately 10,000 soldiers in Nagasaki and the city was the largest seaport in southern Japan. This was because of the 90% of the population there, population of 263,000, was in war producing industries of ship building and munitions. The original target was cloud covered so the second target at Nagasaki was aimed for and was bombed. (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...) A choice to attack Nagasaki would be the equivalence of Pittsburg or even Detroit being bombed for that reason in order to knock out the industry and when a nation no longer has the means to make war they must end the war or face total annihilation. Much like during the early days of the United States when the military was disbanded the US was wide open for an attack until President Adams re-established the Army. When a nation has no defense it can easily prime another nation to take it over and in World War 2 the US stripping the Japanese of their war making ability would mean that the millions of lives primed for Operation Downfall would be saved on both sides. Before the war the one nation that the public wanted war with was the Japanese based on their massacres and destruction that they had commenced, not Germany. People were unsure if the atomic bomb would actually work on Hiroshima which is one of the reason that the US didn't drop it into Tokyo Bay and watch the destruction, because the Trinity bomb had gone off with wires and hoases attatched all over. We had no idea if it would work and if we made the Japanese watch then the bomb doesn't work we can see that the Japanese would have had a major confidence boost. My opponent claims that dropping the atom bomb on a Japanese military island would have had the same affect if they were to have dropped the bomb on a civilian target, but this is false when it came to their military as they viewed their own military as expendable were they really valued pilots, but when I gave you the example in an earlier round of Saipan where the Japanese fought to the last man and their women and children on the island committed suicide even though the Marines attempted to save them. The Japanese pride would have had them continued fighting even though they were completely dominated and this was from the European Nations allowing them a form of appeasement that rivaled that of only Hitler. Contention 2: Immoral When faced in the invasion of Japan the Operation Downfall the world population would have been devastated as the Japanese were primed to fight for every person and were consistent. Towards the end of the War the Japanese were strapping their children with bombs and teaching them during recess to crawl under American tanks and blow themselves up. This Operation would have also had been a Conquest since Japan would be a lifeless void when this commenced. It was predicted that in the early stages of the war that 1,000 Americans and Japanese would die every hour. The USSR would have been likely to invade northern Japan due to their interests there. You could have easily seen Japan divided today much like Germany was or even Korea is now. This adds to the Cold War theory that I have brought up last round and a US-Russian War in Japan could have been easily seen as the frontline battle ground of Capitalism vs. Communism. Japan would also be armed with Poison Gas and Bacterial Warfare. The War would be fought with a US Civil War strategy known as the Prairie Dog War. Which is when land is fought for yard by yard and is focused at the underground tactics of the Japanese, not to mention that the Japanese had mobilized its civilian population. (http://today.duke.edu...) You see the Japanese had mobilized their civilians and were thus considered combatants due to their readiness for war. So truly the US killed not one civilian until after the birth defects of modern day Japanese civilians. We can also see that by dropping the bomb we saved more lives then we cost. Contention 3: Unnecissary First off, I would like to state that the US actually warned the Japanese of the atomic bombings before it happend as the USAF dropped over 65 million leaflets warning the peoples of Japan. (http://www.authentichistory.com...) “We seemed suddenly to have become possessed of a merciful abridgement of the slaughter in the Far East… To bring the war to an end, to avoid indefinite butchery, to give peace to the world, to lay a healing hand upon its people by a manifestation of overwhelming power at the cost of a few explosions, seemed, after all our toils and perils, a miracle of deliverance.” -Winston Churchill on the atomic bombing “…We have used it to shorten the agony of war, in order to save thousands and thousands of Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s capacity to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us.” - President Truman on using the bomb. “For Americans, it is the dollar that is the moving spirit. They cannot win.” -Italian Petty Officer in Japan before the dropping of the bomb. “Despite the best that has been done by everyone, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage… In order to avoid further bloodshed, perhaps even the total extermination of human civilization, we shall have to endure the unendurable, to suffer the insufferable.” - Emporer Hiroshito (http://schoolworkhelper.net...) We can see that the above quotes easily fit into this argument that the atomic bomb must have been dropped and with the quote by the Itialian Petty Office we can see that Japan wouldn't surrender, but it wasn't until afterwards that they were ready to accept the defeat and acknowledge that the War would bring nothing , but tradgedy. I'm afraid that I'm just about out of characters again so I'll pass it off to my opponent.