Dropping the Atomic Bombs on Japan was a Necessary Evil

First I would like to point out that Con did not provide any documentation when mentioning the Japanese sue for peace. Second, I would like to point out that no dates were given for each of the provided quotes. Depending on the date of the quotes they could have been made to save face in the wake of the fallout (no pun intended) from the dropping of the nuclear bombs. My rebuttal is thus: The surrender of Japan was not as simple as people think.While the Emperor made some hesitant attempts to enter peace talks with some allied nations he was overwhelmingly opposed by generals and military representatives in his cabinet. The Army and Navy were not ready to surrender and would have rather died than give up. There were even rumors about the Emperor's assassination. It was a complicated political dance within the Japanese government. It was true that the Emperor was thinking about entering peace discussions many of his supporters, advisers and other powerful figures were not ready to give up and made that clear. While the Japanese may have (still undocumented by Con) sued for peace, it was not taken seriously by the US and her allies because of the staunch militarism in the cabinet and military. When answering the Potsdam Declaration the Japanese used the word "ignore" in conjunction with Western efforts to enter peace talks and then made no response to the Potsdam Declaration. From the point of view of President Truman the Japanese were conflicted but still ready to fight. [http://worldwar2database.com...] The army issued this broadcast in response to the Potsdam Declaration: "We shall fight on to the bitter end, ever firm in our faith that we shall find life in death . . . and surge forward to destroy the arrogant enemy." [http://www.ww2pacific.com...] This broadcast coupled with the indecisive silence by the Japanese government led the president to make the choice that he did.So we can see from this evidence that Japan was clearly not "ready to surrender" as Con says. The second bomb was dropped because the Japanese still were not unified and adamant on surrender after the first bomb was dropped. "The cabinet meeting over the night of 9-10 August was deadlocked with six in favor of surrender under certain conditions, three to fight on until after the final battle had shown Japan's will, and with five neutral members." [http://www.ww2pacific.com...] The Japanese said that there was not enough uranium in the world for a repeat performance and continued to argue about peace. Also "The Emperor had no direct authority other than the loyalty of those who would listen to him." This left the possibility of militant holdouts or direct disobedience by the Japaneses military. They still were not ready to surrender, so in the interest of time and thinking about the future and the people Truman ordered the second bomb dropped in order to ensure a complete victory. Combating quotes with quotes: These quotes show Japanese militarism and force of will that caused the United States to act in the way it did. Japan was not "ready to surrender". * "The intercepts of Japanese Imperial Army and Navy messages disclosed without exception that Japan's armed forces were determined to fight a final Armageddon battle in the homeland against an Allied invasion. The Japanese called this strategy Ketsu Go (Operation Decisive). It was founded on the premise that American morale was brittle and could be shattered by heavy losses in the initial invasion. American politicians would then gladly negotiate an end to the war far more generous than unconditional surrender." [http://www.weeklystandard.com...] *".... also hoped that if they could hold out until the ground invasion of Japan began, they would be able to inflict so many casualties on the Allies that Japan still might win some sort of negotiated settlement." [http://www.cfo.doe.gov...] *"Another myth that has attained wide attention is that at least several of Truman's top military advisers later informed him that using atomic bombs against Japan would be militarily unnecessary or immoral, or both. There is no persuasive evidence that any of them did so. None of the Joint Chiefs ever made such a claim, although one inventive author has tried to make it appear that Leahy did by braiding together several unrelated passages from the admiral's memoirs. Actually, two days after Hiroshima, Truman told aides that Leahy had 'said up to the last that it wouldn't go off.' Neither MacArthur nor Nimitz ever communicated to Truman any change of mind about the need for invasion or expressed reservations about using the bombs. When first informed about their imminent use only days before Hiroshima, MacArthur responded with a lecture on the future of atomic warfare and even after Hiroshima strongly recommended that the invasion go forward. Nimitz, from whose jurisdiction the atomic strikes would be launched, was notified in early 1945. 'This sounds fine,' he told the courier, 'but this is only February. Can't we get one sooner?'" -excerpt from Robert Maddox [http://www3.niu.edu...] *From that last quote I want to point out that it says that Nimitz never communicated to Truman their thoughts about the wrongness or need for dropping the bomb meaning that the quote provided by Con was a hindsight or after the fact quote in order to make some sort of political statement. These quotes clearly contradict those given by Con, which from their context and tone seem to have been said after the fact, and didn't comply with their original thinking. In conclusion: From this evidence you can see that the surrender of Japan was complicated and confusing for those involved. The Japanese were not ready to surrender and in fact many had no intentions of doing so. Truman had a decision to make regarding the Japanese and he made it. From the information given to the United States by Japan, the mood, the quotes and the actions by the government led the Japanese to give off the impression that they were going to fight, made it necessary for the United States to drop the bombs for the reasons I provided earlier. The Japanese did not seriously sue for peace, nor did they want to surrender after the first atomic bomb was dropped. The Japanese could have dickered for an unknown amount of time, prompted an American invasion leading to a prolonged conflict. Holdouts, military coup, assassination and disobedience of orders were all probable if the Emperor did seriously approach peace and if the US hadn't delivered a clear crushing blow to end the war.The dropping of the atomic bombs was necessary to a US victory and a clear unified Japanese defeat. ***I look forward to Cons rebuttal of these obvious quotes and facts.