Hiroshima Was/Was not justified.

Here are my contentions that the atomic bombings were not justified 1.They were war crimes (1,2,3,4) The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a criminal act on an epic scale. It was premeditated mass murder that unleashed a weapon of intrinsic criminality. For this reason its apologists have sought refuge in the mythology of the ultimate "good war", whose "ethical bath", as Richard Drayton called it, has allowed the west not only to expiate its bloody imperial past but to promote 60 years of rapacious war, always beneath the shadow of The Bomb. The most enduring lie is that the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war in the Pacific and save lives. "Even without the atomic bombing attacks," concluded the United States Strategic Bombing Survey of 1946, "air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion. Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that ... Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated." The National Archives in Washington contain US government documents that chart Japanese peace overtures as early as 1943. None was pursued. A cable sent on May 5, 1945 by the German ambassador in Tokyo and intercepted by the US dispels any doubt that the Japanese were desperate to sue for peace, including "capitulation even if the terms were hard". Instead, the US secretary of war, Henry Stimson, told President Truman he was "fearful" that the US air force would have Japan so "bombed out" that the new weapon would not be able "to show its strength". He later admitted that "no effort was made, and none was seriously considered, to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the bomb". His foreign policy colleagues were eager "to browbeat the Russians with the bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip". General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project that made the bomb, testified: "There was never any illusion on my part that Russia was our enemy, and that the project was conducted on that basis." The day after Hiroshima was obliterated, President Truman voiced his satisfaction with the "overwhelming success" of "the experiment". In fact, the court case of Ryuichi Shimoda v The State even decided that the US had violated international law by using the Atomic Bombs. Considering that the same international laws brought members of the Nazi SS to justice, saying the Atomic bombs were justified is like saying the Holocaust was justified. 2.The Japanese had already asked to surrender(5,6) By the end of January 1945, the Japanese were suggesting peace terms, but the US would only accept an Unconditional surrender. "Unconditional Surrender to the Empire of Japan meant that the US could force its brand of Victor's Justice on the Imperial Military (they feared a Treaty of Versailles style of disarmament), depose the Showa Emperor, and force the Empire of Japan to be exploited by the US". 3.The US did not have the moral high ground because of pearl harbor (7) Japan had to attack pearl harbor in order to keep a steady/stable oil supply. Pearl Harbor's death knell was sounded on July 26, 1941. This is the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt cut off the Japanese empire from American oil in response to Tokyo's aggression on the Asian mainland. This left the Imperial Navy with just 18 months supply of fuel. The Combined Fleet was the Sword of Empire. And like the Royal Navy was for Britain, the Imperial Navy was Tokyo's military trump card in any face-off with the United States. Despite being a major target, Pearl Harbor was not the primary objective. Burma, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) were. Because this is where the oil was. This is particularly true with the latter. In 1941, the Dutch East Indies was the world's fourth largest producer of crude. In addition, the Dutch colony was the world's largest reservoir of pepper and quinine and contained more than 30 percent of the earth's rubber. Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's six carriers crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet so the United States could not interfere with Japan's aggrandizement of the resource-rich Southeast Asia. 4.The Atomic Bombs were a show of force to the Soviet Union With the end of the war nearing, the Soviets were an important strategic consideration, especially with their military control over most of Eastern Europe. As Yale Professor Gaddis Smith has noted, "It has been demonstrated that the decision to bomb Japan was centrally connected to Truman's confrontational approach to the Soviet Union." However, this idea is thought to be more appropriately understood as an ancillary benefit of dropping the bomb and not so much its sole purpose. So I have shown that the atomic bombs were war crimes, unnecessary, defiant of Japanese plea"s for surrender, and a simple show of force towards the soviet union. I have proven that their use was not justified. Sources: 1.http://www.guardian.co.uk... 2.http://en.wikipedia.org... 3.http://en.wikipedia.org... 4.http://members.peak.org... 5.http://killinghope.org... 6.http://en.wikipedia.org... 7.http://www.thehour.com...