I’m still trying to understand how fdr-civilian bombings/internment camps makes him immune from Stewart’s outrage, while he finds bush’s action criminal. FDR was free to act as a head of state, while bush is made out to be a frat boy.

In a vacuum, I’d rather have bush’s crimes/victories on my record than fdr’s.

2. During 1945, The US Navy argued from a complete embargo of the Japanese Home Islands, which most conservative estimates show would have resulted in the deaths of millions of Japanese civilians due to famine and pestilence caused by the widespread destruction that would result from the embargo. It was rejected for two reasons, most importantly it would not end the war and it was considered inhumane to simply leave the Japanese in that condition.

3. Conventional bombing of Japan during 1945 was so severe that 10 cities had to be removed from targeting so as to preserve them for the demonstration of the Atomic bomb, if it became available. Please note that I said “Cities” not factories, or facilities. We bombed cities and their inhabitants in all theatres of the war. Civilians working in war plants in support of the war effort were the primary target for most bombing efforts. In essence, but the time the atomic bombs were dropped in August, we had nearly run out of targets ( that would be cities, filled with civilians) to bomb. Curtis Lemay would one day be known for the phrase “Bomb them back to the stone age” but it should be remembered that it wasnt an idle boast, he had demonstrated that exact process on the people of japan. At the end of the war,not one city had been spared the full effects of the war.

4. It should be noted that conventional bombing continued after the dropping of the Atomic bombing on Hiroshima. Our preferred method was the use of incendiary bombs.

5. Japanese atomic experts visited Hiroshima shortly after the bombing and correctly determined both the yield of the weapon and the type of explosive used – it was a Uranium bomb. Because they had also correctly determined that uranium bombs would be difficult to build ‘en masse’, they incorrectly determined that there couldn’t be more bombs in our inventory. The analysis done on the Nagasaki site proved that not only did we have more bombs, but that we had solved the problems with the creation of plutonium. Japanese atomic scientists correctly determined that our supply of atomic bombs was far larger than they could ever hope to defend against and gave that information to the Emperor. In truth, we had only 7 more bombs but it should be noted that we were more than prepared to use them to bring and end to the war and specifically bring and end that would ensure that there would never be another war with Japan. It should be noted that both a third and fourth atomic bombing mission was scheduled for the following week, but was canceled due to the forthcoming unconditional surrender of Japan. A surrender that was met in the halls of power in Tokyo with an attempted coup against the emperor. As late as the last week of August, it was still far from a forgone conclusion that the Imperial Army would actually lay down its arms and stop fighting.

6. Check the photos of the surrender ceremony on the deck of the USS Missouri, you will see US Naval officers wearing shoulder harnesses for .45 caliber pistols. At the time, many US officers were convinced that the Japanese would attempt an attack during the ceremony. Whenever you think of the end of the war, remember that the peace we live with today was far from guaranteed at the time the treaty was signed.

Wherever you wonder about the justification of the atomic bombing of hiroshima and Nagasaki against that of all the other bombings, ask yourself if your misgivings are due to the yield of the weapon or the method of death. Since 1939, civilian deaths were part and parcel for the practice of that war, as such, the Second World War was the first war of terror. Guernica, Coventry, London, Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, Stalingrad, Leningrad, Nanking, Tokyo all experienced destruction of civilians on a massive scale.

Mr. Stewart and the rest of this generations ‘lotus eaters’ should consider that in the context of the time, the use of bomb was considered by all to be a humane solution to ending the war. Argue about it all you want, the dropping of the bomb ended the war with the least loss of life on both sides. The bomb guaranteed that another war by the Japanese would be considered impossible and the result of that action is that over the generations Japan has become a pacifist nation. The true cost of war was brought home to the civilians who benefited from it.

This was a war that killed 52 million people world wide. We have nothing in our time to compare it to. A war that was started in the 1930′s by tyrants intent on the enslavement of all mankind and it was also started by well meaning and learned men who believed that the tyrants could be reasoned with and war could be avoided in favor of ‘ink on paper’. The crime of World War II, isn’t in how it was finally ended, but how it was started and by whom it was abetted.

What I am most appalled with in with this generation isnt just their lack of understanding as to the nature of the horrors of that war, but that in their ignorance to understand it, they virtually guarantee that we will all be forced to face that nightmare again.

I’m not extolling a position here, but what does one do when one’s enemy puts its war support facilities amidst the civilian population? This problem is hardly new in Gaza with Hamas and Israel, as Allied planners faced that exact problem in Germany 65 years ago.

Does a nation have a right to expect immunity in its war production if it builds its factories amidst civilians? Does a nation have the right to attempt to destroy another nation’s war facilities where-ever they may be found, taking the best precautions practicable to avoid/limit innocent loss of life? (And this doe not even address the question is the civilian worker making the bullets that will be shot at your child truly innocent?)

The Germans may have had larger facilities, but the Allies had only 1940-ish tech with which to attack them. The US made the effort within the limits of the tech of the day to target German war supporting factories, like ball bearings, aircraft plants, etc. (Dresden was an exception, in my view, and it has always troubled me.)

(The British did less in that respect, as they bombed mostly at night and the tech for that forced them to target whole cities. OTOH, the Germans had done the same thing to them first.)

Then he is rather dishonest.

“Allied air strikes flattened many German towns and cities. Was that a war crime?”

Well, strictly speaking, yes.

How is that any different than destroying entire cities with conventional munitions? Tokyo was no less destroyed than Hiroshima or Nagasaki when America burned it to the ground over five days of near constant air bombardment with incendiaries. Allied air strikes flattened many German towns and cities. Was that a war crime?