I am sure that everyone out there in Blogworld knows that 6 August was the 60th Anniversary of the first use of atomic weapons. The first fell on Hiroshima in Honshu Japan followed three days later by the second on Nagasaki in Kyushu Japan. This marked the beginning of the atomic age and the beginning of nightmares for generations of people, myself included.
When I was a kid I had nightmares all the time about nuclear war. This wasn't helped by the movies and books that came out showing how terrible it was. When the Wind Blows is one of the best... I travelled to Hiroshima in 1987 and saw the museum and the surrounding peace park for myself. It reconfirmed what I believed about nuclear weapons and the true horrors of war. People in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still suffering today from the effects of the radiation. It was a tragic waste of innocent life.
I have read the arguments about why the bombs had to be dropped and how in the end many millions of lives were saved, but for me it gets back to the suffering of these people. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not major military targets. The bombs were merely dropped for maximum effect to show the Japanese that the US had the power to destroy all of Japan. While in the context of war, this may make sense, it has been said that the real reason for the bombs was to show Stalin the power of the US and in doing so the scene was set for the arms race and proxy super power wars of Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
There are many things that Japan still has to answer for regarding the first half of last century, but the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki paid a much greater price.
To me these people's deaths were a great tragedy and a reminder of how awful man kind can be. This was no way to die...
Destroy all Nuclear Weapons Now!
San Nakji for President!
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