OT - I think Obama handled the Hiroshima visit very well.
- Thread starter Patagonia
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It is not as bad as some make it to be, but Japan still blames the US for dropping the bombs and accepts no responsibility. They also still deny what they did to China.
I don't care that he went, and I think he said the right things. However we should never apologize and Japan needs to finally accept what they did.
I don't care that he went, and I think he said the right things. However we should never apologize and Japan needs to finally accept what they did.
I expect a civil and thought provoking discussion in this thread.
How bad would it have been if we had been forced to carpet bomb the entire island and then invade? We should never apologize for using the bomb in that situation. It was a terrible thing no doubt. But they provoked it and they forced our hand. I mean we are talking about a people that would fight to the last man to defend some tiny island in Tha pacific. How much bloodshed would it have taken to end that war with an invasion?
I watched a documentary years ago about the remaining survivors of Hiroshima - who were children at the time - most of whom had severe burns & deformities to this day, lost their entire families (one saw her mother disintegrate), were homeless & roaming the streets, etc.
Thing is, they blamed Japan more than the US. Said it was their government that started the war and that it was the US that set up the hospitals & aide stations that saved their lives. Very interesting documentary. It was even a PBS production.
Thing is, they blamed Japan more than the US. Said it was their government that started the war and that it was the US that set up the hospitals & aide stations that saved their lives. Very interesting documentary. It was even a PBS production.
The best evidence for why we should never have to apologize for using the bomb is that we had to drop two before their leader surrendered.
That's why I think he did well. He DID NOT apologize. Just the right amount of PR stuff that was reasonable. He did not apologize and held ground.
In all fairness, Reagan was big buddies with the former emperor who failed to surrender. I still remember Reagan going to Japan and everybody just kissing each other's butts. I know Reagan did not apologize but I thought it very strange he was big buddies with the young punk who gave the OK to bomb Pearl Harbor and then some.
I have no problem with Obama going over there and having a civil discussion with them. But if he or any other American tries to say America was wrong or should not have used the bomb, then I will have an issue with that. And I have no idea what he is or isn't saying over there. I haven't been keeping up with it.
Do you even watch Glen Beck bro?
Seems he was the first sitting President to that. Not a fan of Obama by any stretch of the imagination, but he did a good job with his speech. I think the initial uproar was that his speech was going to be an apology, when it did not happen, really became a non-issue. Only the media seems to be blowing the initial uproar out of proportion.
He is...but he is a bit off:
http://nypost.com/2016/05/26/obamas-shameful-apology-tour-lands-in-hiroshima/
people who hate Obama will find fault in anything he does. When Obama announced the killing of Bin Laden, I saw so many people on social media freaking out that he took all the credit and never thanked the military. I went back and watched it again and counted about 5 times he praised the military. People hear what they want to hear. (or they watch Fox News which has been proven to be truthful only about 40% if the time)
Obama should never have to apologize, Here's why! This is a letter from Harry Truman.
" I have been rather careful not to comment on the articles that have been written on the dropping of the bomb for the simple reason that the dropping of the bomb was completely and thoroughly explained in my Memoirs, and it was done to save 125,000 youngsters on the American side and 125,000 on the Japanese side from getting killed and that is what it did. It probably also saved a half million youngsters on both sides from being maimed for life.
You must always remember that people forget, as you said in your column, that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was done while we were at peace with Japan and trying our best to negotiate a treaty with them.
All you have to do is to go out and stand on the keel of the Battleship in Pearl Harbor with the 3,000 youngsters underneath it who had no chance whatever of saving their lives. That is true of two or three other battleships that were sunk in Pearl Harbor. Altogether, there were between 3,000 and 6,000 youngsters killed at that time without any declaration of war. It was plain murder.
I knew what I was doing when I stopped the war that would have killed a half a million youngsters on both sides if those bombs had not been dropped. I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again -- and this letter is not confidential.
Sincerely yours,
Harry S. Truman"
" I have been rather careful not to comment on the articles that have been written on the dropping of the bomb for the simple reason that the dropping of the bomb was completely and thoroughly explained in my Memoirs, and it was done to save 125,000 youngsters on the American side and 125,000 on the Japanese side from getting killed and that is what it did. It probably also saved a half million youngsters on both sides from being maimed for life.
You must always remember that people forget, as you said in your column, that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was done while we were at peace with Japan and trying our best to negotiate a treaty with them.
All you have to do is to go out and stand on the keel of the Battleship in Pearl Harbor with the 3,000 youngsters underneath it who had no chance whatever of saving their lives. That is true of two or three other battleships that were sunk in Pearl Harbor. Altogether, there were between 3,000 and 6,000 youngsters killed at that time without any declaration of war. It was plain murder.
I knew what I was doing when I stopped the war that would have killed a half a million youngsters on both sides if those bombs had not been dropped. I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again -- and this letter is not confidential.
Sincerely yours,
Harry S. Truman"
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Obama could cure AIDS and a segment of the population would complain.
do we think that all these people think obama apologized?
he said he wasnt going to before the trip. and then didnt apologize on the trip. this is why im confused.
he said he wasnt going to before the trip. and then didnt apologize on the trip. this is why im confused.
it was no different with GW or Clinton.
Lots of people ITT mentioning apology and I can't figure out why. The President went to great lengths to stress to the public and to the Japanese government that this was not an apology well before his visit. If you thought he was going to apologize then you simply hadn't paid attention to the news about it.
Moreover, the Japanese made it clear they weren't looking for an apology and were simply happy that a sitting President even acknowledged Hiroshima.
From an American perspective, this is just a typical "hey this is part of our history and we hope it never happens again" but for the Japanese people this was a pretty big deal.
Liberals seem all too willing to just up and forget how critical they were of Bush, especially in his second term. And the truth is he and Obama have had a lot of similar policies.
Still it has felt that the animosity towards Obama has been a lot more vitriolic.
Since we are talking about bombs, Weston Wilso
I never said he apologized. I have no idea what he said because I haven't followed it. I said neither he or anyone else ever should feel the need to apologize.
Personally I don't have a problem with him going to Hiroshima, but it will be interesting to see if he attends the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor this December. My bet is no.
This is my understanding. I'm a huge WWII enthusiast, though, more regarding the European campaign. I was unaware of any blame or hostility that Japan had toward America recently. Any frustration with us from WWII is absurd IMO. They got what they deserved.
It's unfortunate that innocent people, especially children, experienced a horrific time/event in history, but it was unfortunately something that had to be done. Japan had more than enough opportunities to prevent the atomic bomb attacks. Most that know the history of Japan and WWII in most of the 1930's through 1945, would agree.
I think the uproar is about this part of his speech:
“Seventy-one years ago on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. “A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.”
“Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil,” the president said. “We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in the not so distant past. We come to mourn the dead.”
“Seventy-one years ago on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. “A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.”
“Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil,” the president said. “We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in the not so distant past. We come to mourn the dead.”
Maybe because he decided to go over there and do this on the eve of Memorial Day Weekend when we honor our fallen here at home, including hundreds of thousands that fell to the Japanese?
It's amazing how you can change those keywords, and the validity of the statement doesn't change at all.
I wasn't a W fan. Thought he was closer to a damned Lib than the Right. Having said that, the sheer hate and venom Libs spewed for W makes what Obama has faced look like a grandfather's dressing down the grandchildren. He has been given a pass by the media no matter what he's done. If
I agree. Regardless of how you feel about Bush, he was treated extremely unfair. Obama has been treated better than any president since probably JFK.
And I also agree, Bush was no conservative. The only conservative in the white house over the last 100 years was Reagan.
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