Penetrator -> Re: No atomic bomb et al (7/2/2002 9:07:31 PM)
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by rlc27 [B]What if...the US had never developed the atomic bomb (and neither did anyone else--put that in your egg roll :p ) . What would have been the result of operation Olympic? Would we have really seen middle-aged Japanese women attacking invading GI's with wooden spears on the beach? What kinds of casualties would we have seen? Would there have been more mass suicides like we saw in Okinawa? [/B][/QUOTE] Well, I have been through this issue over and over, and it is very difficult to discuss it in a rational manner with americans. In the absence of certainties (as in any other "what if" situation), perhaps Occam's razor is the best tool: The most likely explanation is the correct one. The official explanation (we all know what it is) simply does not hold water. For starters, if the objective was to save lives, why the rush? Why not wait the japs out a little longer, at least until after the soviet invasion of Manchuria. This was expected to have a dramatic impact in the japanese leadership, and it did. Secondly, the top leaders of the US armed forces were convinced that japan would surrender soon without a resort to atomic bombing. Especially MacArthur, whose men would have borne the brunt of any invasion was dead set against it, and said so publicly and privately. For these reasons, and others I won't go into, the official explanation is not plausible. It does not make sense and therefore must be considered false if a better one is presented. There is one that is more likely: The Bomb was used in the context of US/Soviet friction, which started for real in the summer of 1945. a) to demonstrate the new weapon to the soviets; and more importantly, b) to bring about a speedy japanese surrender so that potential territorial gains by the soviets on the asian mainland could be countered. So bring it on, anyone who would say such a thing must hate America, revisionist bullcrap, somebody who goes out to make a point like this can't be trusted, yaddayadda. I have heard it all before, and I don't give a rat's hindquarters.
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