XPost: alt.fan.furry, rec.arts.anime.misc   
   From: miles@gnu.org   
      
   Inu-Yasha  writes:   
   > It appears that Korean slave labor used by the Japanese who perished   
   > in the attacks were numbered a about 20,000, quite a number of people   
   > lost.   
      
   Yeah, a significant number of those killed in the Hiroshima bombing were   
   Korean, like 15% I think (there's a memorial in the "peace memorial   
   park" dedicated to them, which I found very moving for some reason).   
      
   > While the dropping of the bombs caused considerable loss of life, it   
   > seems from all that I have read that the loss of life if an invasion   
   > had to be done would have been magnitudes greater.  Hind sight almost   
   > always allows better finger pointing of blame that that data available   
   > at the time of the decision.  There are many factors involved at the   
   > time which have changed over the years, including racial   
   > tolerance/intolerance, approval/disapproval of internment or   
   > imprisonment of both military and civilians in the war, as well as the   
   > actual and not so actual brutalities done in the name of both sides of   
   > the conflict.   
      
   Well said.   
      
   For all that people argue, much of it is based on conjecture, as well as   
   information that may not have been known at the time the decision was   
   made.  We'll really never know what would have happened if we didn't   
   drop one or both of the bombs -- and we can't undo it.  What we _can_ do   
   is work to reduce the danger of it happening again.   
      
   [One argument I've found particularly disturbing is the suggestion that   
   a significant factor behind the decision was "to send a message" to the   
   Soviet Union... now _that's_ scary...!]   
      
   -Miles   
      
   --   
   We live, as we dream -- alone....   
   n   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)