[Buddha-l] Re: Greetings from Oviedo

[L.S. Cousins]

Dan,

This goes too far.

>Hence equating Hiroshima with Bali can only be done at the expense of
>ignoring context. On the simplest level, one act ended a war, the other
>intensifies one; on an even simpler level, one ultimately saved many lives
>(including Japanese lives -- anyone familiar with the Japanese ethos of the
>time knows that the govt. was ready to sacrifice every civilian in the
>country to save the Emperor, and it armed housewives with brooms and white
>smocks so that they would attack any invasion on the beaches, something they
>were already doing with horrible losses not only to allied soldiers but the
>native civilian population which in fact voluntarily became combatants; not
>to mention the those under Japanese occupation in South-East Asia and the
>Pacific islands who by that point in the war had not only been raped and
>plundered and had no food, but were being eaten by the occupying Japanese
>troops who themselves had no food and nothing further to plunder but the
>very flesh of the people they were occupying). Hiroshima, moreover, was not
>an "innocent" city, but a target with major miliitary strategic importance.

The Japanese government had already offered to surrender. The reason 
for bombing Hiroshima was surely both an encouragement and a warning 
to Stalin. An encouragement - because immediately after Hiroshima (of 
which Stalin had some prior knowledge) the Soviet Union declared war 
on Japan. A warning - not to push too hard in Europe.

Lance Cousins