Today is the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the United States. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The United States is the only nation to have used a nuclear weapon on civilian populations.
There is nothing unique about nuclear weapons. Tokyo had been all but destroyed by conventional firebombs before the U.S. used a more-dramatic single nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. The U.S. gets no credit for not using a nuclear bomb on Tokyo.
The U.S. more recently killed a greater number of civilians by blockading needed supplies to children and other civilians in Iraq. On 60 Minutes in May 1996, Leslie Stahl asked Clinton’s UN Ambassador, Madeline Albright, point blank: “We have heard that a half million children have died [from the sanctions]. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And — and you know, is the price worth it?”
Albright replied, “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it."
Most Americans agree with Albright, who later became Clinton's Secretary of State. The Clinton-Bush-Obama regime has the support of a majority of Americans, and polls show continued support for the bombing of civilians in Hiroshima, just as we saw yesterday American support for torture.
Given the fact that the U.S. has mastered the art of democide (murder of entire civilian populations) without using nuclear weapons, unilateral nuclear disarmament would at least be a symbolic gesture.
But it would only be symbolic, and even that won't happen without national repentance.
Whitewashing Hiroshima: The Uncritical Glorification of American Militarism
Hiroshima marks nuclear anniversary Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific
AUGUST 6,1945 / THE DAY OF INFAMY EXPOSED
A new reality on nuclear weapons -- chicagotribune.com
Previous posts on this blog:
Hiroshima / Nagasaki 2006
Hiroshima - Gulf of Tonkin 2007
Ban Nuclear Weapons 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment