Thursday, August 06, 2020
Grim Remembrance
It has been 75 years since Hiroshima was obliterated by a single atomic bomb. In spite of the COVID-19 threat, city authorities held ceremonies to remember. The use of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a permanent stain on America's reputation. In defense of President Truman, he did not understand the power or after-effects of fission. He probably did not know what it was. What he did grasp was the enormity of the predicted casualties if the US invaded Japan. He didn't want that. America was tired of war on fronts around the globe. So he gave the go-ahead to drop them. We know now in retrospect how tragic that decision was. Today nuclear weapons are deterrents -- threats but not to be used except in the worst of circumstances. Armageddon. We don't need the stockpile of nukes we have. It can destroy a country and its people several times over. But we face nuclear proliferation among nations that are less restricted than the US. We can't get rid of this scourge. We're stuck with it.
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