RE: The Nuking of Japan
September 11, 2012 at 9:11 pm
(This post was last modified: September 11, 2012 at 9:19 pm by Anomalocaris.)
You miss the impact of the fog of war. In war nothing is as clear as they appear 60 years later. When things are unclear, and you have an abundance of brute strength deployable at little cost, you don't wonder what "Just enough" is. You deploy it. This is especially true since unlike a rag tag band of guerillas in Afghanistan, Japan was a industrialized nation with not insignificant scientific and technical prowess. You really can't be quite sure exactly what rabbit they might just pull out of their hats that you didn't see. Maybe they are working on their own fucking bomb. (Which they were, BTW)
Also, at the end of WWII in Europe, there were German U-Boat with consignment of yellow cake (The precursor material to bomb grade Uranium) on-route to Japan. These U-boats surrendered as per orders of German naval high command. But the fact that Germans were shipping bomb precursors to Japan must have have raise some serious alarm in Washington and prompted some desire to bomb them before they get a bomb and bomb us.
Also, at the end of WWII in Europe, there were German U-Boat with consignment of yellow cake (The precursor material to bomb grade Uranium) on-route to Japan. These U-boats surrendered as per orders of German naval high command. But the fact that Germans were shipping bomb precursors to Japan must have have raise some serious alarm in Washington and prompted some desire to bomb them before they get a bomb and bomb us.
