Anniversary of worlds largest Terrorist Attack

Tomorrow, August the 6th, 2006, will be the 61st anniversary of the worlds most deadly and destructive terrorist attack - the only time weapons of mass destruction have been used in anger in this planets history:

The bombing of Hiroshima

I would like to offer my respects to the 140,000 that died in that year from the first bomb alone, and my heart goes out to the ones that are still suffering though the after effects of that horrible weapon, including the thousands of hibakusha that have survived since that day.

In 4 days, there will most unfortunately be another anniversary, this one for the bombing of Nagasaki, where approximately 74,000 died.

I can only hope we will never have to add a third to that list, and thank God for the many around the world that are working to keep it that way.

[edit on 5/8/2006 by watch_the_rocks]

Good call WTR.

My respects going out to those people too.

CX.

But why do you call it a 'terrorist attack'? It saddens me too when I think of the death and suffering caused by the two bombs, but it was an act of war, not a terrorists attack IMO.

plz edit your thread title.This was no terrorist attack butan act of war.Imo it was alright for U.S to nuke japan to end WW2 quickly otherwise the war would have been dragged on for years and many more casualties more then the 2 nukings and terrorsits at that time were japanese kamakazis and not U.S military

Truth be told, I didn't really think about the thread title. After conducting a lot of research into this, I guess I just concluded that it could be called a terrorist attack.
But no, I am not going to edit the title now. If you disagree with it, then just ignore it and this thread. I did not intend to create a debate about this, but merely a place to show respects to the hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians that were annihilated in those attacks.

And I cannot help but notice the last two posters were too wrapped up in pointing out that it wasn't a terrorist attack to do this.:shk:

Originally posted by warthog911
plz edit your thread title.This was no terrorist attack butan act of war.Imo it was alright for U.S to nuke japan to end WW2 quickly otherwise the war would have been dragged on for years and many more casualties more then the 2 nukings and terrorsits at that time were japanese kamakazis and not U.S military

Logic in action there... Nuking was an act of war but Kamikaze's were terrorists? Oh dear...

Sometimes I wonder if Americans speak the same language as the rest of us...

Originally posted by stumason

Logic in action there... Nuking was an act of war but Kamikaze's were terrorists? Oh dear...

Sometimes I wonder if Americans speak the same language as the rest of us...

Well, at least I wasn't the only one to catch that. The beautiful double standard of my country residing in the hearts of some of her people.

The sadness brought that day turned the tide in the war, and destroyed the lives of many many innocent civilians. A day to remember them is more than appropriate, I think. Thank you for taking the moment to bring up a reminder of that day.

Russia delcared war on Japan and the fear was that communism would spread to Japan. America didn't want communists running around its back door.

Terrorist attack....PLEASE! While unfortunate, the bombings mentioned were not terrorists' attacks; they were a means to end WWII. It is well documented that by not dropping those bombs, as many as a million more people (including citizens) would have died as a result of an invasion. Lets not forget the 250K American soldiers who died in WWII defending your freedom. Oh yeah, lets also not forget we bailed out most of Europe as well. One other note: the U.S. did not start WWII, we were dragged into it by the Japanese (a small event called Pearl Harbor).

I am so tired of people taking stabs at the U.S. If you're a U.S. citizen and hate it so much, leave. If you don't live in the U.S., try keeping your mouth shut. Everyone wants to hate us, but they all want handouts at the same time.

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
I did not intend to create a debate about this, but merely a place to show respects to the hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians that were annihilated in those attacks.

It seems to me if that were truly the case then we'd be posting in a thread titled something along the lines of "Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Days for Remembrance"?

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
And I cannot help but notice the last two posters were too wrapped up in pointing out that it wasn't a terrorist attack to do this.:shk:

Actually, considering the choice of title here, I can certainly understand how/why it would draw their focus away from the intended discussion. Kind of like seeing a headline for "The Biggest Coke Bust in History" and then realizing that the actual story is about an overturned Coca-Cola delivery truck on I-10. Perhaps not the best of analogies, but I think you get my point.

Just my $.02 here, watch_the_rocks, but a title edit that more accurately reflects your intended topic of discussion would most likely inspire more focused responses from those posting. no?

Well, I don't buy that you didn't think about the title, or didn't want to debate this issue. lol (don't offend my senses )

BUT, with that said, if we have decided to describe terrorism as

Main Entry: ter·ror·ism
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m
Function: noun
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion

Then, yes, this was the world's largest terrorist attack. I absolutely agree. Both in effect (i.e. it was an indiscriminate act that killed uninvolved civilians as well as (actually more than) combatants) and in the intent (the intent was to instill terror in the Emperor to where he would surrender) - ie. the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.

Some people get all caught up in the "but it shortened the war and prevented even more deaths" argument to the point they can't call a spade a spade. It was an attack on civilian populations for the end result of coercing the Japanese government through terror - that's a terrorist attack.

[edit on 8-5-2006 by Valhall]

I think its fairly absurd that you would create such a controversial title and then act as though there was no thought behind it. Even more absurd is your complaint that some people are calling you out on it. Like a previous poster stated, if this thread was meant as a tribute or acknowledgement of those who lost their lives or suffered on, and since, those two August days in 1945, then the title of this thread should have read something along the lines of "Anniversary of A-bomb attacks: Tribute to lives lost and forever changed." Maybe that title was a little long, but you get my drift. Instead you chose an inflammatory and argumentative title on an already deeply divided, and sometimes hostile, message board.

I'm not going to spend much time debating the merits of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think it is well established that the majority of historians have concluded that these terribly unfortunate attacks actually prevented the loss of what could have been millions of more lives. It also prevented the spread of communism to Japan. We could very well be facing a North/South Korea-type situation in Japan today had the Soviets been given the time to invade. I could also bring up the fact that Hiroshima and Nagaski were both military towns, with military naval ports and that a large portion, if not majority, of the civilian population actually were aiding the Japanese war machine and military effort.

I could also site the actions of the Japanese during WWII which by most people's definitions committed countless acts of terrorism. Whether it was the Batan Death March, the horrific medical experiments at Chinese labor camps, the raping and pillaging of cities and villages throughout Manchuria, the attempted indiscriminate bombing of American cities and civilians via thousands of balloon-carried bombs. Although the latter only resulted in two civilian deaths(I believe), the intent was still there when thousands of these makeshift weapons were launched towards American soil.

I could also argue that both of the Axis powers were aggressively seeking atomic weapons technology, and that both nations (Japan and Germany) planned on using these weapons on American soil once acquired. But I've already spent far too much time debating the merits of a title. I, along with many others who have researched WWII, believe that as horrible as these attacks on Hiroshima and Nagaski were, they were necessary to bring a war that we were brought into, to an end. The fact that this goal was accomplished cannot be disputed. The efforts of the American government, citizens and military in post-war Japan, helping the Japanese rebuild their nation and create a democratic and representative government, and much more, go a long way towards erasing the necessary evils of WWII. Of course nothing can make up for the lives lost, the lives destroyed, and the lives forever changed by those bombings. But I think our nation went as far as it could to make things right.

Now I've just spent way too much time doing exactly what I said that I wouldn't do! So I guess you got the results you were aiming for, I believe, when you created this thread. But I will close by giving you the results which you claimed to have been seeking...

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the men, women and children of Japan who lost loved ones and/or had their lives forever changed because of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Any loss of civilian life, for any reason, is a terrible thing. I am grateful that nuclear weapons have never had to be used since that time, and I pray they never again will be.

I also hope that if you TRULY wish to honor and remember those who lost their lives and their loved ones, that you will change this inflammatory and argumentative title. You cannot dispute, regardless of your intentions, that your thread title serves as a distraction from what you claim your mission was here. Unless you want this thread to spiral even more out of control and into more arguing over the definition of terrorism and the morality and necessity of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then I ask you yet again to change your thread title. It will go a long way toward getting this discussion back on track.

Thank you and God bless!

No no, I seriously didn't think about the title. Truth be told, I saw something like the title in a local newspaper and thought, jeeze, I haven't read anything about this event anywhere, and so here I am. I suppose I just took it for granted.

But 12m8keall2c makes a good point. If I want more topic-oriented replies, I should change the title. But now everyone's actually brought the point up, I have realized once again that I do believe that it could be termed as a terrorist attack, and so why should I change the title just to make other people happy?
Then again, all I want to do is get this message out there with a minimum of fuss, so maybe I will. Ive got a few minutes to decide.

In the meantime, stop dishing me and get on topic all of you.

The title of the thread is correct.

Any time a person attacks civillians or civillian targets to manipulate the outcome of politics of a nation it is known as terrorism.

Why can America not see it itself has been involved in terrorism and thats not the only time either :

www.nytimes.com...

Iranians working for the C.I.A. and posing as Communists harassed religious leaders and staged the bombing of one cleric's home in a campaign to turn the country's Islamic religious community against Mossadegh's government.

America has a history of killing, bombing and targeting civillians to manipulate political outcomes to favour America.

But the funny thing or should i say sad thing is that everytime the same thing happens to America the Americans stand up on there throne and act as if they are innocent. America has always been and will continue to be the No.1 Terrorist nation on earth. The only thing that stops people from realising how much America is involved in terrorism is Americas overall control over media machine.

While we were at war with Iraq,
before president bush declared and end to fighting, should Iraq of fired a nuke at a US city, succeeding,

Would you

A. desrcibed it as a terrorist attack
B. described it as an unfortunate attack, during a war period.

Im sure the Japanese citizens, who suffered this terrible weapon thought it was a majorly terrorfying incident, which was used to alter the outcome of the war.
It was used to strike FEAR, and TERROR in the Japanes population to convince them to STOP following there leader, and his goals.

Its a personal opinion wether you call this a terror attack, you have no right to attack anyone because they use there own mind to define how they interpret things.

This would never of been called a TERRORIST attack, hadnt bush given such definition to the word.. be honest hey?

I think it was a science experiemnt personally.
Two different bombs, on two different landscapes, at two different times of day.
The Japanes were already planning on surrendering after the first bomb, there was no need for the second.

But it was justified.
Because the world wouldnt of been able to sustain a prolonged conventional war with japan.

atleast not with reasonable outcomes.

and on a side not, I happened to come by a nice tax return cheque this week, I also got 1 week of work starting on the 9th,
so on the 10 - 14th im going to be backpacking around hiroshima, staying in a tent and absorbing the cities culture and past.
I cant wait! Hiroshima has always been in the top 3 of my MUST see before I die places.

[edit on 5-8-2006 by Agit8dChop]

Maybe something on such a grand scale of massive destruction like this should be classified as a terrorist attack. Maybe then the use or the thought of its use won't be so easy. There are people still suffering from that attack. If anything it could be classified as a massacre. The stories I've read are absolutely horrible.

Originally posted by infinite
Russia delcared war on Japan and the fear was that communism would spread to Japan. America didn't want communists running around its back door.

Yup good point infinite, and let's not forget Japan tried to surrender some two weeks before we dropped those bombs on CITIES, thier only mistake was trying to surrender to Russia rather than the US.

I first mourn this dreadful anniversary, it is a shame when anyone dies out of hatred.

But Mr. Thread Poster, do you not remember Pearl harbor? Did Japan not strike first? And I think you know very little about the Japanese culture during that time (before McAurther wrote their constitution), they believed in thei God to the death, who was their faithful Emporer. If you think Islam Allah Jihadists were suicidal, you know nothing of the WWII era Japanese. AAC

If I saw some giant mushrom cloud looming in the distance of my backyard I would be scared shizless. It would terrorize me and probably my governement/country too. That was the point too, for the US to scare and bullyrag Japan into ending the war. The US was setting the stage especially after a second drop, basically threatening Japan, "hey we got more, and we are not afraid to use more". Therefore I believe the label "terrorist attack" is proper in context. Anyways, it is sad to say the country i live in would use such a technique, but i guess what has been done can't be taken back. It just plain sucks for people caught in the middle of eveything and my prayers go out to those people.

[edit on 6-8-2006 by vicarious]

Originally posted by AnAbsoluteCreation
I first mourn this dreadful anniversary, it is a shame when anyone dies out of hatred.

But Mr. Thread Poster, do you not remember Pearl harbor? Did Japan not strike first? And I think you know very little about the Japanese culture during that time (before McAurther wrote their constitution), they believed in thei God to the death, who was their faithful Emporer. If you think Islam Allah Jihadists were suicidal, you know nothing of the WWII era Japanese. AAC

Thats the problem...very few have any clue what ww2 era japenese were like. They fought until the bitter end. I mean the END. The russians were terrified of the Japenese they were so fierce. Very few on this board know this so I am glad someone out there does . They make these jihadists look like amateurs.

Also, as in ww2 and as in this war, the United States was attacked first. We also turned the other cheek in many cases. However 9/11 was a blatant act of WAR and now 5 years later when we have brought them the war they so desired and now we are protested all over the world.

"your methods are too brutal! you hurt too many people!" blah, blah, blah....ummm.....too bad? For all you euros out their who think we are "imperialistic" and "brutal" please.....as we say here in america "put up or shut up". We were attacked without provocation on 9/11 and the same on Dec. 7 1941. Oh! dont remember that date do you! Thats right....Pearl Harbor.

IF those hijackers didnt want the world's remaining superpower kicking in the doors at night in their neighborhoods they should of left well enough alone.