Re: It is often presumed
I just finished being lectured by some zygote Japanese Apologist crying over the inhumanity of the A Bombings and citing, of all things, an article on "Sputniknews.com" that had one "Dr. Gary G. Kohls" as it's only source and studiously omitted in it's account the calls to Hirohito to surrender between the Little Boy and Fat Man events.
How evil we all were for causing so much civilian death. No sympathy from Mr Wet-Eyes for the soldiers and civilians hosted by the Japanese for the duration, nor the Chinese and Korean women who were put into involuntary "alternate career paths".
The Apologist only shut the fuck up when I pointed out that the sailors and civilians killed at Pearl Harbor died before a formal state of war existed between Japan and the USA, and opined exactly what this said about Japanese honor and the code of Bushido. I asked where his sympathy was for them.
I've no doubt he is still secure in his belief that "many of Eisenhower's generals" believed the A-Bombs were unnecessary, but when he mentioned that I told him to tell it to the marines - specifically any of the marines that took part in the Philippine Amphibious Assaults.
He was talking about how much better it would have been to stage what would have had to be an airborne and amphibious assault of the Japanese mainland (whatever that is - Japan is a series of large islands according to my atlas) with no reference to exactly how that had gone down on Saipan. He waved away my objection that the fighting would have been to the last man, that firebombing would have been inevitable (so much for these generals' who seem to have no opinion on napalm and H.E. created firestorm tactics) and that the war would have dragged out interminably.
I, of course, am old enough to remember those semi-humorous stories during the late 60s of boats sent with loudspeakers to certain islands where Japanese servicemen were still refusing to believe their country had surrendered, to try and persuade them to stop living on snakes and accept a lift home. This informs my opinion on exactly how easy an invasion would have been. Forget the added danger of partisan guerrillas once the invasion was underway.
Azathoth's Piping Host, I hate 21st century armchair revisionists, especially those who see Japan as Pokemon and Hentai and Bad Monster Movies mixed with awesome (sounding) martial arts. I love a good Rashomon myself and have a weak spot for the 60s Zaito Ichi movies, adore their high speed railway system, own two Kimonos, one of which is a lavishly embroidered Mitsukiku number, and once earned a green belt in Judo, but that doesn't blind me to what the Japanese were capable of when the will to make war was strong, and anti-American feeling was being orchestrated from the Chrysanthemum Throne angered by the Manchuria Fiasco and desperate to hide how financially ruinous *that* war had been.
When the Vets had that display at the Smithsonian of the A-bombings from a similar critical revisionist perspective removed I thought they had blundered. They should have let the exhibit stand, but demanded an equal footprint next to it featuring the Bataan Death March, the accounts from Saipan and so forth.
As an aside, Dr Kohls is a prolific writer. His many informative, groundbreaking and conspiracy-uncovering works can be found at https://www.globalresearch.ca/author/gary-g-kohls - some are aligned with things I'm interested in, some even sound halfway truthful and informed. Read with care.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
