This is the justification / propaganda commonly put out. It's been said that Japan was trying to make contact to surrender, but the bombs were dropped anyway, as it was determined that they (U.S), needed to see the real world effects of the atomic bomb, which is why those cities were specifically selected. Regardless, it was wrong, period. People forget that it was a civilian population that got bombed. People would not condone it if it were their civilian population to get vaporized, but when it's another countries, it's ok. Nationalism and patriotism makes a populace indifferent towards other cultures, which makes atrocities committed against those populations more palatable.
It's ironic that history in many respects just keeps repeating itself, but people fail to see through the false veneer of righteousness that gets peddled, depending on who the perpetrators are. Hitler and the Nazis are considered tyrants for invading Europe decades ago, but when the U.S invades countries and destroys them, as in the case of Iraq and Libya, it's about freedom and democracy. It's incredulous that there is a large percentage of people out there that buy into such grade school level propaganda, but it doesn't help when the corporate media sells it so hard.
You mean "incredible" instead of "incredulous" but I take your meaning. I'm no apologist for the USA at all but am wondering what course of action you think the USA should have taken instead of using atomic weapons on Japan in WW2. I'm no expert but from what I gleaned from watching the documentary, I don't think there were any more purely military targets, were there?; After years of long and bloody battles the Japanese, who hadn't lost a war since modernizing their armed forces in the 1890's but had grossly underestimated the fighting will and economic might of the USA before deciding to attack the US at Pearl Harbor, had fought ferociously and only grudgingly (at great loss of life by them and the Allies) given up all the islands around Japan. During the fighting they were guilty of their own atrocities including the "Rape of Nanking", the Bataan Death March, and the internment of western civilians (particularly from the Philippines) right alongside captured soldiers in Japanese prison camps. Many, many of the civilian prisoners died due to starvation in these camps and the documentary clearly shows the emaciated condition of the prisoners that survived until Japan surrendered. It may be propaganda that the Japanese would not have surrendered without having a couple of cities wiped out by the atomic bomb, but I think the argument that they'd not have surrendered without a lot more fighting holds some weight when you consider that they used freakin' Kamikaze pilots. If you have links that support your contention that such reasoning is BS, I will be happy to check them out.
