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Lee Berman · 19 Jan 2011, 19:55 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:55:53 -0500
Subject: (urth) (no subject)
Message-ID: <SNT123-W49896C0F60C847C0CFEAFDCFF60 at phx.gbl>

>James Wynn: Allow me to take the Devil's side for a bit. The Imperial Japanese 
>culture in the early 1940s glorified nihilistic fanaticism. Long after 
>it was clear that they would not win the war, the Emperor and the J 
>government had decided that if they were beaten there should be a 
>genocide of the Japanese people.

I certainly allow it, if I am permitted to take Angel's advocate role for a minute.
It is a simplistic, cruel view of life to say that if an enemy Emperor orders the genocide of
his people that we ought to be the perpetrators of it. Somehow that is the right thing to do?

If I were transported back in time and installed as US president I would order something along
the lines of a N. Korea strategy. Containment. One cannot in good conscience commit a crime 
against humanity, kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people (including American POWs) in the
"hopes" (and it was simply hope at the time) that it might avert a worse killing.

However, if I were actually from that primitive time period when declarations of victory and national 
pride were so much more important than human life than they are now I would probably think
differently. If I thought as I do now I almost assuredly would never be elected president then.

>But, if you weigh the horrors of ALL the uses of atomic weapons over the last 65 
>years AGAINST the almost certain toll without them , Pres Harry Truman's 
>decision to use the bomb looks quite humane. So God bless the Bomb.

I agree with this. But it is hindsight. A global blessing that couldn't have been foreseen (after
WWII many were already looking to WWIII). If I had been preident in 1945 and enforced a containment
strategy on Japan (and avoided assassination) I don't know if we would have had Pax Americana for
the next 65 years. We'll never know. But as a 21st century resident I know could never nuke any nation.
(meaning I couldn't be elected president now either, esp. if I spoke that publicly ;- )).

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