Answer

The Atomic Bomb

The bombing of Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place in 1945. The action brought far reaching consequences that are still debated by various parties to date. There are those who defend the bombing and those who are greatly oppose the action.  Whatever their views are doesn’t really matter; the decision to drop the bomb was ill informed and most inhumane thing to do since the repercussions was dire.

Considering immediate and delayed casualties from the weapons; in which most authorities agree that at least 100,000 civilians were killed at Hiroshima and another 70,000 died at Nagasaki at the time of the bombings. Thousands more died over the next weeks from radiation poisoning and from burns and injuries suffered during the bombings (Herbert, 305). Based on this alone, it can be argued that dropping the two weapons in Japan was really a questionable decision.

 Comparing and contrasting both those who defend and oppose the decision. The defenders of the decision like Harry Truman argued that it was necessary because it brought an end to the Second World War and also saved the lives of many American service personnel who would have been killed in the Japan invasion. On the other hand, Critics of the decision have questioned the morality of such a large-scale attack on a civilian population, especially if the attack was not needed to end the war. From this arguments, each party attempts to make their opinions as logical as possible. However, the defenders view only considers Americans. It does not touch on the innocent Japanese who were to be affected by the decision prior to dropping the bomb. This therefore makes the decision invalid.

From facts and issues surrounding the war it can be deduced that; the journalists’ report showed that the estimated American casualties that could have been used in Japan invasion was about 500000 to 1 million. However, a close and careful review of the documents shows 200000 to 300000 casualties. It further reveals that Truman didn’t want to involve Russia in Japan invasion since he wanted the United States to earn full credit of the war and prove their superiority. It’s clearly indicates that United States had an option demonstrating to Japanese what will happen to them if they didn’t surrender but they intentionally refused to do that. The United States was also aware of the Japanese terms to surrender but chose not listen and failed to give room for negotiations. The fact the United States was trying to cut the economic costs of the war by using the bomb was also completely unjustified. The facts and issues prove that the decision to drop the bomb in Japan was not right and America knew about the consequences of the action but international did it in order to earn superiority and dominance in terms of power.

Therefore considering the information from the facts and issues surrounding the war and results of the bombing, it can be concluded that the action taken by United States to achieve Japan invasion was not right. They should have taken a more appropriate approach that would have protected the innocent civilians since they considered themselves the greatest advocacy of peace and well being of civilians around the world.