Guy's Books and Thoughts

Fumio Kyuma, who was forced to resign as defense minister was a victim
of so called "Political Correctness." Mr. Kyuma did not say the
atomic bombs were a "gift from the gods" as some Japanese politicians
crassly stated. He simply said it was inevitable, it saved lives and
couldn't be helped.

Those like Gar Alperovitz and Ron Takaki argue against the use of the
atomic bomb, argue somewhat dishonestly by omitting certain facts.
Yes the Japanese may have feared the Soviet Union. And yes the
Japanese sent "peace feelers" to the Soviets. But Alperovitz and
Takaki in their speeches fail to mention that the Stalin ordered his
people to ignore the Japanese requests. One also has to question the
sincerity of those "peace feelers." Alperovitz and Takaki also
conveniently avoid mentioning that after the first atomic bomb, the
Japanese ambassador sent an urgent message to the Soviets. The
ambassador and his delegation were summoned to the Kremlin where
Molotov read a declaration of war on Japan. Talk about kicking someone
when they're down! The Soviets went on to capture a number of Japanese
soldiers (I think about 600, 000) and use them for slave labor. About
half of them died in captivity.

Alperovitz and Takaki condemn the United States for not promising the
Japanese they could keep their emperor. What Takaki and Alperovitz
won't tell you is that the Soviets wanted the emperor tried as a war
criminal. They also don't' tell you that the Communist paper was very
pro atomic bomb, with one title along the lines of "Thank God it was
our Atom bomb." The article went on to emphasize the importance of
the word "our." Basically the revisionist line taken by Takaki and
Alperovitz is a very dishonest attempt to make the Soviets into
heroes, when if fact they were land grabbing opportunistic bastards.

Another lame attempt by Alperovitz is to quote Nixon and Herbert
Hoover as opposing the use of the bomb. Well Nixon was not president
at the time. He did not have to look at the casualty reports from
Okinawa. Neither was Hoover.

Some have said the United States dropped the bombs to keep the Soviets
out of the war. A fellow student of history remarked that if we
wanted to keep the Soviets out of the war, we would have rearmed the
Germans and had them fight the Russians all over again. I was taken
aback by that comment, He said it was not his recommendation, it was
Patton's.

Opponents of the atom bomb have also conveniently ignored the fact
that the Japanese were ruled by some determined hard line militarists.
They completely ignore the bloody battle of Okinawa. It was a hard
fought battle of inches. A professor who had given a lecture on the
battle concluded he could understand why Truman dropped the bomb. No
this professor was not some right wing fanatic. If anything he would
be considered liberal. It is interesting I remember reading an
article which criticized the United States for both going to war with
Germany and dropping the atom bomb. I doubt very seriously if the
Nazis approved of the dropping of the atomic bomb.

America fought four long years against both Nazi Germany AND Imperial
Japan. The Soviets only had to fight Germany, because it had a non-
aggression pact with Japan, who was tied up fighting China and the
United States. I noticed when Alperovitz and Walter Pincus debated the
issue of the atomic bomb, Alperovitz kept on interrupting Pincus. The
saying "Yell, like hell when your point is weak" came to mind.

The atomic bombs gave the surrender party the excuse it needed to
surrender. But even with the two atomic bombs and the Soviet entry
into the war, the Japanese government was deadlocked on whether or not
to surrender. The emperor cast the deciding vote to surrender. But
there were some who did not want to surrender. Some officers attempted
a coup in order to continue the war. One of the emperor's officials
was killed in the plot. Fortunately for the allies, the plot
collapsed. But history could have taken a different turn if the plot
had succeeded.

Fumio Kyuma had the misfortune of belonging to an older generation. He
or his parents remembered those final days of the tragic Pacific War.
The younger generation probably has no idea of the context of the
times. Some of these people are so ignorant they don't know that Japan
was an ally of Nazi Germany. The older generation such as the late
Captain Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbor understood why the
Americans dropped the bomb. I was surprised to read in one news item
that some Japanese politicians of that World War II era even regarded
the atomic bombs as a "gift from the gods." That term "gift from the
gods" was also used during the Korean War, because it produced an
order for goods and service and an upturn in the Japanese economy.
Mr. Kyuma did not call the atomic bombs a "gift from the gods." He
said it was a tragedy.
While I don't agree with Mr. Kyuma on the Iraq war, I think it was
tragic for Mr. Kyuma to be attacked forced to resign for reflecting
the views of an older generation.