Was the invasion of Okinawa necessary

I haven't posted any such thing.

 

No, depressing because you are pushing a line of argument that shows utter contempt for the hundreds of thousands of people who were dying every month that WW2 continued. The reason they get forgotten is because 1) most of them are not white; 2) they are not being killed by Americans; 3) most of the rest are American & Allied soldiers, who are the 'bad guys' in this warped morality play.

All these people cry crocodile tears for the poor people of Japan but seem completely indifferent to the ongoing mass murder being committed in their name. Of course, the reason they ignore this is because the primary motivation for their criticism is attacking US actions rather than any actual concern for human life. The unpalatable truth (for you) is that Truman's decision to drop the bomb helped save lives, most of them peoples subjected to the brutal rule of Imperial Japan.

 

I live within 40 miles of an air base, a reserve air base, a Seabee base, a NASA engine testing space center, a couple of clandestine operations nobody is supposed to know about, a growing major Gulf seaport, a university, a huge refinery, two large shipyards which serve the Navy, the Coast Guard, and NOAA, a gas power plant, and not that far from a nuclear power plant. All of these are military targets. If there is major trouble and war I expect to be cauterized where I stand.

So there's nothing to worry about.

 

Wrong, utterly wrong. The war might have ended much sooner, even before Iwo Jima or Okinawa, if FDR had the slightest interest in pursuing the overtures toward surrender that elements in Japan have been sending out and that MacArthur had received and reported on to FDR before the Yalta conference. FDR completely ignored MacArthurs 40 page report outlining these overtures because he had absolutely no interest in peace at that point he was working on his new toy and he was damn well going to use it. That bloodthirsty, racist son of a bitch didn’t care how many Americans had to die to get him to where he could use his new toy by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians. He clearly had no interest in life liberty United States Constitution or anything else but his own personal arrogance.

 

I also note how disingenuous it is for a certain thinly-veiled, guilt ridden individuals to try and pretend to be outraged over the deaths of so many throughout Asia at the hands of the Japanese militarists. This is only brought up when someone is looking to excuse or justify using nuclear weapons on 100s of thousands of civilians. These people have no argument, are clearly pasting over their guilt, and only bring it up as a rhetorical device. It is a disgraceful use of human suffering about a war that contained so much of it.

 

Got a link to that report?

 

From the 'and you are too' school of argument. You get called out for your complete lack of interest in the consequences of allowing the war to continue (you were the one who kept mentioning naval blockades), and so you try to make it about the people who call you out. Sorry, not going to work. The death & destruction caused by Japan is fundamental to any assessment of dropping the atomic bombs. The fact yuo haven't even alluded to it until you got called out says everything anyone needs to know about where you are coming from. You just keep regurgitating the same discredited 'America is evil' tripe. Deaths only matter if you can blame America for them, right?

Oh, and what does Finley have to do with this? Pretty forgettable little country town from memory, but hardly relevant to a discussion of WW2

 

There is a whole long tedious thread about it.

 

that is a lie and an offense of mischaracterization.

 

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Offensively, completely wrong. You have been corrected, and now your every repetition of this lie is an act of deliberate dishonesty.

 

Here comes the illogical guilt trip again. State directly whether or not you are suggesting that the nuclear annihilation of hundreds of thousands of civilians was an act of revenge on behalf of the people of China and much of the rest of Asia. Do you really think we used atomic weapons on behalf of those people?

 

The notion that FDR would go to such lengths to avenge the deaths of so many innocent people throughout Asia when he was a known racist who had nothing but disregard for any people of Asian background, among others is patently absurd.

 

I have never said or suggested any such thing in my life. Don’t make me tell you again.

 

Then a link to the report should be easy to provide....yet you don't have one. Imagine my surprise.

 

No, I don't. I know that using it stopped those people being killed by the Japanese occupation of their nations. I also know that it stopped American, Chinese, Australian, Dutch and other British Commonwealth soldiers and civilians from dying. If you want to obsess about motivation then have at it. Just another example of trying to make the US out to be the bad guy. I'm interested in the outcome, which saved lives.

Japan could have surrendered at any time. It could have directly contacted the US with a firm offer of surrender at any time. Instead it 'put out feelers' through low level officials or to other nations. An informed person might conclude that one of the reasons for this is that there was no firm commitment within Japan's government to surrender and that the people putting out the 'feelers' could not actually deliver peace on any terms.

Japan made a choice to continue fighting. Japan made a choice to continue occupying territory and causing death as a result. Japan bears the burden of the lives lost as a result. It is only people obsessed with the use of atomic weapons and/or constructing some version of WW2 in which the US is the 'bad guy' who choose to ignore that.

 

.....or? You will do what?

If I had kids in one of your classes I would pull them out in a heartbeat. A poor understanding of history and a temper. A bad combination for a teacher of any sort.

 

bigfella's opinions are absolutely right, and the opposition is stubbornly recalcitrant with no facts or reasons to support it.

The Allies would force Japan to surrender their way. It did not matter what the Japanese wanted. It does not matter what unkotare wants. The fault is squarely on the Japanese leadership, no one else. Did the Japanese civilians suffer because of their leadership's grievous errors: yes, indeed. The great mistake was not executing the Emperor of Japan.

 

Illogical.

 

This guy is a HS history teacher. Be very afraid.

 

And what do you suppose was the "Jap" way?

 

I wonder if they still teach the history on Joseph Walker in the U.S. history classes today ?

I'm betting they don't.

 

No you wouldn't. You would be thrilled.

 

What are you afraid of?

 

https://en.metapedia.org/wiki/FDR_denied_Japanese_surrender_memo

 

Let me chime in and speak for the liberals and PC revisionist historians by quoting another war mongering liberal.

"What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it ?"
Madeleine Albright