[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"]Towards the end of the war they were on the defense. You're acting as if the US didn't have a choice. The US didn't have to demand an unconditional surrender. Sure, war is filled with tragedies, but that doesn't justify anything. This is a tragedy that could've easily been avoided. Hundreds of thousands of lives could've been saved had the US decided to end the war peacefully. It'd be one thing if the US had tried to reach out to the Japanese to negotiate a peace agreement and the Japanese refused to even negotiate a peace. But they didn't even do that. Instead they opted to add to the long list of atrocities committed in what was the bloodiest war in human history. Ah but my point was the Japan started the hostilities....and when told to surrender they decided no. And it took not one bomb but two to make them surrender. If a nation is willing to withstand a bomb and STILL not surrender then you have to know they wouldn't stop for a land invasion either. Not to mention fire bombing caused a bit of casualties itself. The Japanese were not willing to just give up.....they fought to the death. They employed kamikazes......to think they'd easily stop is a bit on the naive side IMO. I wasn't justifying tragedies.....but that is a part of war and thinking otherwise makes no sense. The Japanese were not willing to surrender unconditionally. The US knew this and the US didn't care. They didn't even try to bring a peaceful end to the war through attempted negotiations. Only ultimatums were given. And so the bombs were dropped - not as a way to save human life but to brutally force Japan into submission by any means necessary. If you are going to defend the bombings then defend them for what they were - don't try to justify them on humanitarian grounds, because it's just not true. Hundreds of thousands of people died because the US was unwilling to bring a peaceful end to the war. There is every reason to believe that peace agreement could've been negotiated.[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]Japan was well aware that unconditional surrender was needed or the war would not end. Japan did not agree to those terms. War is filled with tragedies....but Japan willing choose that war. They were not fighting defensively. LJS9502_basic
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