JAPAN: Hiroshima and the Bomb
Yesterday, August 6, the anniversary of the bombing was marked by a big meeting in Hiroshima recalling the
tragedy. There is a vault in which the names of those killed are kept. It was opened to deposit the names of
those who died from after effects in the last year.
There was implicit anti-Americanism in the ceremony. The only diplomat present was the Russian
Ambassador, who tacitly was saying "We did not do it, the Americans did." There was no reference to Soviet
hyena-like behavior in attacking Japan. There have been noisy protests against the American military presence
in Japan. While they are local in origin, the Russians are using them for their ends.
Ronald Hilton - 8/07/00
A grim coincidence. I have been reading a pre-publication copy of David Pike's remarkable The Closing of
the Second World War. Twilight of a Totalitarianism. In it there is a chapter "Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Why Either, Why Both?" In it David discusses the US decision to use the bomb, despite the objections of
some US leaders, including Eisenhower. Had he lived, history might have been very different. On August 6,
1945, the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
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