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From: andree@uokvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: re: Addendum to Flame - (nf)
Message-ID: <5959@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Mar-84 04:33:17 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.5959
Posted: Thu Mar  1 04:33:17 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Mar-84 08:36:44 EST
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#R:decwrl:-559100:uokvax:5000081:000:1782
uokvax!andree    Feb 27 19:04:00 1984

[To correct some misinformation that has lately appeared on the net, I post
the following comments. As usual, I'm to lazy to give the references, but
will gladly mail them to anybody who asks.]

	Fact: The Japanese weren't just an enemy in a war, as Nazi Germany
was; they actually attacked us -- attacked a nation that up to that point had
no grievance with them, a nation that would most likely have stayed neutral
throughout the whole war if they hadn't attacked us first. The nuking of the
two cities may not have been moral, but it was certainly justifiable.

[No, there WAS cause for the Japanese to attack America - we had been rather
nasty about most things towards them, most notably cutting off supplies of
vital war materials. There is evidence to indicate that Roosevelt both
expected and wanted an excuse to get into WWII. For a first aproximation,
just note that after JAPAN attacked us, we proceeded to dump massive resources
into defeating GERMANY (~98% of the materials produced before germany 
surrendered went to Europe.)]

	Fact: There was a plan drawn up for a full scale invasion of the
Home Islands. The military estimates for lives lost (on both sides) if that
plan was implemented was greater than the estimates for Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Clearly, the US government made the sensible (if not "right")
decision.

[Minor corrections - the estimate for the lives lost on the AMERICAN side
was 1/2 million. This is larger than any total I've ever seen for Nagasaki
and Hiroshima (most of them stop at about 400,000). I've never seen estimates
for the Japanese side, except notes that they would be much larger. This is
estimate is for capturing 1/2 of the southernmost of the Japanese islands,
for use as a base for capturing the rest of the islands.]