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From: myers@uwvax.UUCP (Jeff Myers)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Re: History Corrected - WWII (Amir read this)
Message-ID: <455@uwvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 14:10:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwvax.455
Posted: Mon Oct  1 14:10:12 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Oct-84 07:28:14 EDT
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Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
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> The United States used the atomic bomb twice in World War II, both times on
> Japanese cities.  We did not bomb Japan into submission.  We forced them
> to surrender.
> 
> Japan was an enemy, and wars end when one side or the other can negotiate
> peace at terms favorable to them.  The estimates of potential loss of
> life in an invasion of Japan were more than 1,000,000 allied soldiers,
> with probably greater losses by the Japanese.  All in all, the speedy
> conclusion of the war via the bomb probably seemd like an equitable
> trade to the people that had to make the decision.
> 

A point that is often overlooked is that we most likely could have achieved
the same result by sending a "warning shot" to some uninhabited island
rather than bombing two cities into oblivion without warning.

Of course, the manner in which we stopped the war accomplished two tasks
that the above method would not have: (1) We got 'em back for Pearl Harbor,
(2) We got to see what an atom bomb does to cities, both air burst and
impact at ground zero.

The lab simply can't replace real life experiments...

Anyone for testing the accuracy of our CPE projections by lobbing a few
missles over the North Pole?  :-(

Jeff M.