5/11/2006: Memorial at Liaoyuan

[barckio]

tales of the holocaust sicken me, and not like i have a weak stomach or anything i just hate how people can have no regard for human life, eh not like its anything worse then what we did to a lot of african americans over the past hundred and more years.

[Dypok]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

What history books have you been reading?
Were they written in crayon?

While earning my degree in history...I took a few classes in Modern Japanese History. I didn't actually read this in a book, I examined a few primary source documents (translated as I don't speak Japanese) and a few secondary source arguments on the topic of conditional vs unconditional surrender.

The Japanese did seem willing to propose such a thing, and may have if there were any indication the US would have accepted, or even considered it. McCarther sure put that idea down. The conditions would have included the life of the emperor, which the US spared anyway because they needed him to organize a government with any legitimacy in the minds of Japanese society.

The books that are written in crayon are in the High Schools of the US, talking about the decision of President Truman, painfully weighing the lives of millions of soldiers or destroying a city (eventually two). Things not written in crayon include this topic, and the implications of the bomb in US-Soviet relations.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Admittedly, MacArthur had an axe to grind, but he was also had knowledge of the enemy and their history of fighting to the last man. The arming/training of every man, woman and child for a homeland defense force is well documented.

Among the prime considerations Truman faced, was telling the American people that their husbands and sons, having survived years of war in Europe, wouldn't be coming home because they were headed for Japan. Bad mojo.

All things considered, we might have been better off letting the Russians take Japan.