Yes, over 200,000 ultimately died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (...) probably saving close to a million Japanese lives and another 200,000+ American lives
Need I remind you that those were civilian cities?
No estimation of "if we had not nuked them so many people would die" can possibly excuse Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am sorry but this is hardly debatable.
Please read through the following. I find especially interesting the last part (Nurenberg Principles) which the US signed the day before nuking Nagasaki. I just realized this and sincerely hope I am wrong.
dannen.com
Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague, II), July 29, 1899
CONVENTION WITH RESPECT TO THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND
The Hague, July 29, 1899
[Ratified by the U.S. Senate on March 14, 1902]
ARTICLE XXIII
Besides the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially prohibited:
a. To employ poison or poisoned arms;
ARTICLE XXV
The attack or bombardment of towns, villages, habitations or buildings which are not defended, is prohibited.
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Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague, IV), October 18, 1907
CONVENTION RESPECTING THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND
The Hague, October 18, 1907
[Ratified by the U.S. Senate on March 10, 1908]
[excerpts]
ARTICLE XXII
The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited.
ARTICLE XXIII
In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden:
(a) To employ poison or poisoned weapons;
(e) To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering;
ARTICLE XXV
The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited.
ARTICLE XXVI
The officer in command of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all in his power to warn the authorities.
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Protection of Civilian Populations Against Bombing From the Air in Case of War
League of Nations, September 30, 1938
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN POPULATIONS AGAINST BOMBING FROM THE AIR IN CASE OF WAR
Unanimous resolution of the League of Nations Assembly,
September 30, 1938.
The Assembly,
Considering that on numerous occasions public opinion has expressed through the most authoritative channels its horror of the bombing of civilian populations;
Considering that this practice, for which there is no military necessity and which, as experience shows, only causes needless suffering, is condemned under the recognised principles of international law;
1) The intentional bombing of civilian populations is illegal;
2) Objectives aimed at from the air must be legitimate military objectives and must be identifiable;
3) Any attack on legitimate military objectives must be carried out in such a way that civilian populations in the neighbourhood are not bombed through negligence;
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Nuremberg Principles, August 8, 1945
CHARTER OF THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL
AUGUST 8, 1945
[Signatories: USA, USSR, Britain, France]
[excerpts]
ARTICLE VI
[excerpt]
The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:
(b) War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity |
