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To: Dayuhan who wrote (36610)	8/30/1999 3:02:00 AM
From: JF Quinnelly	Respond to of 71178

The response I have seen to that proposal usually mentions that we only had the two bombs, and wanted the Japanese to feel the full impact to force them into surrendering. The massive firebombings of Tokyo had been killing an estimated 85,000 per night and still the warlords wouldn't surrender. And I forget how many American GI's were dying each week in the Pacific, but it was in the many thousands, both as POWs and in the continuing fighting. There was a lot of pressure to end the war as quickly as possible and by any means possible. I read a piece by a Japanese official from WWII, I think he was a physicist. He said that when the Hiroshima bomb was dropped the warlords immediately held a meeting and wanted to know how soon they could get their own bomb. It was when the Nagasaki bomb hit three days later that the Emperor, who actually didn't have all that much political power, insisted that Japan should surrender. The atomic bombs get all the press, but conventional bombing killed huge numbers of civilians in both Germany and Japan. So much for Just War Theory, which condemns harming civilians.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (36610)	8/30/1999 9:07:00 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 71178

Actually, they did consider it. They were inhibited by two factors: they had only one bomb at the time, and were uncertain about how long it would take to produce another bomb, and they were afraid that a demonstration drop that fizzled would merely stiffen resistance. As it stood, it took bombing both Hiroshima and Nagasaki before resistance was broken, suggesting that a demonstration drop would not have been enough anyway....