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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (42470)	1/19/2002 1:30:01 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

As long as you're going to get involved in rewriting history, why not choose some subject worth of your efforts? May I suggest that you undertake to prove the truth about slavery -- that it was a benign and constructive institution, good for all involved in it, and that it needs to be rescued from those hatemongers like Lincoln and Stowe and the damn Quakers and all those others who wrongly maligned it. There are lots of contemporaneous resources, mostly Southern voices whose truth was stilled by the invading damn Yankees, you can draw on to quote here at great length. If you can persuade yourself that the bomb shouldn't have been dropped, persuading yourself that slavery was a good thing should be a piece of cake.

To: Solon who wrote (42470)	1/20/2002 10:29:49 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

It is now recognized that virtually all of the American leadership were well aware that Japan's airforce and navy had been destroyed, and that they were suffering from lack of human essentials. We now know of the strenuous efforts undertaken to ensure that they not surrender until certain tests had been completed. The first part of this statement is true and not disputed. The second part is speculation of the purest quality, not supported by any factual evidence. Indeed, this assertion fails every test of logic. How could the Allied powers possibly prevent the Japanese from surrendering? The Japanese were in active discussion with the Soviet Union right up until mid-August. What was to prevent them from saying, "WE SURRENDER UNCONDITIONALLY!"? What was to prevent them from saying that to any of the neutral countries with which they had diplomatic relations? What was to prevent them from saying that to the world? This is revisionist history at its worst. No new facts or evidence are presented, only new interpretations colored by a deep bias and a pre-determined conclusion. History is no more that "what happened." We all know what happened. We knew it then and we know it now. Japan was looking for a way out of the war, on terms acceptable to them. The Allied powers were not willing to accept anything less than unconditional surrender. There was an impasse. Japan continued to prepare its population for a last-ditch fight to the end, including national suicide if it came to that. The Allies continued their preparations for the final invasion of the home island. In a stroke of great fortune, the U.S. developed a new weapon which might break the impasse. We used it, and Japan surrendered unconditionally, with the result that further loss of life on both sides was prevented. That is history. That is what happened. All the "revising" that is going on now is nothing more than argumentation over the issue of whether the Allied powers should have been willing to accept a conditional surrender. The weight of public opinion then and now is that the Allies should not have accepted a conditional surrender. This was a war of aggression started by the Japanese, in league with other Axis powers. The U.S. was brought into the war by a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while "peace" negotiations were in progress in Washington. In their conduct of the war, the Japanese committed numerous atrocities against Allied forces. The Allied position on surrender of the Axis powers was unconditional surrender, period. Given the circumstances of the war, this was a perfectly justified and reasonable position. Japan had every opportunity to surrender under these terms at any time it wished. It chose not to, and it suffered the consequences. That is the history. That it what happened. All the "revising" in the world cannot change it.