Hiroshima & Nagasaki: The Age of Apocalyptic Peril

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http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940514001670



TEHRAN (FNA)- It’s the 70th anniversary of the US atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945).

Hiroshima & Nagasaki: The Age of Apocalyptic Peril
Wed Aug 05, 2015 11:37

On August 9, 1945, President Harry Truman delivered a radio address from the White House: “The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians.” He did not mention that a second atomic bomb had already been dropped on Nagasaki…

The two cities had not already been firebombed and largely obliterated by American air power. US officials used the first atomic bombs to create maximum terror and destruction. They also wanted to measure their new weapon’s power and so selected the “virgin targets” of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After all these years, the United States seems farther than ever from a rejection of the idea that launching the atomic warfare on Japanese civilian populations was “an act of mercy.” The US further refuses to apologize for the nuclear obliteration of the two cities. After all, the US possesses tens of thousands of “Little Boys” and “Fat Mans” and might decide to drop them somewhere – again as an act of mercy!

It turns out, the US hasn’t come even one step closer to a moral reckoning with its status as the world's only country to use atomic weapons to slaughter human beings. Moreover, the US hasn’t come to grips with the “black rain” that spread radiation and killed even more people, leading in the end to a death toll estimated at more than 250,000. Lest we forget President Truman’s radio address after the attacks: “Never, never waste a minute on regret. It’s a waste of time…”