The Real Reason We Bombed Japan

[snot]

From http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/the_real_reason_america_used_nuclear_weapons_against_japan_it_was_not_to_end_the_war_or_save_lives/ :

Like all Americans, I was taught that the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to end WWII and save both American and Japanese lives.

But most of the top American military officials at the time said otherwise.

{He goes on to quote numerous high-ranking British as well as U.S. military officials, as well as historians and contemporary scientists, politicians, et al.}

* * * * *

The conventional wisdom that the atomic bomb saved a million lives is so widespread that … most Americans haven’t paused to ponder something rather striking to anyone seriously concerned with the issue: Not only did most top U.S. military leaders think the bombings were unnecessary and unjustified, many were morally offended by what they regarded as the unnecessary destruction of Japanese cities and what were essentially noncombat populations. Moreover, they spoke about it quite openly and publicly.

The article is a great read and seems very well-researched. I'm deeply skeptical of war in general, but even I was shocked.