War: What is it Good For?

Today is the 60th anniversary of the detonation of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. I asked my dad what he thought about it and, as expected, he said the Japanese got what they deserved. His main reason for feeling that way is the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

When I visited Japan in 1993, I was surprised at the extreme awareness and even fear of nuclear war within the Japanese students that I met. I couldn’t help but feeling that the country was still reeling from its effects. Everyone I met there were all very peaceful people and it was easy to see that many people who weren’t even born at the time of the war had their lives drastically ruined because of the radiation.

Having said that, during my visit to Malaysia I was shocked to learn of the atrocities that the Japanese soldiers of the Second World War committed in countries like Malaysia and China during their campaign across South Eastern Asia. It seems to me that if you are going to say “they deserved it” this is a better reason, but not that I’m saying that. I still think there could have been a better way.

The Atomic Bomb probably did save many of the lives of Allied Soldiers by ending the war and preventing the need for a large scale ground battle. I wonder if repeated bombing campaigns would have done the same thing, it gives one pause to wonder whether or not dropping the bomb was really necessary. It’s clearly a complicated issue, even 60 years after the fact.

Did the ends justify the means? Would the US have done the same thing to Germany if the war wasn’t going as quickly as it did? What about all the civilians that were killed during and after the explosion — was it really necessary? I guess the only thing that can be safely said is that war is a tremendous waste of life.