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originally posted by: Krakatoa
Ike was, at that time, less a general and more a politician.
Appealing to authority is still a bad thing when only opinions are taken as facts.
originally posted by: tanstaafl
originally posted by: Krakatoa
Ike was, at that time, less a general and more a politician.
Yeah... so what?
...snip...
Appealing to authority is still a bad thing when only opinions are taken as facts.
Yeah, well, I'll take Ike's and the other dozen+ people who were in a much better position than you to know what was up, over your mere opinion, any day.
originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Krakatoa
The B-29 was supposed to have the range and fly above where Japanese fighters could intercept them. They ended up having such horrible engine issues that they failed at both.
originally posted by: Krakatoa
"Yeah, well, I'll take Ike's and the other dozen+ people who were in a much better position than you to know what was up, over your mere opinion, any day."
Haha...is this a school yard now?
"I'm rubber and you're glue...."
originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: tanstaafl
And we would have had to have ground troops at some point. They might not have had the air cover they once did, but they still had ground defenses. Air power doesn't win wars.
originally posted by: tanstaafl
originally posted by: Zaphod58
You don't think, people didn't believe.... the fact of the matter is that no one knows what would have happened if they weren't used.
Exactly...
So, obviously, that's a terrific reason to 'just do it', no?
Bah.
originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: tanstaafl
There were no good answers. We could have waited and watched while thousands or more died of starvation and disease, we could have invaded and killed or wounded millions, or we could have used the bombs.
originally posted by: Krakatoa
It was war. The best part of any war is it's swift and decisive end. Anything less it inviting doubt and more death and suffering.
Yo may be OK with prolonging that death and suffering (in hindsight with nothing on the line for you personally),
but I know my father and uncles ALL, unanimously supported it's use AT THAT TIME. They were there, they saw the fanatical zeal of the Japanese, both the military AND civilian populations.
I prefer to take the word of those on the ground personally, who lost friends and brothers over your looking back and academic questioning almost 75 years later.
Would you sacrifice your family, friends, and children and risk their deaths based upon that type of blind hindsight?
Please.
originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: tanstaafl
They had the opportunity to begin negotiations with the US and work out a surrender that would, and chose to approach Russia instead. Hindsight is a great thing and gives you more options. At the time it didn't appear they wanted to surrender to the US. As far as the US government knew they planned to fight to the last child and had were trying to work out an agreement to get Russian help to fight an invasion.