About Hiroshima bombing

Second world war is one of the subjects of my passion.Presence of strong leaders such as Stalin,Hitler and Churchill and stories of great wars at Stalingrad, Kursk, the siege of Leningrad,London bombings and retreat from Dunkirk have all interested me a lot right from my school days.Whenever I happen to discuss the second world war with my fellow students of this great saga of valor and sacrifice, I find that Indians invariably oppose the Hiroshima bombing.However I support President Harry Truman's decision of bombing Hiroshima.Let me explain the reasons.

Japan got involved in the second world war by attacking Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941.Extreme belligerence and endless thirst of supremacy in the Pacific were the only two reasons behind the Pearl Harbor attack.During first world war, Japan fought along with allies against Germany.In the period prior to 1941, there was no dispute between US and Japan.

The war between US and Japan lasted 44 months, between December 1941 and August 1945.Total American casualty in the war was 405,500 . US President Harry Truman had a sacrosanct duty to protect the lives of American citizens.While war against Japan was going on, he was not obliged to even think of the lives of Japanese people.American lives were more precious to him than Japanese lives.

It was a fact that fall of Japan was inevitable and just a matter of time.One of the options being considered was invasion of Japan.Japanese, being tenacious warriors could have inflicted a heavy damage on American forces in the case of land invasion of Japan.Japanese warriors are known to fight till the last drop of blood and the last breath.Being the president of US, it was Harry Truman's responsibility to protect American lives.

US conducted first nuclear test on July 16,1945.Till the end of July, the ceasefire between Japan and Russia was being strictly adhered to.On July 28,1945, US conveyed the message to the government of Japan through US embassy in Moscow to immediately surrender or be prepared to pay 'unacceptably high price'.Between August 1 and August 5,1945, thousands of leaflets were dropped in all major Japanese cities, calling upon the government of Japan to surrender. The leaflets were printed both in English and Japanese.However Japanese government remained adamant and refused to budge.

Many people say that it was wrong on the part of US government to punish the civilian population of Japan for the mistake of Japanese government.However my counter-argument to that is why should President Harry Truman have punished American citizens for the mistake of Japanese government?If it is wrong to punish Japanese citizens for the mistakes of Japanese government, it was even more wrong to punish American citizens for the mistake of Japanese government.Let us not forget that American soldiers were as much US citizens as President Truman was.Let us not forget that President Truman's responsibility was also to protect the lives of American soldiers as they were also the citizens of US.

Inspite of all warnings,if the Japanese government refused to pay heed, it was not the fault of the US.Legally US government was not obliged even to warn Japanese government of imminent 'catastrophic attack'. Under these circumstances how can one expect the US government to precisely tell the Japanese government what was meant by 'catastrophic attack' and 'unacceptably high price'?

Who started the war in the first place?Americans did not start it.If Churchill could say 'it was up to Hitler to start the war but it will be up to us to stop the war' , why couldn't President Truman tell the same to Japanese?If you provoke lion in the first place,you should not complain if the lion comes and eats you.Obdurate Japanese government left no option open to President Harry Truman.

I have been staying in the US for last four years.I know well that US government and media cares for the lives of American citizens.I remember of having seen one news on CNN that really made me appreciate Americans.Once a 14 years old girl went missing in the state of Mississippi in suspicious circumstances.After that, state governor was called on CNN through satellite and questions were asked about the investigation process. Can we ever imagine such thing happening in India?The bottomline is that US government and media care for American citizens.As more than 400,000 Americans were killed in the war, we can imagine that the pressure would have mounted on President Truman to find a solution to the problem once and for all.

As a result, I support Hiroshima bombing.I firmly believe that it was the obduracy of the Japanese government that forced the hand of President Truman to push the nuclear button.