Prayer Alert - Let's all be sure to remember the families and comrade-in-arms of the nearly 3 dozen of our brave fighting men who perished yesteday in Afghanistan. Pray that knowing Him will comfort them and that this tragedy will especially draw those who have yet to come into a relationship withh Him.
Now, I am sure you are used to seeing the annual ceremonies in Japan marking the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in World War II. Of course, there is no decent person who takes any pleasure that so many hundreds of thousands of lives perished as a result. And in checking the wikipedia site
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki) there is much information regarding the bombings, including some of the debate that has continued about the bomgings. There are some good arguments on both sides of the debate, but I find those who go so far as to accuse the United States of war crimes just go too far. I was startled when a year ago a friend who was a native of Japan but is now a US citizen said things such as that the bombs was denoted over a children's hospital in Hiroshima, as though that was the target of the bombing. What disturbed me even more in the newsletter he sent out as now the pasor of a Japanese American Church was that God has not opened the hearts of the japanese people to the gospel because America has never apologized for the bombing!
Of course, I can understand how he would have such emotions but find it hard to accept his conclusions. Also, with the distance from the actual event itself, I think it is easy for Americans today to forget about the context of the bombing. For those who can only see America as the big villian, I think it's helpful to put some context to the bombings. First of all, let me state what I believe everyone should know: the United States was thrust into World War II because of the Japan's unprovoked attack on our naval facility at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in which nearly 3,000 of our servicemen were killed. Prior to this and continuing throughout the war, Japanese troops marched through Manchuria, China, the Korean penninsula, through the Pacific and IndoChina killing hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians all to claim the natural resources of those countries. Aside from it's criminal treatment of prisoners of wars (tens of thousands having died in captivity), they were also responsible for actions similar to those of the Nazis against many people groups throughout Europe. For instance,
****At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731, you will learn about something called Unit 731. This was ..."was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel." Also, "According to the 2002 International Symposium on the Crimes of Bacteriological Warfare, the number of people killed by the Imperial Japanese Army germ warfare and human experiments is around 580,000. According to other sources, the use of biological weapons researched in Unit 731's bioweapons and chemical weapons programs resulted in possibly as many as 200,000 deaths of military personnel and civilians in China.
****Also, at the Wikipedia site on the Battle of Okinawa > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa : "... the Japanese Army showed indifference to Okinawa's defense and safety, and the Japanese soldiers used civilians as human shields against the Americans. Japanese military confiscated food from the Okinawans and executed those who hid it, leading to a mass starvation among the population, and forced civilians out of their shelters. Japanese soldiers also killed about 1,000 Okinawans who spoke in a different local dialect in order to suppress spying. The museum writes that "some were blown apart by shells, some finding themselves in a hopeless situation were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, some succumbed to malaria, while others fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops." "... Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: 'There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up. Some of the civilians, having been induced by Japanese propaganda to
believe that U.S. soldiers were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture.' (In the Wikipedia article, you can read of how Japanese governement officials as recently as 2007 tried to have textbooks revised to not say the Japanese military encouraged the suicides until a court finally ruled against them in 2008.)
[from the Wikipedia article on the bombings themseves] "..For six months before the atomic bombings, the United States intensely fire-bombed 67 Japanese cities. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum. By executive order of President Harry S. Truman,the U.S. dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945,followed by the detonation of "Fat Man" over Nagasaki on August 9."
"Supporters of the bombings generally assert that they caused the Japanese surrender, preventing massive casualties on both sides in the planned invasion of Japan: Kyūshū was to be invaded in October 1945 and Ho"nshū five months later. Some estimate Allied forces would have suffered 1 million casualties in such a scenario, while Japanese casualties would have been in the millions. Although thousands of Japanese were taken prisoner, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. According to Risa Brooks and Elizabeth A. Stanley, "One scholar estimated that kamikaze attacks could have sunk or damaged a full third of the invasion armada destined for Kyūshū." As the chief commander of the Japanese army, Korechika Anami was outspoken against the idea of surrender. Even after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Anami opposed talk of surrender, and proposed instead that a large-scale battle be fought on the Japanese mainland causing such massive Allied casualties that Japan would somehow be able to evade surrender and perhaps even keep some of what it had conquered.Eventually, his arguments were overcome when Emperor Hirohito directly requested an end to the war himself."
"Those who oppose the bombings, among them many US military leaders as well as ex-president Herbert Hoover, argue that it was simply an extension of the already fierce conventional bombing campaign.This,together with the sea blockade and the collapse of Germany (with its implications regarding redeployment), would also have led to a Japanese surrender - so the atomic bombings were militarily necessary. On the contrary, according to Kyoko Iriye Selden, "The most influential text is Truman's 1955 Memoirs, which states that the atomic bomb probably saved half a million US lives— anticipated casualties in an Allied invasion of Japan planned for November. [US Secretary of War] Stimson subsequently talked of saving one million US casualties,and Churchill of saving 1 million American and 1/2 that number of British lives."
I shared the details indicated with **** above to emphasize that the Japanese armies throughout the war were responsible for unspeakable atrocities and what could accurately be called war crimes. As opposed to the inexcuseable nature of those actions, I submit that the US government had sufficient reasons (stated above) to drop the bombs as they did, and that it was done only after great discussion and much regret, and only with the thought of forcing an end to a horrific World War, with what, on balance, was the least amount of casualties. With that in view, I see no reason for the United States to need to apologize for the bombings and cannot believe it's failure to do so has caused God to close the heart of the Japanese people to the gospel. If I may be so bold, I would instead argue (as I heard one japanese pastor also did) that it is the Japanese people who have as a nation never aplogized for their acts of war against people in the Pacfic region and that it may be THEIR refusal to do so that is part of the explanation of God continuing to close the heart of the majority of Japanese to the gospel.
It's time we help others remember that America has and continues to take the lead throughout the world to stand up against those who threaten not just our freedoms but also those of countless nations. We've usually been the one to send our young men and women in harm's way to defend free peoples and to spend our resources to help countless numbers in need again and again. We've never sought compensation or thanks and instead have had to endure much derision and betrayal by even those who we call our friends. America has long had unparralled military power but has always exercised it with severe restraint. One cannot see the heart of America and not believe it only took the action to drop those atomic bombs 66 years ago with much regret but resolved to do what it felt was necessary. For doing so, no apology is necessary.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment