Hiroshima Marks Atomic Bomb Anniversary

[jarmo]

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack Saturday with prayers and water for the dead and a call by the mayor for nuclear powers to abandon their arsenals and stop "jeopardizing human survival."

At 8:15 a.m., the instant of the blast, the city's trolleys stopped and more than 55,000 people at Peace Memorial Park observed a moment of silence that was broken only by the ringing of a bronze bell.

A flock of doves was released into the sky. Then wreaths and ladles of water ? symbolizing the suffering of those who died in the atomic inferno ? were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the center of the park.

Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" ? falling to the ground to dramatize the toll from a bombing that turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the face of war.

Thousands of paper lanterns symbolizing the souls of the dead were to be floated in a river next to the park.

Fumie Yoshida was just 16 when Hiroshima was bombed. She survived but lost her father, brother and sister. On Saturday, she chose not to attend the formal memorial, but paid her respects privately with a small group of friends in the peace park.

"My father's remains have never been found," she said. "Those of us who went through this all know that we must never repeat this tragedy. But I think many Japanese today are forgetting."

In a "Peace Declaration," Hiroshima's outspoken Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba vowed to never allow a repeat of the tragedy and gave an impassioned plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying the United States, Russia and other members of the nuclear club are "jeopardizing human survival."

"Many people around the world have succumbed to the feeling that there is nothing we can do," he said. "Within the     United Nations, nuclear club members use their veto power to override the global majority and pursue their selfish objectives."

In a more subdued speech, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered condolences for the dead.

"I offer deep prayers from my heart to those who were killed," he said, vowing that Japan would be a leader in the international movement against nuclear proliferation.

Though Hiroshima has risen from the rubble to become a thriving city of 3 million, most of whom were born after the war, the anniversary underscores its ongoing tragedy.

Officials estimate that about 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350,000.

Three days later, another U.S. bomber, Bock's Car, dropped a plutonium bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II.

Including those initially listed as missing or who died afterward from a loosely defined set of bomb-related ailments, including cancers, Hiroshima officials now put the total number of dead in this city alone at 242,437.

This year, 5,373 more names were added to the list.

In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967 in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing.

Jeremy Corbyn, a lawmaker in the governing Labour Party and vocal anti-war campaigner, urged people to remember the "unique horror" of what happened in 1945.




/jarmo

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

Well thanks, i dont even have to go to yahoo.com , i just read the news here

Jarmo the News Reporter: No Comments, Just News

[SLCPUNK]

The lucky ones were the people who died right then. Thousand more died from radiation cancer and other diseases years later. Horrible.

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

i think it's crazy. but there is something wierd about all that.
it's the craziest thing that every happend in history.
i think it's even worst than the Nazi camps, because it was done by the ones that were supposed to be the good ones (USA).

yeah, and people deep inside know that this nuclear strike was the craziest, most horrible thing, that happen in history, and yet ... there is a wierd feeling. like we dont wanna be held responsible or something.... i dont know ...

[SLCPUNK]

yeah, and people deep inside know that this nuclear strike was the craziest, most horrible thing, that happen in history, and yet ... there is a wierd feeling. like we dont wanna be held responsible or something.... i dont know ...

Yea, people will always claim that "we had to do it"...Guess that makes them feel better about the act.

[BigCombo]

Fortunately, one hasn't been used in 60 years.  I hope our leaders never forget  the destruction and horror of these weapons.  I think that the use of these weapons in WWII may have prevented their use in the Korean and Cold wars.   

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

great movie about nuclear power

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/

[Eazy E]

http://gorillamask.net/famguyretard.shtml

Here's a clip from Family Guy... somewhere around the middle they have a bit on a Japanese guy having a bad day on August 6th, 1945.

[jarmo]

Well thanks, i dont even have to go to yahoo.com , i just read the news here

Jarmo the News Reporter: No Comments, Just News

Not everything needs comments.

If even one person actually reads the news articles I post here, then it's a good thing.






/jarmo

[Axls Locomotive]

they should never have dropped those bombs...even after the first bomb was proven to devastate a city and kill over 150 thousand people they thought it necessary to drop the bomb on a second city...how utterly barbaric...most of the people in these cities were civilians...but it is no surprise that the USA circumnavigated the principles of the League of Nations on the action of bombing a civilian population which was then, even in WW2, illegal...

A League of Nation resolution from 1938
-------------------

Protection of Civilian Populations Against Bombing From the Air in Case of War, League of Nations, September 30, 1938

PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN POPULATIONS AGAINST BOMBING FROM THE AIR IN CASE OF WAR
Unanimous resolution of the League of Nations Assembly,
September 30, 1938.

The Assembly,

Considering that on numerous occasions public opinion has expressed through the most authoritative channels its horror of the bombing of civilian populations;

Considering that this practice, for which there is no military necessity and which, as experience shows, only causes needless suffering, is condemned under the recognised principles of international law;

Considering further that, though this principle ought to be respected by all States and does not require further reaffirmation, it urgently needs to be made the subject of regulations specially adapted to air warfare and taking account of the lessons of experience;

Considering that the solution of this problem, which is of concern to all States, whether Members of the League of Nations or not, calls for technical investigation and thorough consideration;

Considering that the Bureau of the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments is to meet in the near future and that it is for the Bureau to consider practical means of undertaking the necessary work under conditions most likely to lead to as general an agreement as possible:

I. Recognizes the following principles as a necessary basis for any subsequent regulations:

    1) The intentional bombing of civilian populations is illegal;

    2) Objectives aimed at from the air must be legitimate military objectives and must be identifiable;

    3) Any attack on legitimate military objectives must be carried out in such a way that civilian populations in the neighbourhood are not bombed through negligence;

II. Also takes the opportunity to reaffirm that the use of chemical or bacterial methods in the conduct of war is contrary to international law, as recalled more particularly in the resolution of the General Commission of the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments of July 23rd 1932, and the resolution of the Council of May 14th, 1938.

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of course we all see it as an act of they had to do it...as if these decisions were taken fairly quickly...unfortunately the plan was more preconceived than some realise

http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

i'd like to know what kind of "we're sorry" the usa gave to japan ?

money ? official escuse ?
are the governement still sensible about that topic ?

just for that the usa shouldnt be allowed to hold nuclear power. they're nuts

[KeVoRkIaN]

i'd like to know what kind of "we're sorry" the usa gave to japan ?

money ? official escuse ?
are the governement still sensible about that topic ?

just for that the usa shouldnt be allowed to hold nuclear power. they're nuts

I'd like to know what kind of excuse Japan gave the US over Pearl Harbour

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

i'd like to know what kind of "we're sorry" the usa gave to japan ?

money ? official escuse ?
are the governement still sensible about that topic ?

just for that the usa shouldnt be allowed to hold nuclear power. they're nuts

I'd like to know what kind of excuse Japan gave the US over Pearl Harbour

it was war.
the right to bomb a normal city is not really in the geneva convention ...

[Axls Locomotive]

wasnt pearl harbor a military base?

[jameslofton29]

I'm glad we nuked them. Japan was just as evil as Germany. They would lock women and children in abandoned houses and let them die of thirst. The only thing that put a stop to that kind of shit was vaporizing a few hundred thousand of them. I've read books about that day. There were so many dead bodies flowing through their rivers that all you could see was bodies and blood. There was also people walking around with parts of their bodies melting off. They finally got a taste of their own medicine.

[Axls Locomotive]

I'm glad we nuked them. Japan was just as evil as Germany. They would lock women and children in abandoned houses and let them die of thirst. The only thing that put a stop to that kind of shit was vaporizing a few hundred thousand of them. I've read books about that day. There were so many dead bodies flowing through their rivers that all you could see was bodies and blood. There was also people walking around with parts of their bodies melting off. They finally got a taste of their own medicine.

alternatively the USA nuked the women and children...more efficent eh...im glad you feel at ease when you know that over 30 thousand children died with one bomb...im glad you feel good that killing innocent people in revenge for them killing innocent people is such a great thing...no wonder the world is getting used to hating americans, you set such a fine example of amorality and hypocrisy

[Eazy E]

I'm glad we nuked them. Japan was just as evil as Germany. They would lock women and children in abandoned houses and let them die of thirst. The only thing that put a stop to that kind of shit was vaporizing a few hundred thousand of them. I've read books about that day. There were so many dead bodies flowing through their rivers that all you could see was bodies and blood. There was also people walking around with parts of their bodies melting off. They finally got a taste of their own medicine.

^
This isn't even a case of someone thinking it "had to be done"... this is a case of someone taking pleasure in the killing of thousands of people.

Although, coming from "Lofters"... Eh, I'm not very suprised. 

[Mal Brossard]

It is widely known by now that FDR was looking for any excuse he could find to get the US involved in WWII.  He actually met with the britich PM at the time (Chamberlain?  Churchill?) actively discussing ways to get the US into the war.  Pearl Harbor was the perfect way to do it.  A large portion of the US Naval fleet was moved there (under protests of the Naval commander at the time-- he was fired for protesting it) to be a bait for Japan.  The US also tightened restrictions on Japan, and all of this led to an attack, which FDR most likely knew was coming.  The US had already broken much of the Japanese code.

As for the atomic bomb, there was no need to drop it.  The allied forces wanted Japan to abandon its ties to the emperor.  Other than that lone section, Japan agreed to every section of the treaty to surrender.  Apparently this wasn't good enough, and the bombs were dropped.  Just because we felt the need to force them away from their imperial system, millions of people were killed, not just by the bombs, but also as stated by radiation problems for years to come.

[SLCPUNK]

I'm glad we nuked them. Japan was just as evil as Germany. They would lock women and children in abandoned houses and let them die of thirst. The only thing that put a stop to that kind of shit was vaporizing a few hundred thousand of them. I've read books about that day. There were so many dead bodies flowing through their rivers that all you could see was bodies and blood. There was also people walking around with parts of their bodies melting off. They finally got a taste of their own medicine.

^
This isn't even a case of someone thinking it "had to be done"... this is a case of someone taking pleasure in the killing of thousands of people.

Although, coming from "Lofters"... Eh, I'm not very suprised. 

He says it more to get a reaction then anything. I doubt he really has an opinion one way or the other.

He's in the same column with "walk".

[Izzy]

Including those initially listed as missing or who died afterward from a loosely defined set of bomb-related ailments, including cancers, Hiroshima officials now put the total number of dead in this city alone at 242,437.

This year, 5,373 more names were added to the list.

Dubious to say the least! Of course their cancer deaths were from the bomb - and not from the fact 1 in 4 contract cancer anyway. Does everyone that gets cancer in Japan blame the war? Sounds like a blatant attempt to get sympathy.

----------

Personally i don't believe dropping either nuke was appropriate, Japan was neutralised a simple blockade would have forced them to surrender, we must remember Japan has no natural resources, a few weeks of a full blockade and they would have to surrender as they wouldn't even have food.