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Dirty Greek - Japan and Atomic Bomb Effects
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War : Japan and Atomic Bomb Effects
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The Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 were, and hopefully always will be, the most devastating attacks ever perpetrated by human beings on other human beings. The bombs were devastating, both immediately and long term. Around 130,000 people were killed instantly in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and 39,000 were killed instantly on August 9, 1945 in Nagasaki (Sherrow 12). The heat reached 5400 degrees Fahrenheit, heat waves exploded outwards, and everything in their wake was charred and destroyed, including the people themselves (Sherrow 79). Masayukaai Hayashide, who was ten when the bomb hit Hiroshima, says | "Mother was completely bedridden… The hair of her head had almost all fallen out, her chest was festering, and from the two-inch hole in her back a lot of maggots were crawling in and out. The place was full of flies and mosquitoes and fleas, and an awfully bad smell hung over everything. Everywhere I looked there were people like this who couldn’t move (Gilbert 712-713). |
However, the horrors of those days did not end with the death and destruction from the bombs themselves. The effects of the radiation lasted much longer, and even some born after the bombings show signs of genetic mutation caused by the bombs. The survivors became known as "hibakusha," meaning "explosion-affected people" (Sherrow 101).
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Even though to many the use of such weapons was unforgivable regardless of the outcome, it’s quite possible that Japan would have surrendered either way. Secretary of War Henry Stimson told General Eisenhower that "Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary." Admiral William D. Leary, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after the bombing, said "The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender" (Zinn). If what Howard Zinn says is true, the horrible reality may be that, even knowing Japan would surrender and an invasion would not be necessary, the United States decided to show its might anyway.
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"The radiation emitted from the bomb had affected the cells… A number of the hibakusha lost their hair… radiation sickness led to death in many cases" (Sherrow 101-102). Many survivors disproportionately came down with cancer, anemia, and other illnesses, and some seemed to age too quickly. Babies of mothers who were pregnant during the bombings were born physically handicapped or retarded or showed physical abnormalities such as small heads (Sherrow 102). The smaller head size is noted in several journal articles and elsewhere. "Except for Nagasaki females, mean head circumferences were smaller for those within 2000 meters [of the bombs]."
Read the full paper here
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Posted By George on 12/03/2006 @ 02:01 | Link and Discuss (2) | More War
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Tags: dirtygreek War hiroshima nagasaki japan atomicbomb radiation wwii ww2 |      
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wow |
| are you kidding? if you want to compare the US and Japan's actions on a moral ground, Japan would obviously take the cake. Japan's actions set an Asian holocaust that ended with biological warfare, inhumane experimentation (Unit 731), forced rape on a mass scale, and civilian atrocities (Rape of Nanking) that overshadowed other war time crimes during WWII. sad this is, the Japanese government still denies the magnitude of these 'claims' and work to revise their history textbooks. |
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Posted by Jonathan on 12/03/2007 @ 05:02
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What USA done is terribly bad. |
| There are many things that USA wrong.
1) America shouldn't drop the bomb because
Japan was already surrender at that time.
2) America shouldn't drop the bomb in the big city because it will affect a large number of people.
Etc.
All I can think is America want to revent Japan because the event in Purhable. |
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Posted by Cherry on 12/03/2006 @ 12:01
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