On 75th anniversary of Hiroshima, today’s debate should be about continued illegal, immoral possession of nuclear weapons

EDMONTON—Did the United States commit a war crime in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945? And a second war crime in a similar bombing of Nagasaki three days later? Was Canada complicit in such crimes because it participated in the Manhattan Project, which invented the atomic bomb? Now, on the 75th anniversary of those events, these haunting questions have been raised again. As we hear the voices of the hibakusha, the Japanese survivors of the attacks, crying out, “never again,” the debate over guilt continues to go in circles. It is the wrong debate. The debate should be about the continued illegal and immoral possession of nuclear weapons—all 13,400 of them held by nine countries, principally by the United States and Russia. In other words, we should stop talking about past culpability and concentrate on present responsibility. The debate is a diversion we cannot afford. Chris Wallace, author of The New York Times' bestseller, Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days that Changed the World, which Doug Roche says leaves the reader with justification for using the bomb. Image courtesy of Flickr A brain-washing of the public is taking place and it must be stopped. This deception is on full display in a New York Times current bestseller, Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days that Changed the World, by Chris Wallace. Wallace, son of the late 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace, is a TV anchor at Fox News and (with the help of his co-author, Mitch Weiss) knows how to write a thriller. The book is written as a great adventure story, with heroes overcoming adversity “to get the job done and bring our boys home.” While not ignoring the moral dilemma or at least the pause it gave the new U.S. president, Harry Truman, in deciding to use the atomic bomb for his stated purpose of ending the war in Japan, the book leaves the reader with justification for using the bomb. Wallace writes: “Despite all his misgivings, Truman knew he had to drop the bomb. The Manhattan Project had given him a weapon to potentially end the war. And no matter how devastating their losses, the Japanese refused to surrender. They left him no choice.” This is propaganda of the first order. Demoralized and defeated by incessant American fire-bombing of Tokyo and other centres, Japan was ready to surrender and asked only that the Emperor, Hirohito, be allowed to stay on the throne. Truman insisted on “unconditional surrender,” yet when the surrender did come after the atomic bombings, the emperor was allowed to retain his position. Truman rejected advice that the Japanese military leaders be shown a demonstration of the bomb before its actual use. He accepted the argument that countless American soldiers’ lives would be saved by not having to invade Japan. Actually, as historical records show, there was no military justification for the use of the bomb. It wasn’t needed to win the war. The real reason for its use was that Truman considered it primarily as a political tool in the burgeoning U.S.-Soviet power struggle, a sad truth that only became evident a few years later when the Soviets also exploded an atomic device, thus starting the nuclear arms race. U.S. censorship tried to keep the scenes of carnage from the American public, but a year later, the full horror of the attacks got out, principally through John Hersey's book, Hiroshima. Photograph courtesy of Commons Wikimedia The Wallace book ignores the even more outrageous violation of morality in the second use in Nagasaki. Apparently, it wasn’t enough to kill 140,000 persons in Hiroshima; another 74,000 people were killed in the Nagasaki explosion to hasten the surrender. U.S. censorship tried to keep the scenes of carnage from the American public, but a year later, the full horror of the attacks got out, principally through John Hersey’s masterful work, Hiroshima. But as time passed, the scenes of devastation faded from public memory, which is precisely what the nuclear planners wanted in order that public opinion would accept the “necessity” of modern nuclear weapons to maintain the military doctrine of nuclear deterrence. The atomic bomb was not needed in 1945, and nuclear weapons are not needed today for security. In fact, it is the reverse: nuclear weapons are the biggest impediment to global security. That is the argument that must be focussed on, not the events of 1945. The great danger in the Wallace book is not just that it exculpates the U.S. from its unleashing of the atomic bomb but that it dulls the senses to the continuing pileup of nuclear weapons in the world today. If the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred today, they would instantly be labelled a war crime because in the past 75 years a body of international humanitarian law has been built up. In 1996, the International Court of Justice ruled that the use of a nuclear weapon would contravene international humanitarian law. The public conscience must be awakened to what is going on now. The Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which includes 16 organizations, does this powerfully in a new Call to Action. It wants Canada to make nuclear disarmament “among the highest priorities for Canada,” get NATO to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, and sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The Call to Action warns: “Another nuclear event could occur at any time. We must do everything within our collective power to rid the world of this existential threat and to preserve our planet for succeeding generations.” This is what we need to concentrate on, not the past. Former Senator Douglas Roche was Canadian ambassador for disarmament 1984-89. The Hill Times