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http://snipurl.com/gsi9 The myths of Hiroshima By Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin KAI BIRD and MARTIN J. SHERWIN are coauthors of "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer," published earlier this year by Knopf. August 5, 2005 Los Angeles Times SIXTY YEARS ago [on August 6th], an atomic bomb was dropped without warning on the center of the Japanese city of Hiroshima. One hundred and forty thousand people were killed, more than 95% of them women and children and other noncombatants. At least half of the victims died of radiation poisoning over the next few months. Three days after Hiroshima was obliterated, the city of Nagasaki suffered a similar fate. The magnitude of death was enormous, but on Aug. 14, 1945 just five days after the Nagasaki bombing Radio Tokyo announced that the Japanese emperor had accepted the U.S. terms for surrender. To many Americans at the time, and still for many today, it seemed clear that the bomb had ended the war, even "saving" a million lives that might have been lost if the U.S. had been required to invade mainland Japan. This powerful narrative took root quickly and is now deeply embedded in our historical sense of who we are as a nation. A decade ago, on the 50th anniversary, this narrative was reinforced in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution on the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first bomb. The exhibit, which had been the subject of a bruising political battle, presented nearly 4 million Americans with an officially sanctioned view of the atomic bombings that again portrayed them as a necessary act in a just war. But although patriotically correct, the exhibit and the narrative on which it was based were historically inaccurate. For one thing, the Smithsonian downplayed the casualties, saying only that the bombs "caused many tens of thousands of deaths" and that Hiroshima was "a definite military target." Americans were also told that use of the bombs "led to the immediate surrender of Japan and made unnecessary the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands." But it's not that straightforward. As Tsuyoshi Hasegawa has shown definitively in his new book, "Racing the Enemy" and many other historians have long argued it was the Soviet Union's entry into the Pacific war on Aug. 8, two days after the Hiroshima bombing, that provided the final "shock" that led to Japan's capitulation. The Enola Gay exhibit also repeated such outright lies as the assertion that "special leaflets were dropped on Japanese cities" warning civilians to evacuate. The fact is that atomic bomb warning leaflets were dropped on Japanese cities, but only after Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed. The hard truth is that the atomic bombings were unnecessary. A million lives were not saved. Indeed, McGeorge Bundy, the man who first popularized this figure, later confessed that he had pulled it out of thin air in order to justify the bombings in a 1947 Harper's magazine essay he had ghostwritten for Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. The bomb was dropped, as J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, said in November 1945, on "an essentially defeated enemy." President Truman and his closest advisor, Secretary of State James Byrnes, quite plainly used it primarily to prevent the Soviets from sharing in the occupation of Japan. And they used it on Aug. 6 even though they had agreed among themselves as they returned home from the Potsdam Conference on Aug. 3 that the Japanese were looking for peace. These unpleasant historical facts were censored from the 1995 Smithsonian exhibit, an action that should trouble every American. When a government substitutes an officially sanctioned view for publicly debated history, democracy is diminished. Today, in the post-9/11 era, it is critically important that the U.S. face the truth about the atomic bomb. For one thing, the myths surrounding Hiroshima have made it possible for our defense establishment to argue that atomic bombs are legitimate weapons that belong in a democracy's arsenal. But if, as Oppenheimer said, "they are weapons of aggression, of surprise and of terror," how can a democracy rely on such weapons? Oppenheimer understood very soon after Hiroshima that these weapons would ultimately threaten our very survival. Presciently, he even warned us against what is now our worst national nightmare and Osama bin Laden's frequently voiced dream an atomic suitcase bomb smuggled into an American city: "Of course it could be done," Oppenheimer told a Senate committee, "and people could destroy New York." Ironically, Hiroshima's myths are now motivating our enemies to attack us with the very weapon we invented. Bin Laden repeatedly refers to Hiroshima in his rambling speeches. It was, he believes, the atomic bombings that shocked the Japanese imperial government into an early surrender and, he says, he is planning an atomic attack on the U.S. that will similarly shock us into retreating from the Mideast. Finally, Hiroshima's myths have gradually given rise to an American unilateralism born of atomic arrogance. Oppenheimer warned against this "sleazy sense of omnipotence." He observed that "if you approach the problem and say, 'We know what is right and we would like to use the atomic bomb to persuade you to agree with us,' then you are in a very weak position and you will not succeed . You will find yourselves attempting by force of arms to prevent a disaster." --------------- Protesters rally for peace at Y-12 15 arrested at protest marking 60th anniversary of bombing of Hiroshima *By JOHN HUOTARI, [EMAIL PROTECTED] August 7, 2005 OAK RIDGE - Organizers said it was the largest peace protest in East Tennessee history, and it ended with the arrest of 15 protesters who were blocking the roadway in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Before their arrests, some of the protesters carried signs saying the United States is violating federal and international law by making bombs at the Y-12 complex. The 15 were part of a group of more than 1,000 peace activists who gathered near the Y-12 main entrance Saturday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II. The bomb's uranium-235 was produced at Y-12, and the bomb killed tens of thousands. The plant continues to make parts for every warhead in this country's nuclear arsenal, and is the main storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The peace protest was organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. It drew people from across the country as well as from Great Britain and Australia. Oak Ridge Police Department Capt. Alan Massengill said the arrested protesters would be released with a misdemeanor citation for blocking a roadway, as long as they didn't have a record or prior offenses. Those arrested blocked Scarboro Road north and south of the Y-12 entrance. Andrew Weatherly, a teacher from Asheville, N.C., was one of those arrested. "We have to set the example," he said, citing a lack of protests in Nazi Germany as a good reason to protest Saturday. Weatherly was released and is to appear in court Tuesday. Steven Wyatt, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees Y-12, defended the plant's mission. "Y-12 is extremely important to the security of our nation," he said. "Our main job is to ensure the reliability of the nuclear weapon stockpile." Wyatt said the plant supports nuclear non-proliferation efforts. And, he added, by making sure existing weapons are reliable, the plant allows the nation to reduce its nuclear arsenal and need for nuclear testing. Wyatt would not comment on the legality of the Y-12 work, but he said the plant meets all state and federal laws. Wyatt also could not say how many security officers were present. At least two-dozen security officers and federal officials could be seen inside the Y-12 perimeter. Buddhist monk Gyoshu Utsumi, an Atlanta resident, walked 300 miles to Oak Ridge from the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. He said the walk took three weeks. "We are trying to help OREPA," he said. Another 15 protesters biked to Oak Ridge from Knoxville on Friday night. Along the way, OREPA board member Kip Williams said, they got overwhelming support from passing motorists. "It was a protest but it also was a pilgrimage," he said. "We believe that what's happening here at Y-12 is both illegal and immoral." Patrick O'Neill drove to the protest from Garner, N.C. "When it comes to the nuclear arms race," he said, "Y-12 is the belly of the beast." Throughout the day, protesters participated in a remembrance and names ceremony (of both Hiroshima victims and the 67 Oak Ridge scientists who petitioned President Truman in July 1945 to not "resort to the use of atomic bombs."), a march, a rally and a peace lantern ceremony. Events started around 6 a.m. and ran into the evening. About a dozen counter-protesters were also at the protest Saturday. Some of them supported the right of the protesters to speak out. "We feel like they've got the right to do so because it was paid for by the veterans," said Kelly Gaddy, a Chattanooga resident and president of Rolling Thunder Inc., Chapter 2 TN, an organization for veterans. But Kelly didn't agree with their message. "If it weren't for the bomb, we probably wouldn't be here today," he said. "If we disarm in America, we'd have all kinds of hell over here." "You've gotta protect yourself," added Ray Smith, a Rolling Thunder member. On Saturday evening, ORPD Lt. Scott Ball said four of the arrested protesters had been released on misdemeanor citations. The other 11 have been taken to the Anderson County Jail, he said. He did not have more information on their status. Similar demonstrations were held at the nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California and the Nevada Test Site. John Huotari may be reached at 865-342-6271. _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will become disabled or deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the information in this e-mail is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. 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