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From: kfk@ccieng2.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: addendum to my flame
Message-ID: <107@ccieng2.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Feb-84 16:47:18 EST
Article-I.D.: ccieng2.107
Posted: Wed Feb  8 16:47:18 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 03:23:52 EST
Organization: Computer Consoles Inc., Rochester, NY
Lines: 39

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	From stolaf!twiss Thu Feb  2 18:49:35 1984
	Subject: Re: addendum to my flame
	>	The use of the bomb brought about a merciful close to WWII
	____________________

	Merciful?!?!?   All those people killed??   Many suffering still from
	radiation sickness??  Those that didn't die immediately suffered
	*horribly* from radiation sickness.  I don't know if I can resolve the
	question because, morally, it's very complex.  But how can we possibly
	refer to the destruction caused by the nuclear bombs "merciful"?!?!?!?!
----------
Yes, merciful.  If you're going to have massive death counts, would you rather
count deaths in tens and hundreds of thousands, or do you prefer the big leap
straight to the millions?  I, for one, am much in favor of the lower numbers
for such things.

Yes, there was horrible radiation sickness.  Just what do you expect?  The
fact remains that, although MANY were killed and MANY suffered from radiation
sickness, FAR, FAR MANY *MORE* would have died if the fighting had been al-
lowed to go on using traditional warfare.

To all who object to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and who are under
35 years of age:  If your father, like mine, was in that war, and if he was
in the Phillipines (or that general area of the world), then he was being
prepared for the assault on the home islands.  I know my father was.  He was
a Captain in the Army, and he was in one of two divisions which were going
to be the first ones to make the assault.  The final decision as to which
division would actually be THE first was going to be made by coin toss, in
order to make sure that no favoritism could be suggested for such an ugly
assignment.  The anticipated casualties for the first 20,000 men sent were
estimated at about 60-70%, which is MIGHTY high.  The next time you're
thinking of accusing the U.S. of being such horrible place for having
dropped nuclear weapons on Japan, think about the fact that, if they HADN'T
been dropped, you would have only had about a 30-40% chance of being here
to sit on your duff and complain about it all.
-- 
Karl Kleinpaste
...![ [seismo, allegra]!rochester!ritcv, rlgvax]!ccieng5!ccieng2!kfk