HOORAY for Mandela! and all like him, with the courage to speak the truth as he sees it. I only disagree with his statement in that it was not JUST a callous decision, to drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also a racist, cold-blooded, purposeful, heinous, morbid, unnecessary, heartless, inhumane, etc, decision. War crimes if there ever were any, and for which every American bears the shame, burden, responsibility and consequences.

We as a nation are as far as any ever was or is from some moral highground. AND further away then some. We should be doing anything and everything we can, as the richest nation in the history of the world to help all the people of the world, instead of threatening them with the future use of our nuclear arms, as we are now doing.

There is no inherent automatic pride in being an American, just gratitude for the freedoms we still have, and an opportunity to make the world a lightly better place, one person at a time. Not by acquiring as much money & power & stuff as one can, but by learning to be at peace with oneself and neighbors. Our freedoms are not for exploiting others for one's gains, but freedom to become the best one can as an individual, & not at the expense of the group or the planet.