There's a bigger picture here than many of you are willing to step back to examine.

What I think is that those who feel their lives were saved by the U.S. committing mass murder with the bombs over Japan aren't going to change their minds. If the bombs hadn't been dropped the continuation of war much beyond that point (equating to the loss of more American lives) or the conditional surrender of Japan (yeah, like we wouldn't have argued for different conditions?) are conjecture.

Those raised in a Western tradition have a language that encodes our philosophies and our history. The same can be said for other cultures speaking other languages, and this is why we have such difficulties in understanding what other cultures are thinking--the hard wiring is distinctly different. (A recent study in Nature highlighted this, though it has been discussed at length for years). Just as today Bush-lite seems to have no one advising him who really understands the Arab way of thinking or how to behave when we're over there, Truman evidently didn't have anyone to consult on the subject of the Asian mind-set when it comes to warfare or negotiation. And the propaganda folks sure weren't going to accomodate the American public at large as to what might be going on in the heads of the Japanese we were fighting against.

Coming from an All-things-being-equal standpoint of a life lost is a life lost, no matter where it is, the Japanese paid a far higher price than they should have as the war was winding down. U.S. politicians and scientists created their bomb that they just had to try, and if the surrender had happened, then they couldn't try it out. Read between the lines.

War is horrible, no one should lose a life in such a way. But the U.S. upped the ante to such a level that the world will never be the same again. Even if one could justify (which I don't) Hiroshima, to drop the second on Nagasaki should be considered a war crime. Better that traditional warfare had continued and the end had come soon than those abominations of the American industrial military complex were dropped to have it end suddenly. The cost to the world was too great.

SRS