We didn’t need to drop the bomb — and even our WW II military icons knew it

[LS_Editor]

84. Where was the surrender of the Japanese after the first bomb?

That inflicts a mortal blow to this "imminent surrender" argument.

Massive casualties were projected for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Americans would be outraged, to say the least, if tens or hundreds of thousands of Americans were killed and maimed when they learned President Truman could have used the ultimate weapon of the atomic bomb.

Further, the Soviet Union was mobilizing to join the war against Japan, potentially setting up a new arena for the cold war to come.

War crimes? Absolutely. The war was devastating, most especially to civilians. And the firebombing of German cities by American and British bombers killed more people than both atomic bombs. The Germans, Russians, and Japanese all have the blood of millions on their hands through their own well-documented war crimes.