Hiroshima 58 years later

It’s been 58 years today since the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan by the US in an attempt to finish the Second World War. The vaporization of this city and 230,000 of its inhabitants then the bombing of Nagasaki and 74,000 more people 3 days later on August 9, 1945 was enough for the Japanese to throw in the towel. Yes it ended the war, but was it worth it? Who’s to say? I don’t believe that any violent loss of life, especially civilian, is necessary or acceptable. I’m glad I don’t have to make those life and death decisions. That kind of thing is better left to sociopathic politicians willing to kill for the ‘greater good’. I pray that this never happens again. But the barometer is rising in many parts of the world and signs are pointing to nuclear conflict, or at the very least a standoff, within the next 5 years.

During remeberance ceremonies today in Hiroshima, the mayor of that city lashed out at the Bush administration’s policies on nuclear weapons. As someone who governed a state where the death penalty is so casually meted out and as a right-leaning President with a September 11th sized chip (and rightly so) on his shoulder, I’m not sure Mr Bush is listening. Honestly, that scares me.