Peace's 69th

From Yahoo:
"Japan marks 69th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing"

Japan marked the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday, as Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to visit the city to see the scars of the atomic bombing first hand. In his "peace declaration" speech, Matsui invited world leaders to his once-devastated hometown, referring to a proposal made at a ministerial meeting in April of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative in Hiroshima, urging them to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima launched a campaign this year to send invitation letters to Obama, written on papers recycled from tens of millions of "origami" cranes — a symbol of peace — sent from around the world. About 45,000 people stood for a minute of silence at the ceremony in Hiroshima's peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack that killed up to 140,000 people. A second bombing, over Nagasaki three days later, killed another 70,000, prompting Japan's surrender in World War II. The number of surviving victims, known as "hibakusha," was just more than 190,000 this year. Their average age is 79, and many of the attendants at the ceremony were their younger relatives and descendants. Hiroshima officials said 5,507 survivors died over the past year.

 

 

^ I don't like how the Japanese and others are trying to re-write history so that they are the victims. The Germans have tried that several times and it doesn't work and the same should be for the Japanese. At least the Germans openly admit their crimes while the Japanese continue to hide their crimes and claim they are victims of the war - despite the fact that THEY joined with Germany and Italy. They (the Japanese) attacked the US and brought us into the war. They did unspeakable crimes against American, British, Dutch, Australian, Canadian and New Zealander soldiers (as well as civilians.) The Japanese were brutal in their occupations of Asia (against both the natives as well as the Western ones.) Their belief that one should rather die than surrender made them even more brutal than any other military. The fact that we had to use not one but two atomic bombs shows how the Japanese at the time were brainwashed to fight to the death. The US should never apologize for dropping the bombs as it was the only way the Emperor and the Japanese would agree to surrender. Had we not dropped the bombs the war would have dragged on for years and thousands of Allied troops would have been killed. I'm not sorry we used the bombs and am sure we would have used them on Germany too if they were ready before the Germans surrender - and I would be fine with that too. All is fair in love and war - especially when you didn't start the war. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/japan-marks-69th-anniversary-hiroshima-bombing-011405185.html