Japanese Politician Tells the Truth and Has to Apologize

No question, the atomic bombing of Japan is a controversial subject to many (but not to me). There are those within American academia that would criticize America for choosing the atomic path to end WWII, and some of those even attempted to enshrine that nonsense into the Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian. They were quickly run out of there by saner minds.

In Japan, one politician made the mistake of telling the truth, and now has felt the need to apologize:

Japan's defense minister apologized on Sunday for comments about the 1945 U.S. atomic bomb attacks on the country which outraged survivors and drew criticism from the ruling bloc ahead of a key election in late July.

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said he had not meant to offend the victims when he said on Saturday the bombings "couldn't be helped" because they had brought World War Two to an end and had prevented the Soviet Union from entering the war against Japan.

"If my remarks were seen as lacking regard for the feelings of atomic bomb victims, then I am sorry," he told a news conference.

On Saturday, Kyuma had said in a speech: "My understanding is that it ended the war and that it couldn't be helped ... I don't hold a grudge against the United States."

The reality is that many of the Japanese who are so outraged by Mr. Kyuma's comments, not to mention their descendants, wouldn't be alive today if the U.S. hadn't used the atomic bombs to stop the war. Had America and its allies proceeded with the invasion of the Japanese home islands, millions more Japanese civilians and military, as well as Allied forces, would have been killed in the ensuing carnage. For the survivors of the atomic attacks, I'm sure life hasn't been easy, but at least they survived. They may well have perished in Japan had the bombs not been available and the war had dragged on for several more years.