To the Editor:
Well I guess I’ve been told by this year’s simple-minded contributor: “These bombings (of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan) were indiscriminate acts of destruction and death….” (Catholic Messenger, Aug. 8, “Nuclear weapons: A crime against God”). No such thing; they destroyed and killed exactly who and what was intended.
“… [C]rimes against God and man himself.” I will remind the hyphenated editor of the thousands and thousands of civilized Americans and their counterparts in the Allies who were murdered by the Japs in their POW camps. Not combat deaths, but murders.
“And therefore, merit unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation.” Apparently, neither Admiral William Leahy nor the contributor (columnist Tony Magliano) had any family members in the forces scheduled to invade Japan. The bomb was dropped and hundreds of thousands of civilized Americans and Allies’ lives were saved.
This is yet another example of history taken out of context and twisted to make Americans the bad guys.
Jay Fitzpatrick
Bettendorf
