Hmmm. Well, it was a terrorist action. Mostly civilians were hurt. The fact that the Japanese put most of their important military targets inside of civilian areas is no real excuse. Look at us: Our military bases are "grown" in or around towns, or towns grew up around the military bases. Same with the Pentagon.
"The committee rejected the use of the weapon against a strictly military objective because of the chance of missing a small target not surrounded by a larger urban area. The psychological effects on Japan were of great importance to the committee members. They also agreed that the initial use of the weapon should be sufficiently spectacular for its importance to be internationally recognized." - quote from Wikipedia
How does that differ from the towers? Not much - except a few thousand killed at the towers vs. perhaps 200,000 in the two cities. The "psychological effect" is a important tool of terrorism... as it is in war. After the Hiroshima bombing, President Truman announced, "If they do not not accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth." And that plans were to keep bombing them until they surrendered or were pretty much destroyed.
Ah well. Everyone is a terrorist, sometimes, as you said. Some say the bombing of Japan was a war crime, or a crime against humanity. Some say not. Some say it ended the war quickly and saved a lot of lives. Some say not, but that more innocent people died in those 2 bombings than would have died in any other type of normal military effort. In the end it is hindsight and not really 20/20.
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Date: 2007-09-30 09:04 pm (UTC)"The committee rejected the use of the weapon against a strictly military objective because of the chance of missing a small target not surrounded by a larger urban area. The psychological effects on Japan were of great importance to the committee members. They also agreed that the initial use of the weapon should be sufficiently spectacular for its importance to be internationally recognized." - quote from Wikipedia
How does that differ from the towers? Not much - except a few thousand killed at the towers vs. perhaps 200,000 in the two cities. The "psychological effect" is a important tool of terrorism... as it is in war. After the Hiroshima bombing, President Truman announced, "If they do not not accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth." And that plans were to keep bombing them until they surrendered or were pretty much destroyed.
Ah well. Everyone is a terrorist, sometimes, as you said. Some say the bombing of Japan was a war crime, or a crime against humanity. Some say not. Some say it ended the war quickly and saved a lot of lives. Some say not, but that more innocent people died in those 2 bombings than would have died in any other type of normal military effort. In the end it is hindsight and not really 20/20.