Ban the bomb!

Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hirsohima, one of the United States' major war crimes. The human toll, including deaths from radiation sickness, has now officially reached 253,008. That's more than 84 times the death toll of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Those who defend the bombing say it saved the lives of thousands of allied soldiers and speeded up the capitulation of Japan. Saving the lives of allied soldiers does not justify the cold-blooded murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians in enemy territory. (CNN: “Japan commemorates Hiroshima dead”)

OK, the U.S. had a new toy and wanted to show it to the world in a display of “shock and awe”. First of all, Japan was already prepared to negotiate a surrender if the U.S. would have agreed to Japan's request to keep its emperor or if the Soviet Union would have declared war on Japan a little earlier. Atomic pyrotechnics were not essential to speed up the process. Secondly, the U.S. could have exploded an atomic bomb over the ocean or in a sparsely populated area to demonstrate its might and warned that – in the absence of a speedy capitulation – large population centers would be targeted. Instead, Harry Truman decided to murder hundreds of thousands of civilians. What's even worse, not once, but twice. Following the horrors of Hiroshima, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.

Dropping the bombs had very little to do with Japan. It was a show of strength to warn America's new enemy: the Soviet Union.

So what's the status today? By signing the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970, the nuclear powers promised to significantly reduce their nuclear arsenals. The main culprit remains the U.S. Three of the original Big Five powers – the U.K., France and China – only have small nuclear arsenals, forces de frappe to respond to a nuclear attack, but without the overwhelming force to take on the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia. Following the demise of the Soviet Union, much of Russia's nuclear assets have fallen into disrepair, neglect reducing its potency.

That leaves the U.S. with an arsenal capable to destroy the whole planet several times over. Washington doesn't take any option of the table, which means it remains ready to actually use once again the atom bomb, now much more devastating in its destructive power compared to the baby bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Moreover, the U.S. is still developing newer, more advanced, more destructive nuclear bombs. The average annual spending on nuclear weapons by the U.S. during the Cold War was 4.2 billion in current dollars. This year the figure is 6.4 billion.

Freedom of speech is a holy concept, but it's repulsive that some still have the criminal audacity to defend the use of nuclear weapons. (The Guardian: “Terrible, but not a crime”) This is unacceptable. Oliver Kamm should be prosecuted for advocating war crimes.

Those who want to read more about the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can turn to Gar Alperovitz's masterpiece “The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb”. Or view the HBO documentary “White Light/Black Rain” (truthout: “HBO Airs A-Bomb Footage Kept From Media for Decades”)

On this August 6, let's all unite to Ban the Bomb!