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Atomic Bombing of Japan: Was it a war crime? (70th "The use of means…
Atomic Bombing of Japan: Was it a war crime?
Opening
Thesis
The use of atomic weapons during WWII represented a war crime by the United States
Opening Info Used
In August of 1945 the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Jap towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1)
War Crime: An act committed during a war that violates international law usually because it is cruel, unfair, etc.
One third of the population of Hiroshima and one quarter of the population of Nagasaki died relatively soon after the blast (1)
On July 16, 1945, 400 observers watched as the first atomic bomb was detonated in an empty space in the NM desert
First and Second body
International Criminal Court
Origins date back to a temporary national body developed after the first world war (10)
Established so Kaiser Wilhelm could be charged with stating the war (10)
As well as punishing the use of chemical warfare (10)
Adopted by 120 governments with 7 opposed and 21 abstentions (10)
Rome, July 17, 1998 (10)
Countries like the US and Israel voted against it, therefore not entering it (10)
Were afraid it could swing political power (10)
Developed over 200 laws and regulations for war time between nations
Despite the US possibly taking place in any war crimes, they are rarely ever recognized
The same happened during the Nuremburg Trials, where attorneys attempted to connect the Dresden bombings where Churchill ordered the bombing on a German city where 35,000-100,000 civilians were killed. However, the court ruled it an unfair comparison. (2)
It is common practice that in war, the victor decides what is considered a war crime (2)
Defense Attorneys who defended Japanese Leaders in court against War Crime Charges attempted to make the same connection to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the US barred the defenders from using that as evidence.(2)
Attack on Pearl Harbor: Not nearly comparable
49 civilians were killed and 35 were injured(8)
350 Japanese Warplanes attacked (8)
Killed 2,404 and injured 1,014 Americans(8)
Took place December 7, 1941 (8)
190,000 killed from atomic bombs, 2404 killed at PH
Just over 1% of PH casualties compared to Hir & Nag
94% higher
“Rule 13. Attacks by bombardment by any method or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects are prohibited.” (5)
The United states had begun firebombing Japanese cities centered around manufacturing, forcing many Japanese military buildings to integrate themselves with civilian buildings hoping it would act like a shield (3)
5) Each military party must do everything in its power to stop an attack that plans or changes its plan to attack an area where civilians and their property are located (5)
People living within a 10km radius experienced terrible radiation effects (1)
Merriam Webster definition of a war crime
Just over 160 specific laws (5)
Violating just one constitutes a war crime
70th "The use of means and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering is prohibited."
The study is appealing because it covers a wide range of characteristics, like sex, age, location (relative to the blast), time spent near blast, cause of death, etc.
For 2 decades’ researchers studied death certificates trying to understand the penetration effects of radiation in between 2-10km of ground zero
Exposure to a dose of radiation similar to that of which the people living near either cities experienced may lead to an excess relative risk of childhood cancer of about 50 percent
Thousands were left to parish weeks, months, and years after the bombs had hit, with symptoms of burns, marrow depletion, and complications from radiation
o The findings were
A peak in the relative mortality risk of leukemia, an extremely rare disease
Solid cancers also saw an increase in quantity, adding to the percentage of death rates due to cancer in Japan
Data showed that the proportion of cancer based deaths has an almost linear correlation with proximity to ground zero
The risk of cancer among atomic-bomb survivors has persisted for 6 decades
The death rates didn’t even consider this who died in the five years after the bomb dropped, which was likely to be an extremely high number
Rule 2: Acts or threats of violence done for the sole purpose of spreading fear among the civilian population is prohibited
The survey also showed that the most crucial consideration for surrender was due to the frequent and destructive air raids done to Japanese freight ships and harbors
This crippled their economy and therefore their society
Some argue that after a year or so, it became obvious that the US was going to win, and the fact that they kept pushing showed they meant to prove a point
By July 1945, American bombardments had begun to worry inner Japanese cabinet members, 3 of which pushed for a peaceful transition into accepting the Potsdam terms of surrender
US dropped the bomb was to show the Russians how powerful the US was, hoping that they would then back down and meet American Demands
"even without the atomic bomb, Japan was likely to surrender in a matter of months-Japan would capitulate by November 1945." Paul Nitze
Counter Argument
It saved American lives
Rawls argues that another reason the bomb was dropped was so the Japanese Leaders could save face, as they were most likely not going to quit until the US showed their exceptional militaristic might
Many demanded a quick resolution to the war, fearing that a desperate Jap. People with their backs against the wall would create a problem if left alone too long
June 1945, Truman began to assemble a final push to invade Japan
He received an estimated 35% casualty rate, or 268,000 of the 767,000 men scheduled to participate, maybe even higher
Despite this being substantially more, we have to remember that these would be soldiers
“We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.”// President Truman
The Japanese Started it with Pearl Harbor
The lasting impacts on the two cities is much worse then PH
It still doesn't remove the fact that it was a war crime
Yes, but at PH it was 2% civilian death rate, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was much higher
Since the people had no direct involvement in the war, and due to its government system, had no democratic say in the war, they shouldn’t have been punished