With the annual groaning over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a widely ignored fact is that Japan had started its own atomic programs before the United States: the Imperial Army's and the Navy's, both in close collaboration with Nazi Germany.
Japan had already developed and used diabolical biological and chemical weapons on civilian populations, and had initiated civilian city bombing (Shanghai, etc.) in addition to massive widespread conventional atrocities Asia-wide. So who can doubt that Japan wouldn't have used atomic weapons as soon as they had them. The war was already lost so why did Japan continue to refuse to surrender? Because they were hoping to have this weapon first but were just a little late.
The responsibility for Hiroshima and Nagasaki rests squarely with the militarists and the Emperor Showa who the ultra-rightists claim was a naive and uninformed figurehead. Yet no Japanese would have gone to war if the Emperor had strongly opposed it. I, as all, abhor the development and use of these weapons, but let's get the facts straight. Japan needs a fresh and honest assessment of its World War II victim mentality.
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