Subject:
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Re: More on Palestine
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 9 Oct 2001 07:11:12 GMT
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Viewed:
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345 times
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> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Tom Stangl writes:
> If you mean the atomic explosions, you've got an awfully strange idea of the
> definition of terrorism.
What defines terrorism? Is it the act itself or the people who do it? Or is
it situational? During the Revolutionary War, George Washington was a
terrorist to the British and obviously I disagree with that. Dropping
nuclear weapons on innocent men, women and children may not be "terrorism"
to Americans but I'm sure it was to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Either way, both were barbaric acts that historical research proved to be
unnecessary. Japan was against the wall, perhaps a month away from surrender
and was already discussing surrender via the Soviets as an intermediary to
America (the Japanese were trying to save face). But Truman went ahead with
using the atomic bomb on Japan not to hasten their surrender, as was
previously claimed, but to show the Soviets our military might and possibly
deal us a bigger hand in the post-WWII era. And both targets we chose had no
military significance. They were "virgin targets," meaning that they had not
sustained any previous bombing. Thus, our scientists could (and did) later
study the effects of atomic weapons on buildings, vegetation and people.
So, if it was unnecessary to use atomic weapons to hasten Japan's surrender,
it is reasonable to conclude that they were meant to strike fear in the
Soviets as well as the Japanese. Isn't that terrorism?
Dan
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: More on Palestine
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| (...) Really? What? If you mean the atomic explosions, you've got an awfully strange idea of the definition of terrorism. -- Tom Stangl ***(URL) Visual FAQ home ***(URL) Bay Area DSMs (23 years ago, 9-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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