On August 6th, in 1945, the world saw the first use of atomic weapons against human targets. On this day 63 years ago, humanity lost its nuclear virginity. Until the end of time we will be a species that has used fission bombs in anger.
Time has passed, and we still haven't blown up our world, despite a close call or two. Which makes it difficult to criticize the decision - would things still have turned out all right, if anyone had chosen differently, anywhere along the way?
Maybe we needed to see the ruins, of the city and the people.
Maybe we didn't.
There's an ongoing debate - and no, it is not a settled issue - over whether the Japanese would have surrendered without the Bomb. But I would not have dropped the Bomb even to save the lives of American soldiers, because I would have wanted to preserve that world where atomic weapons had never been used - to not cross that line. I don't know about history to this point; but the world would be safer now, I think, today, if no one had ever used atomic weapons in war, and the idea was not considered suitable for polite discussion.
I'm not saying it was wrong. I don't know for certain that it was wrong. I wouldn't have thought that humanity could make it this far without using atomic weapons again. All I can say is that if it had been me, I wouldn't have done it.
I am reminded of one of the medieval popes who banned the use of crossbows against Christians because it was too 'horrific' a weapon to use against 'civilized' people.
I don't recall a single nuke being used in Vietnam, and none have been used in Iraq, but those wars are still messing people up pretty well. It's not clear to me how killing lots of people all at once in a sudden flash is better than killing them slowly and agonizingly with napalm, or incendiary bombs, or machine guns, or crushed beneath tank treads, or rusty bayonets.
Mayhap there's a form of cognitive bias lurking here to be overcome?