And for him and his handlers not to expect a question like this and have an ass-covering response pre-written and memorized shows what a bunch of clowns they all really are.

Considering that every visiting USA prez has been asked a similar question, it was sad to watch. As for the bombings themselves to quote General Sherman "war is Hell" and the bible "he who sows the wind, shall reap the whirlwind". The Imperial Japaneses reaped the whirlwind in spades. Then the americans rebuilt them up. Darn evil americans.

The answer, of course, is simply YES.

There are so few alive today who can recall the environment of the early 1940's. And those who did not live through or were directly impacted by WWII, have much more peaceful views. However, talk to someone who participated in the D-Day landings, or witnessed the battle at Iwo Jima, and they will reply with little doubt in their eyes.

This was a fairly predictable question, not sure why POTUS wasn't able to provide an effective response.

He really is lost without the teleprompter. The number of uhhhs is more than any I've heard from anyone including professional athletes being interviewed after the game. It's painful listening to him.

400,000 chinese raped shot drowned buried alive bayoneted in about a 2 week period in Nanking(an "action' consistent with overall Japanese wartime military policy)...and this cruddy reporter has the nuts to query American morality...

...and this cruddy egoist doesn't have the nuts to throw the question back in his face....

you know...i'd bet a dollar the big O has never heard of the rape of nanking...

john begley - yes, I agree and bet you're right

However, given the excessively polite and deferential nature of the Japanese, this reporter was actually a bit more bold than the American press in asking a "real question", and asking twice for an answer

Next time a Japanese reporter asks any American that question,the pol would garner a lot of admiration if he replied,"how sensible an action was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941,that resulted in the consequent American actions"?

He could further state,"we shouldn't try to second guess out leaders from the perspective of 60plus years of hindsight".

Enough of former aggressor Nations trying to capitalize on victimhood today.

"Obama, on the other hand, positively revels in The Great I Am."

Hmmmmmm! I think Someone else made claim to that.

The nation that launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour and who was responsible for the rape of Nanking and the Burma railroad is seeking to question the morality of others participating in the war THEY STARTED?

Card of shame for you!

I keep wondering; doesn't he have advisors!? Not just his Chicago pretendo-ganster-buddies; I also mean protocol people, diplomats and such.

"Mr. President, it isn't considered quite the thing to present the Queen of G.B. and the Commonwealth with an iPod full of your own speeches" (although I suspect that one was deliberate - Kenyan revenge, sticking it to the limeys);

"Mr. President, don't bow to the King of Saudi Arabia/Emperor of Japan, that's a huge faux pas";

"Mr. President, you've announced that you want to visit Hiroshima; someone might ask you about it."

"Mr. President, try not talking about how cool you are all the damn time."

Or is he so grandiose that he would never listen?

He should look to China for a proper response to the Japanese attempt to revise their part in WW2.

He can control the Beltway media but not the Japanese counterpart.
Humma huma huma. Without his teleprompter he makes Ralph Cramden look like an orator.

This is what we should expect from this empty-headed narcissist. Moral relativism.

The Americans, in their battles and bitter fought conquests of the Pacific Islands, learned that the 'Japs' fought to the death, to the last man. In their conclusions, the Americans realized that Japan would continue this mass suicide until the last man standing, along with large American casualties, before the war would reach its conclusion.

The Americans warned the Japanese and issued an ultimatum, the Japs refused, and Hiroshima was bombed. Again, the Americans issued a call for surrender, and the Japanese did not respond. This is a point of argument amongst some apologists, but, the fact is, the Japanese still couldn't decide, and Nagasaki was bombed.

The end result, Japan surrendered, and thereby saved millions of innocent lives, and the complete destruction of Japan, as had occurred in Germany.

The revisionists refuse to learn from history, and instead rewrite their own wishful thoughts.

Owebummer didn't even want to get near this. That silence speaks volumes, and he knows he's in trouble. Hope Rush, Beck, et al, have a field day with this in the days to come. SHould be fun to hear what the bootlicker, Herr Olbermann and Mathews drool and obfuscate over this week. No doubt, they won't even acknowledge that wonderboy is in Japan,let alone refused to answer a direct question

Bill Whittle on "Jon Stewart said that Harry Truman was a “War Criminal” for dropping the atomic bombs on Japan."

http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_/The_True_Story_of_the_Atomic_Bombs/1808/

I think Bill Whittle over at PJTV said it pretty well in his response to Jon Stewart's war criminal comments.

The crazy part, is many people consider Jon Stewart a political commentator and news man.

Talk about a dumbed down society, but those arre Owebummer fans for me, as dumbed down as you get.

Jon Stewart is/was a comedian, but is well into the lefty loon moonbat camp

all in one, a mess in the making

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=e4nz6USUVr

prelude to the "spare change" promise

Nagasaki, for me, is the scene of great cosmological import. It is the seat of Catholicism of Japan and the gateway of foreign contact. It was also the scene of great persecution (most notably the twenty-six martyrs in the sixteenth century) of its own people and foreign traders who wished to open up (or rob, depending on how you look at it) Japan. After the bomb was dropped and hell washed over the city (much of the city was protected by hilly landscape), it rose again becoming a city where people were free to worship as they pleased (though the freedom to worship in Catholic churches was allowed for the Japanese in the late nineteenth century, the military government clamped down on non-Shinto religions during the thirties) and where visitors could see its beauty. It was, literally, a city that rose from the ashes.
I don't believe this could have happened without the bomb. I am not being sanguine about the bomb but how do you stop a militaristic, xenophobic state that would sacrifice its own people? Even Dr. Takashi Nagai in his book, "Bells of Nagasaki", stated that Japan reaped the consequences of its actions (wonderful book- read it). For anyone to ignore history in its entirety and the human cost is reprehensible. We should say, without reservation, it was necessary. Is Obama not a student of history? He's fond of pointing out how HE'S a part of it. Say it.
North Korea could very well bomb Japan again if we don't stop it and their rationale for that act is nothing short of evil. Will we keep quiet because a non-American country bombed it?

If course Jon Stewart considers truman a War Criminal....the question though is would Jon Stewart think that Harry Truman should be tried in a Japanese civil court for that act?

maybe the teleprompter was in japanese. LOL !!!

I still got that poster dated august 9 1945 11:02 a.m. tacked up on my workshop wall. God Bless Colonels Tibbetts and Sweeny.

that has gotta be the worst non-answer from The B.O. yet.

hey, mr braaack: you could set yer watch to the time lapse between nagasaki and the surrender ceremony in tokyo bay.

The crazy part, is many people consider Jon Stewart a political commentator and news man.
Posted by: DanBC at November 15, 2009 12:56 PM

Including the former Whitehouse advisor, Maoist Anita Dunn who, when recently questioned about the advisability of tagging Fox as a illegitame news organization, cited a excellent report by Jon Stewart on Fox News methodology.

There have been a lot of good points here about the dropping of the bombs on Japan.

My understanding is that Japan was also working on the bomb and was very close to success. (they couldn't say it on television if it wasn't true). I assume they would have dropped it on us without hesitation had they been successful.

Ghost of Ed (Norton?)

Since you referenced Ralph Kramden, I thought you would appreciate this cartoon

You have to be old to know the joke.

Decisiveness is not one of Obama's qualities. It's bad when even WaPo derides him for being spineless, weak and vacillating:

David Broder, Enough Afghan debate

Obama needs to remember what Clark Clifford, one of Harry Truman's closest advisers, said: that the president "believed that even a wrong decision was better than no decision at all."...

john begley:

did you read Iris Chang's book on Nanking?

supposedly she became suicidal for opening such a can or worms but I strongly suspect far more sinister explanation for her passing.

&$^#&#%#!^# jap warlords got *exactly* what they deserved and the whole japanese nation for propping them up.

The Bomb meant that not a single American soldier had to step on Japanese the beachhead. much different kettle of fish when the locals are opposing the landing to the death, like their soldiers. that invasion would have made Normandy look like a dry run. It would have gone on for months with more casualties than hiroshima and nagasaki ever caused.

Robert Oppenheimer's invention meant it was NO LONGER a war of attrition. the shock effect gave the japanese civilians the window of opportunity to surrender.

I laughed out loud Jake. Very good. And yes I'm old enough to remember.

I'm just curious though, about Stewart and his revisionist lefttard brethren, as to their obstinence to understand history, or their cavalier attitude about what their 20/20 vision is.

Are they too lazy to read and understand documented, unquestionable events of history? or is too painful, as it contradicts their indoctrinated education and propaganda?

Is it because they laugh at the 'duck and cover' advertising of 50's America, and consider the 'one lie must mean all lies' whitewash of military history?

It is scary to see where America is going with the dumbed down ME generation that thinks Jon Stewart is all knowing.

The subject of this thread absolutely invites OT posts regarding the morality/wisdom/necessity of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic raids.

This OT matter (the morality/wisdom/necessity of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic raids) has been reflected upon/analysed/debated ad nauseum and the simple matter that OBOZO lacked the simple wisdom to say YES....illustrates a ditherer.

On a simple tactical/strategic basis President Truman really had no other option.

Today in the US we are experiencing an anomoly.

President Obama is literally our first non-patriotic president.

This is an animal that we have no experience with.

I am more and more convinced Obama has some sort of mental derangement; hence, the refusal to present his health records. Not only can he not cope with answering a subject at hand, he cannot string two words together cohesively on any subject.

Is it any wonder that the issue of 'military service' comes up as a presidential qualification, in previous years?

Oops, the MSM glossed that one over.........

Jake, "the cartoon", is funny and the analogy is very apt.

DanBC, Clause #1 of the left's policy statement is: Revise truth and history to whatever suits the advancement of socialism".

Black Mamba:

Click on the link to the Boston Globe in Kate's article. Right in the middle of the article, Bambam is quoted as saying "I am the best advisor I have".

KB, he also said he was a better speech writer than all his speech writers and also new more history than all those who are in his present administration.
There truly is little this man is not capable of...except humility.

Meh. Telling the Japs is was right to nuke their country would be kind of impolite, him being a guest and all.

That was painful to watch....could he really be that empty of patriotism and respect for history and devoid of knowledge regarding the accounting of the costs on all sides of WW2?

On top of this to drone on about Climate Change like it is worse than what the world experienced in those dark war filled years. It is an insult to the past, the sacrifices and the moral struggles of previous Presidents and the patriotic sacrifices of past military servicemen and indeed all the citizens of America.

This coming just after the laying of wreaths on Veteran's Day is inexcusable.

Harry J Balsac @ 2.23pm.

I agree with you. It would have been impolite. Not just impolite but downright rude. Almost as rude as disturbing the peace and quiet of a nice warm day in Honolulu on 7 Dec 1941.

Gord - you are absolutely correct - if the Japanese had had the bomb, in the 1940's, they would have used it. So would have Germany.

BHO could have asked that reporter what the 'polite' Japanese people were thinking when they allied themselves with a thug like Hitler? But BHO probably does not even know that fact.

The Japanese were looking for property and power, prior to WWII. (They had fought against Germany in WWI and because of the Russian Revolution, and Wilson's sympathy for Lenin and the Bolsheviks, the Japanese had not gained property or reparations. The Treaty of Brest Litovsk ( the separate peace treaty the Russians signed with Germany to end hostilities in the east, isolated Japanese contributions) - the Japanese were , with reason, bitter about that lack of recognition.

The military minds in Japan, at the time of the bombing of Pearl harbour, knew that FDR was a limp, wishy washy liberal who did not care very much about the independence and liberty of the American people (he co-operated and aided Stalin prior to the war; he did not care about the American citizens he sent to Russia to 'help' the 'struggling' USSR, he helped Ford put factories in Russia and then he abandoned all those disillusioned citizens who went to Russia for work since there was a depression in USA). FDR prolonged the grinding depression with the New Deal thingie and he made a big land grab through that deal to deprive Americans of their land and independence. FDR was a fool, at best, in my personal opinion. The Japanese had hoped to neutralize USA based on the character of the President and his government bureaucrats and political supporters.

The Japanese did not know the American people who won the war, in spite of FDR (Obama's hero). BHO does not know the American people either, he grew up elsewhere, this would be an Albatross around his neck, even if he did care about the American people. I don't believe he does care, it is painfully obvious that he only cares about the guy he sees in the mirror.

Harry Truman, in contrast, was a patriot, he cared more about the American soldiers than he did about Japanese civilians. It would have been much worse for all,IMO, including the population of Japan, if the war had continued with hand to hand fighting. Furthermore, Truman warned the Japanese twice before he authorized the first bomb (something Japan did not do before they bombed Pearl Harbour); it is not a leap of logic to deduct that the Japanese gov't cared more about their own egos than they did about the lives of the Japanese civilians as the war was lost for Japan before the bomb was dropped.

Truman took the tough moral high road, something BHO would know nothing about. Hence, the 'new' President had no answers.

jake...

i remember well....

"one of these days Alice...POW ZOOM...TO THE MOON !"

when FDR gave every assistance to England in her hour of need whatever failings FDR may have had became picayune irrelevancies...

FDR could at least see the big picture...i personally revere his memory...

i sincerely believe FDR forgot more 'history' in five minutes than that effing buffoon in the White House has ever known...(imagine an aspirant for the highest office in the land NOT knowing how many states were in the Union....it beggars the imagination...and don't start me on the risible credulity of the last two or three generations)

Black Mamba: "I keep wondering; doesn't he have advisors!?"

Here might be an answer. A quote from an article you can read in full at the link below. (Loads a little slowly but worth a read).

“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters,’’ he told campaign aides when he was running for the White House. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that . . . I’m a better political director than my political director.’’

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/11/14/obamas_swelling_ego/

There would seem to be no bounds to his ego, which is normal for a 15 year old who doesn't know jack and thinks he knows it all, but is quite unbecoming of an adult.

Truman had no option, the SWL (Strongly Worded Letter) hadn't been invented yet. Obama has SWL's in his arsenal, Japan need not fear North Korea.

Chairman O says"

I am so grate!
I am so grate!
I am si grate!

No one Grates like the Chairman.

Obamugabe bows low to non-euro foreign heads of state while on tour not because he respects them but because it pleases his extreme left claque at home and pisses off real Americans. Keep an eye out for his approval of a strategy similar to one no less brilliant than what happened to the French at Dien Bien Phu.

The "Why drop the bomb, they were already beaten" canard is just a bit of very stale leftist BS.

Massive intelligence failures preceded the Pearl Harbor attack. Guess things haven't changed much have they?

HST would not recognize today's democratic party. (imagine what he would think of pelosi and Reid)

the bomb saved at least ten million lives - Japanese lives. That is the correct answer - truman saved the japanese from themselves. That is undeniable. It would also be nice for a president to recite the atrocites committed by imperial japan - that would put an end to the chronic questions on the morality and correctness of dropping the bombs on hiro and naga.

KevinB @2:15 & bob c @3:12 - I know, I saw that. It took my breath away. He's a monster.

"It would also be nice for a president to recite the atrocites committed by imperial japan"

I don't think that would be the proper thing to do. No matter what he'd have to give a "politician" answer.

They asked the wrong question. It should have been. Would you have nucke3d America to end the war?
You would have seen no hesitation from Obama. You damn rights!!!!
This puppet hates his own Nation.

They just found two Japanese subs from WWII designed to attack civilian cities

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-japanese-subs13-2009nov13,0,2197281.story?track=rss

Not to mention the biowar that Japan waged against China

http://sientechina.china.com.cn/english/features/135387.htm

Obama is a turd.

i just had an apercu !

joe biden is actually more intelligent than the big O...

now i feel worse than i did when Thomas Carlyle died...

A "gaffe-tastic" defense minister resigns over A-bomb remarks:

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUST33633720070702

Discuss.

No one is expecting Obama to relish in the bombings. He only has to justify history.

Just imagine the media and public reaction if it had been George Bush bowing to the Saudi King or the Japanese Emperor.

Remember what the WH said, to explain Obama? Well, the first wasn't a bow; he was picking something up from the ground. The second WAS a bow but he was 'following protocol'. What? There isn't a single picture, of over 40 heads of state, that shows a single bow. Only Obama. What protocol?

Or being unable/refusing to answer whether it was right to have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.
I'd bet that Obama's real answer would have been 'No, it was wrong'...he was afraid of the resultant anger in the US.

What if it had been Bush who presented an ipod of his own speeches to the Queen?
Or gave a present of unworkable old American movies on DVD to the UK Prime Minister?

The ignorance and arrogance of Obama is incredible, and I think the left can't face acknowledging it.

meh...politics is all that blather is....

the plain truth is THAT enemy got off lucky considering their multitude of sins..now put an end to that horseshit..

but the guilt thingy everyone tries to lay on whitey(as they intentionally misperceive our 'culture' to be)is in action here...as it always is...

does the U.N. ring any bells ?

the enemy is unimaginitive in their critique of our western 'sins'...WE have always(the yanks especially) welcomed EVERYONE on board the freedom train to the promised land...

bring us your skilled and imaginative..your creative and freedom loving true liberals...your secular humanists of every colour and faith....and then agreeing on the truly agreeable matters we shall ALL march forward for our children and their children too...

he could have done worst, and apologized for making the Japanese travell so far to bomb Pearl Harbour!!

and it's incredible that the fool thinks he's so competent in so many areas when he appears to have no skills in any, other than lie

Obama's non-answer simply reflects what an intellectual light-weight he is, in his knowledge of history and in his ability to think on his feet or present himself coherently (although arguably the latter would be extraordinarily difficult since he doesn't actually seem to stand for much other than his own hyper-inflated ego).
Any student of history could easily address such a question and could at the same time use it to touch on the origins of post WWII pacifism in Japan.
Even if he genuinely wanted to duck the question or felt that the A-bombing of Japan was a mistake (and there were senior US generals who believed it was unnecessary) and use a lefty's perspective he could do worse than to paraphrase Trudeau's "It is the business of government to govern well in its own time not right the wrongs of the past." with something along the lines of, "I believe it is the duty of government to govern well in its own time and not second guess the dilemmas faced by our predecessors."
While I personally believe that the A-bombings were fully justified and have never shrunk from saying so publicly or privately, and indeed, there are Japanese who feel the same, my point is that Obama's utter inability to address any of these issues points up what a complete empty shirt he really is. This guy would bomb, pardon the pun, in a high-school debating competition.

Give 'em Hell Harry!

If Owe was 1/4 the president as Harry the USA would be a much better place.

Imagine Owe being that badly outpaced by a failed haberdasher.

What? Defend America? He might lose ticket sales for his "World Apology Tour".

Allan he recitation would only need to he done once. As far as I know it has never been done - ever. IOW no one has told the the Japanese off to their face. The Nazis were given the nuremburg trials - we owe it to the japanese to make them lose face over this at long last.

"It would also be nice for a president to recite the atrocites committed by imperial japan"
I don't think that would be the proper thing to do. No matter what he'd have to give a "politician" answer.
Posted by: allan at November 15, 2009 6:41 PM

Agree allan, that would be diplomatically verboten. This was NOT a tough question; in fact, a very easy one; and STUMBLING over this totally predictable question reveals again the rank amateurism of the Obama presidency.

Here's what he should have said, which would have offended nobody:

"I believe both our nations and the world at large greatly benefited from the immediate cessation of the war [see Kate's thread title] brought about by this event; the loss of life, as horrific as it was, would have been unimaginably higher had the war continued".

It disgusts me he won't defend his country's history, but it also disgusts me he won't say what he thinks and stand behind it.
Instead, he votes "present", just as he has done in earlier tight moments. He's going to find it harder and harder to do that.

biff jupiter:

"It disgusts me he won't defend his country's history"

The One would have to know something about history before he could defend it. He doesn't.

This would have been a complete softball question for anybody who had a shred of common sense, and basic historical perspective.

Of course, we're talking about Bam Bam here, so it doesn't surprise me he deliberately avoided answering the question. It's pretty clear Bam Bam views American military history through the lens of left-wing moonbats -- i.e. America has always been wrong.

Given the situation, the questioner was impolite.

O could have pointed out that he was not there, not privy to the national sentiments in America, nor Japan, troop strategic analysis projected costs in lives,and equipment, yada yada, and so on and so forth.

The urinalist who asked the question, had an agenda, and embarrassed only himself in asking the question.

I am no fan of the "empty shirt", but I take a dim view of sandbagging someone to score personal points.

Hey he's an easy target already, why pile on!!!

On the one hand, it surprises me not at all that he would try to slide out of that question. I'm sure he thinks he could have ended WWII with a phone call to Tojo, so using the A-bomb would be silly.

On the other hand, I'm stunned to see this guy braving the backblast he's going to get over this. He could have slid out of it with a "gosh gee whiz you can't second guess history, hindsight is 20-20" pile of manure, instead he goes for the "I can't condone it but I wasn't there" America is bad answer.

This guy is not bright, and he's not a skillful politician. Harper or even Count Iggy would eat him for a snack in the back room wars.

.sodahead.com/united-states/should-we-call-him-obowma-now/blog-191801/

.sodahead.com/religion/

The bomb also stopped the USSR Communists from seeking world dominance.. They stopped in Berlin.. Cold War... etc

If you were a EU communist, like Obama, how would you answer that question?

Good point, Phillip G Shaw.

"It disgusts me he won't defend his country's history"

I didn't know they asked him about kenya.

You'd think that someone from Hawaii of all places would have a little understanding about WWII.

Hmm, better check that birth certificate again.

Ahhhhhhh Japan, remember Battan Death March.
My father sure did.

So don't give me this (why did you drop the bomb BS)

Don't start wars!

Now I am really confused. Just when I thought I new what kind of sight this was. If the hat fits.

JJM
[..]Arrest The War Bloggers: "[I]t is fair game to ask if western civilization would be in such rapid decline had Germany won. I argue that we would be much freer today if Germany had won, and that we fought on the wrong side."

And with that lunatic statement replayed before the jury, the case of the Crown versus "Arrest The War Bloggers" was proven.[..]

That proposition has been much debated with little resolution....NOT PROVEN!!

Posted by: sasquatch | November 11, 2009 9:57 AM

"Or being unable/refusing to answer whether it was right to have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.
I'd bet that Obama's real answer would have been 'No, it was wrong'...he was afraid of the resultant anger in the US."

I think ET has nailed it.

“Meh. Telling the Japs is was right to nuke their country would be kind of impolite, him being a guest and all.”

Hjb, your kidding right?

The truth hurts, and the question was asked. It is much ruder to patronize the Japanese people by skirting the question as you might a child asking what “tea-bagging” means. The Japanese are not children; BO need not worry about their self-esteem.

"Hjb, your kidding right?"

oops, that should say:Hjb, you're kidding right?

Indy @11:13 - "The Japanese are not children..."

According to the infallible Wikipedia, 13.5% of the Japanese population is 14 years of age or under. So some of them are, in fact, children. Nowhere near enough to make Mark Steyn relax, but still.

And you can't throw things at me because I'm hiding behind a computer. Hah!

correction

And you can't throw (yourself) at me because I'm hiding behind a computer. :(

Was Truman right in ending the war by using the atomic bombs? Anyone with any knowledge of history would agree with Truman's decision. The Japanese fought ferociously to defend their positions on small, desolate islands miles from Japan. Can you imagine the fight they would have put up to defend their homeland? One has only to look at the casualties resulting from the invasion of Okinawa. There were more Japanese soldiers and civilians killed during this battle than the combined deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Of course, those so ignorant of history that they feel compelled to demonize Truman probably think that Okinawa is a valley in British Columbia.

POTUS is a POS. What else can one say?

Okinawa is a valley in British Columbia.

very clever biffjr :-)

All Americans would benefit from reviewing the decision-making process that President Truman faced in evaluating the best way to defeat the Japanese in WWII. He listened to many opinions and made the final decision based upon careful analysis of many studies, reports and "facts", much of which appeared to be contradictory.

Similarily, those who are trying to impute some imagined motives to the current US President would do well to try to put themselves in his shoes. What would you do when confronted by the bewildering array of problems that this country now faces?

Here is a quote I try to remember when I myself am tempted to leap to hasty conclusions:

"For every complex, difficult problem, there is a simple solution; which is usually wrong."