Eh. I dunno. I can see his point, but I do think that admitting error (and I think it was an error) and acknowledging the death of those people would be the least we could do.
But then, we've never apologized for (to my knowledge) and barely acknowledged the genocide we carried out against American Indians, so....
I wish he'd apologize even if it does mean backlash. I recently visited Hiroshima and it truly is an overwhelming experience. A lot of children died because they were forced to work in wartime industries there. Ditto for Korean POWs. If you can look upon that and still think the bomb was justified? Well...
Any apology from President Obama would be hypocritical because his drones have killed so many civilians and children. The Japanese people deserve an apology, but I can see why he won't give one.
Americans (and the West in general) never admit their own war crimes, but love to push other nations on human rights. I find it hard to take any of it seriously.
Critics argue that by not apologizing, Obama will allow Japan to stick to the narrative that paints it as a victim.
Well, the civilians were victims... you can take issue with the actions of the Japanese military and still realize using nuclear weapons against civilians was wrong.
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But then, we've never apologized for (to my knowledge) and barely acknowledged the genocide we carried out against American Indians, so....
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I wish he'd apologize even if it does mean backlash. I recently visited Hiroshima and it truly is an overwhelming experience. A lot of children died because they were forced to work in wartime industries there. Ditto for Korean POWs. If you can look upon that and still think the bomb was justified? Well...
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Well, the civilians were victims... you can take issue with the actions of the Japanese military and still realize using nuclear weapons against civilians was wrong.
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