Comment

Hiroshima was not a military target, that was a lie Truman told to try to smooth over the fact that he’d just committed a horrific war crime.

Two committees—the Target Committee and the Interim Committee—were convened to advise U.S. leaders on the atomic bomb. The prioritization of maximizing the bomb’s psychological impact on the Japanese population and leadership is the common thread that binds the recommendations of the two committees.

But the identification of military objectives by the Interim Committee was a rationalization meant to obscure the true aims of the Hiroshima bombing. **The Interim Committee’s recommendation was an endorsement of terror bombing with a legal veneer. **

At bottom, Stimson **wanted to kill as many workers and their families possible. **

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mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
You need to post your sources if you’re using direct quotes

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- kossa@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interim_Committee
  
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  - mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interim_Committee
    
    Did you not even read your own source? Your quote doesn’t appear in there at all. In fact there’s multiple sections of this artivle that back up what I stated, as quoted:
    
    Mr. Byrnes recommended, and the Committee agreed, that the Secretary of War should be advised that, while recognizing that the final selection of the target was essentially a military decision, the present view of the Committee was that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible; that it be used on a war plant surrounded by workers’ homes; and that it be used without prior warning.
    
    Or later:
    
    …that the weapon be used against Japan at the earliest opportunity, that it be used without warning, and that it be used on a dual target, namely, a military installation or war plant surrounded by or adjacent to homes or other buildings most susceptible to damage.
    
    Emphasis in both quotes were added by me.
    
    If you’re going to start throwing sources at people, you should at least fucking read them first.
    
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    kossa@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    Erm, a “dual target” is different from “we want to eliminate this military installation, but we cannot avoid hitting civilians with our current capabilities”. Dual target means exactly that “we want to hit civilian stuff just as much as military targets”.
    
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