America’s Greatest War Crime Was Not The Use Of Atomic Bombs
This general caused far more deaths than just those bombs, and we’re still paying the price.
Before reading this article, please remember that this is history, not political polemic. Let go of any political nationalism. In war, it is normal for all sides commit war crimes. The fact that one side committed far worse crimes than the other does not detract from, much less excuse the crimes committed by the other side.
The above photograph is instructive. It is of Tokyo, which a few days before was the most densely-populated city on the planet. See the wide-open spaces between the multistory concrete buildings? Before the devastation of the firebombing raid of March 9/10, 1945, those open spaces were filled with homes and businesses, most of which would have been multistory, too. But being constructed almost entirely of wood and bamboo, they comprised one of the greatest deathtraps in human history.
By early 1945, victory was no longer possible for Japan. Its factories, being starved of raw materials and oil by the near-total blockade by the US Navy, were at a virtual standstill. What little oil was left was relegated mostly to the air defense forces, for any ship that left port — whether military or civilian — was almost certain to…
