Obama In Hiroshima

Above, the Atomic Dome in Hiroshima. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Barack Obama is going to Hiroshima, Japan.

He has said that he will not apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, as an article in  Japan Today indicates, he will weigh in on the debate on whether or not the bombings were justified.

If he does, he's walking into a landmine. A more deft politician like a Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan or even a Bill Clinton would not walk into such a landmine. But Obama, during his nearly eight years in office, has shown no depth or any expertise in foreign affairs. He has caused more problems since he first took the oath of office. The world is not a safer place than it was seven and a half years ago.

Japan Today posted:

TOKYO/WASHINGTON —Japan and the United States are presenting U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima as an affirmation of a strong alliance and a step towards world denuclearisation, but critics see selective amnesia and paradoxes on nuclear policy. 

Aides have said Obama will not apologise when he becomes the first sitting U.S. president to tour the site of the world’s first atomic bombing next Friday, accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 

Nor is Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 partly for making nuclear non-proliferation a centrepiece of his agenda, expected to address the debate over whether the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. 

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, killed thousands instantly and about 140,000 by the end of the year. Nagasaki was hit on Aug 9 and Japan surrendered six days later. 

A majority of Americans see the bombings as having been necessary to end the war and save U.S. and Japanese lives, although many historians question that view. Most Japanese believe they were unjustified.

I would be pleasantly surprised if Obama kept his trap shut over the justification of the atomic bombings. It's a sad state of affairs if that is the best we can hope for.

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