[paraclete]

Yes our boys held back the Japanese at Kokoda while you retreated from the Philippines and yet you had far more than we did, Please don't talk about how much you did, because it was your B/S that brought you into WWII. With our little we raided Singapore while you took a few islands with a mighty fleet. It was our strike force that led your invasion into Iraq. We fought the Germans for years in both wars while you sat on your duff and partied

[jlisenbe]

We took a few islands? You are delusional if you believe that. The famous battle of Kokoda? Doubtful.

[paraclete]

You used atomic weapons on what was really a defeated nation out of fear, There is no glory in that and yes, your pacific campaign was island hoping and on every one you got a bloody nose as you overwhelmed an entrenched enemy with many fewer soldiers. I have no doubt if you had atomic weapons earlier those islands would have been reduced to rubble with hardly a shot fired

[jlisenbe]

Read some history. Learn a little and overcome your ignorance.

[tomder55]

You used atomic weapons on what was really a defeated nation out of fear

Defeated ? They did not even surrender after Hiroshima ! They did not surrender until after a second bomb was dropped . They did not surrender as Tokyo was raised in a firebomb attack that killed over 100,000 civilians .

Invading this "defeated " enemy would've cost the US over a million casualties and around 800,000 American deaths . There would've been 5-10 million Japanese killed in a US invasion of the so called "defeated " nation.

[paraclete]

Read some history. Learn a little and overcome your ignorance.

Take your own advice and stop taking your history from the propaganda machine in Hollywood

Defeated ? They did not even surrender after Hiroshima ! They did not surrender until after a second bomb was dropped . They did not surrender as Tokyo was raised in a firebomb attack that killed over 100,000 civilians .

Invading this "defeated " enemy would've cost the US over a million casualties and around 800,000 American deaths . There would've been 5-10 million Japanese killed in a US invasion of the so called "defeated " nation.

and you saw no other way than wage a war on civilians? why didn't you bomb the Japanese emperor. It was emperor worship that prolonged the war. A swift end to Hirohito would have destroyed their god and they would have lain down their arms in shame. You don't understand the oriental mind, never did, and still don't

[jlisenbe]

I certainly don't take my history from a prejudiced, bitter man in Australia. As to your second paragraph, you need to read some history. You don't know what you're talking about.

[paraclete]

No I is you who don't know what you are talking about. America took revenge on Japan. I understand this and the reason for it

You think me prejudiced and bitter, but I present you with facts which contradict your world view. You think america should rule the world but that would be one empire too many

[jlisenbe]

You think me prejudiced and bitter, but I present you with facts which contradict your world view. You think america should rule the world but that would be one empire too many.

It is a fact that you are prejudiced and bitter. Your history "facts" are absurd. No one but you is suggesting that the U.S. should be an empire.

It's these kinds of comments that make you look delusional. "while you took a few islands with a mighty fleet. It was our strike force that led your invasion into Iraq." WW2 could have been won with no participation at all from your country's military. The Iraq war would have been won without your little "strike force" which certainly did not lead anything. American armor was the tip of the spear in that assault.

We certainly have our problems, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the wheels fall off the cart, but it gets old having to listen to a bitter little man from a little country that's never done much of anything constantly harping and crowing about it.

[tomder55]

very simple clearly you do not understand the Imperial Cult that ran Japan ;the reverence the military had for him ;and the fact that he was also the high priest of the Shinto religion . For the same reason Hirohito was not charged with war crimes and executed was the same reason why he was not targeted during the war. It was better to convince the emperor to surrender and then have him cooperate in a post war administration .Because of that the people of Japan went along with the occupation and became one of our strongest allies today .

Any attempt to depose the Emperor, would embitter the Japanese, thereby making governing Japan far more difficult to enforce, and plant the seeds for future conflict. If America could exercise its occupation via Japanese authorities acting under the aegis of the Emperor, both the need for massive American forces or the potential complications and frustrations of a shared occupation with other Allies (the Soviet Union) could be avoided.

[jlisenbe]

The dropping of the A bombs saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Allies servicemen and perhaps a million Japanese by making the invasion of the Japanese homeland unnecessary.

[tomder55]

it is a no brainer .ANY of the nations in the war would've used the A Bomb once it was developed .

[jlisenbe]

Don’t mean to be too hard on Clete. Love and respect his country. His anti-American diatribes, frequently based on half-truths, get old.

[tomder55]

He does make one valid point. Part of the responsibility for the creation of an Imperial Japanese state lies in policies by Teddy Roosevelt and Howard Taft . Best source of that info is ' The Imperial Cruise ' by James Brady author of ' Flags of Our Fathers '. Brady goes too far in assigning sole responsibility to Roosevelt . But he examines a part of our involvement that is generally ignored in the teaching of the history of the Pacific War.

[jlisenbe]

No doubt we shoulder our share of the blame, but we also get our share of credit.

[paraclete]

You are incorrigible

[jlisenbe]

Thank you for confirming my point about you.

[paraclete]

I confirm nothing and since you don't know me you are not qualified to comment

[jlisenbe]

And since you don't know us, then you are likewise not qualified to comment.

[paraclete]

Oh I know you