Guest lazyphil Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 What about Earl Haig who sent fellow countrymen to the trenches to certain gruseme undignified death, to get his drinks cabinet 20 feet nearer to Berlin (quote Blackadder!)....that was utter cruelty, ambivalence and upperclass arrogance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddave Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 All wars are hell, especially on civillian populations including today in Iraq, the Ivory Coast, Sudan , Chechnya and many other places that don't make the newspapers. When histories are written, or for that matter, even contemporary accounts in the media, the focus is on the armies, the commanders, valor and victory. Dead families in the mud and rubble are bulldozed into mass graves and forgotten. The atrocities in Nanking were largely forgotten untill the young woman author who's name excapes me, remembering the stories told her by her grandfather, started the research which led to the book "THE RAPE OF NANKING". Ironic to this discussion, she killed herself this past week. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torrenova Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 The atomic bombs dropped on Japan were used because they were available and the outcome on a human population could not be tested any other way. It was an experiment. As for the POWs turning their back on the Japanese Emperor in the Mall in London, then that is true to a degree. Fever was high around the Victory in Japan (VJ) day rememberence but the uneducated POWs blame Japan for their lack of pensions, retribution or whatever you want to call it. The reality is that all binding and final awards were made to the British governement donkeys years ago. The fact that successive governments have done fuck all to help their POWs should not be blamed on Japan. All the money given has been pissed up against the wall. Loads of War based finaicial shit. What about the poor fuckers who signed up for theWar Loan government bonds. The bastards still haven't and have no intention of ever paying back that debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 It might not be appropiate to say this in this thread , but Phil - Blackadder ranks along with Monty Phyton as the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 They make the papers alot here in the UK, rightly so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Iris Chang ( pic from her website ) was 29 years old when she published her Nanking book, 36 when she blew her brains out. Jap apology: Have the japs ever officially admitted any wrongdoing in Nanking? They would not even publish Chang's book in japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 >>The atomic bombs dropped on Japan were used because they were available and the outcome on a human population could not be tested any other way. It was an experiment.<< The standard history here in the US is that Truman reached his decision to drop bombs because they refused to surrender (even AFTER the first bomb) and an invasion of japan would have been a blood bath. The guys who have a different conclusion about why truman dropped the bombs could you provide some facts thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 My firend, who was an US intelligence soldier during WW2, and a proud leftie all his life as well, seems to agree with you. Lives were saved, he said. I think i remember the author of the rape in nanking mentionned that the german gestapo officers who were in Nanking along the japanese, were themselves horrified by the wanton cruelty. That should say something. our family has vietnamese friends who saw what the japanese did in their country, and to this day, they can't taste japanese food, or very little anything japanese. the memories come back. I doubt these are about isolated events. All our countries have shown cruelty, but there is something about men martyrising others, one by one, on the scale of a city, for months. i think japanese have a hard time themselves to comprehend the atrocities, and there is still a lot of denial, which lies behind the unapologetic attitude, i'd say. I saw a docu on the river Kwai bridge construction. They had old japanese soldiers, still alive, and the denial was painful. They insisted they treated the prisoners humanly, that they saw very few die, and if there had been careless manhandling, they would have seen it. I pity these souls, they spent all their lives trying to forget what they had been accomplices to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Hi! such as the slaughter of Armenians by Turks ( another little known event unless you are Armenian) I don't recall ever reading this in a history book. The first time I came across this part of history was when i read the novel "America, America" by Elia Kazan, a book well worth reading even though it's not a historical document. regards ALHOLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelgianBoy Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Strange, here in Belgium I learned about that in school. Then again, I had an Armenian kid in class. Lots of Armenian left in France and Benelux, also one of my best customers in Istanbul is Armenian. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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