The Real Reasons We Dropped Atom Bombs on Japan

By David Redick

Due to the recent 70th anniversary of dropping two atom bombs on Japan, there has been a lot of discussion about why we did it. American ‘Patriots’ claim it was necessary to ‘save lives’ by avoiding an invasion of Japan. This is the standard false pitch from our self-serving ‘leaders’ in DC. I offer the info below as adequate proof that we did it for other less noble reasons. Key issues are numbered below.

1) It all started with FDR’s concern that Germany might beat England and France, and emerge as a world power, and thus be close to, or stronger than, the USA. Thus, he wanted to get into WW2 and be a winner. This was part of maintaining and growing ‘Empire-USA’. It’s an old story in history that leaders use lies to start or join wars for economic and political reasons (empire), not defense. See our record in my article “13 Lies: An Abbreviated History of U.S. Presidents Leading Us to War.”

To create an ‘incident’ to justify going to war, FDR poked Japan for years (ended scrap metal shipments to them, etc. ) until the Japanese military demanded the Emperor allow a strike on the United States. FDR didn’t know whether it would be the Aleutians or HI, as long as it gave him a reason to start war. The US intercepted the Japanese code and knew when they were coming to Pearl Harbor, but withheld it from US commanders in the Pacific so they could not prepare and minimize the damage. See book Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor. May 8, 2001; by Robert Stinnett.

2a) Amazon info on Stinnett’s book is:

It was not long after the first Japanese bombs fell on the American naval ships at Pearl Harbor that conspiracy theories began to circulate, charging that Franklin Roosevelt and his chief military advisors knew of the impending attack well in advance. Robert Stinnett, who served in the U.S. Navy with distinction during World War II, examines recently declassified American documents and concludes that, far more than merely knowing of the Japanese plan to bomb Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt deliberately steered Japan into war with America.

Stinnett’s argument draws on both circumstantial evidence–the fact, for example, that in September 1940 Roosevelt signed into law a measure providing for a two-ocean navy that would number 100 aircraft carriers–and, more importantly, on American governmental documents that offer apparently incontrovertible proof that Roosevelt knowingly sacrificed American lives in order to enter the war on the side of England. Although obviously troubled by his discovery of a systematic plan of deception on the part of the American government, Stinnett does not take deep issue with its outcome. Roosevelt, he writes, faced powerful opposition from isolationist forces, and, against them, the Pearl Harbor attack was “something that had to be endured in order to stop a greater evil–the Nazi invaders in Europe who had begun the Holocaust and were poised to invade England.” Sure to excite discussion, Stinnett’s book offers what may be the final word on the terrible matter of Pearl Harbor.

2b) More comments on the Stinnett book from Publishers Weekly:

Historians have long debated whether President Roosevelt had advance knowledge of Japan’s December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Using documents pried loose through the Freedom of Information Act during 17 years of research, Stinnett provides overwhelming evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew that Japanese warships were heading toward Hawaii. The heart of his argument is even more inflammatory: Stinnett argues that FDR, who desired to sway public opinion in support of U.S. entry into WWII, instigated a policy intended to provoke a Japanese attack. The plan was outlined in a U.S. Naval Intelligence secret strategy memo of October 1940; Roosevelt immediately began implementing its eight steps (which included deploying U.S. warships in Japanese territorial waters and imposing a total embargo intended to strangle Japan’s economy), all of which, according to Stinnett, climaxed in the Japanese attack. Stinnett, a decorated naval veteran of WWII who served under then Lt. George Bush, substantiates his charges with a wealth of persuasive documents, including many government and military memos and transcripts. Demolishing the myth that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence, he shows that several Japanese naval broadcasts, intercepted by American cryptographers in the 10 days before December 7, confirmed that Japan intended to start the war at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett convincingly demonstrates that the U.S. top brass in Hawaii–Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Husband Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter Short–were kept out of the intelligence loop on orders from Washington and were then scapegoated for allegedly failing to anticipate the Japanese attack (in May 1999, the U.S. Senate cleared their names). Kimmel moved his fleet into the North Pacific, actively searching for the suspected Japanese staging area, but naval headquarters ordered him to turn back. Stinnett’s meticulously researched book raises deeply troubling ethical issues. While he believes the deceit built into FDR’s strategy was heinous, he nevertheless writes: “I sympathize with the agonizing dilemma faced by President Roosevelt. He was forced to find circuitous means to persuade an isolationist America to join in a fight for freedom.” This, however, is an expression of understanding, not of absolution. If Stinnett is right, FDR has a lot to answer for–namely, the lives of those Americans who perished at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett establishes almost beyond question that the U.S. Navy could have at least anticipated the attack. The evidence that FDR himself deliberately provoked the attack is circumstantial, but convincing enough to make Stinnett’s bombshell of a book the subject of impassioned debate in the months to come. ( Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. )

3) FDR and other key officials in DC were purposely ‘unavailable’ (golf, etc.) when the U.S. Hawaiian commander called DC to ask for orders because he knew the Japanese attack was underway. Thus we were unprepared (no planes in the air, battleships at sea, etc.) and our bases, planes, and ships were ‘sitting ducks’, causing more damage and death.

I say the above facts should profoundly alter our understanding of Pearl Harbor, one of the most significant events in American history. Read more here.  Plus, there are other books showing FDR wanted the attack. Some compare 9/11 as a similar event.

4) Dropping the atom bomb on Japan was also justified with lies from DC. Key issues are;

4a) The war was over (because of our fire-bombing, their lack of food and war materials, etc.) except the Japanese wanted to keep Hirohito as emperor as a ‘condition’ of surrender. We refused, but it ended up this way even after the bombs.

4b) We wanted to drop a bomb on a real city (not just a Pacific island or in New Mexico) to see what happened to the people and structures. Thus, it was an EVIL engineering test!! It also showed the world what we had!

4c) We wanted to scare Russia with our new bomb so they wouldn’t enter Japan from the North, and prevent us from occupying ALL of Japan.

Conclusion: I consider part 4 above as the ‘true’ tragic and immoral reasons we dropped the atom bombs! As discussed in part 1 above, it requires a good dose of cynicism to figure-out what government leaders are planning. A better approach is to stop our costly and immoral wars and occupations for building and maintaining Empire-USA. ALL empires fail, and we are now in the failure phase of ours. Refer to my article “The Phases of an Empire”. Let’s not glorify our illegal and immoral wars for empire. Neocons, ‘big government’ conservatives, and Obama-types like to describe our foreign ventures as ‘saving the world from chaos’, and fulfilling our role as an ‘exceptional’ nation.

I suggest we invoke a non-interventionist foreign policy, with a strong homeland defense, and sound money using the gold standard (this ends creation of money ‘out of thin air’; wars are expensive). This is certain to provide more Liberty, Peace, and Prosperity to the USA and other nations. The politicians who lose money and power under this plan can seek honest work elsewhere!

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Dave Redick is a businessman, engineer, economist, and author of books and essays aimed at bringing more Liberty, Peace, and Prosperity to the USA and world. See more of his work at www. Forward-USA.org.