Captain, I think the documentary was called "Hiroshima: Why the bomb was dropped". It may also have been "Lifting the Fog: Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki". Those are the only productions I can find that ring true as to what the documentary was about.
You raise some good points in your situations. I think the Japanese may have also viewed this show of force (bombing an island) as a show of honor. I know after seeing that, given the option of kissing that person's ass or risking my city, I'd have kissed their ass. Jesus, if bombed Edmonton, and then said they were going to bomb Calgary, I think we'd all immediately surrender after seeing the damage of the first bomb (I mean after thanking them for whiping Edmonton off the globe).
I used to be really gung-ho about the military and was a real hawk about these things, but after living down here and being exposed to the ignorance associated with what the military can do, I just can't stomach it any more. Maybe its the daily exposure to the violence, but it gets old quickly. I'd much rather take the Canadian approach and talk things out than rush into something like that which happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
You know, its funny, but times have changed. The Americans love their toys and they love to show them off. That's what is happening in the Islamic world to garner support. A show of their toys and what they can do. Jesus, I shudder to think how close Afghanistan was to tasting one of the new toys in the arsenal (a burrowing low yield bunker buster nuke). Sadly, that's what some of these cultures want to see and the Americans are all too ready to accomodate them. If the Americans had taken this attitude in 1945 hundreds of thousdands of lives may have been saved. I'm not saying dropping the bomb was right or wrong, I'm just saying I think there was a better way to do it and that people at the time thought the same thing.
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