But the ethical question still standing is: why was not the 1st launch on Tokjo Harbour performed as ULTIMATUM?
They only had two bombs , wasting one would be a stupid idea.
Macathur's idea was shot down primarily , because if the bomb did not work and the if the Japanese were told to watch a dud , what would that have done for the resolve of either side. And then we would only have one bomb to impress them. Besides did the fire raids impress them? Any reasonable idiot would have surrendered then.
Do you understand what overkill and redundancy are when it comes to the strategy of nuclear weapons ?
We could have dropped it IN Tokyo bay, now that would have impressed them! A 500ft wall of water would have done nicely. Why burn'em when you can drown'em
Ethical? Why the hell did the Japs not declare war several hours before Pearl Harbor ? I doubt it would have made any difference.
Also, remember the Japanese because of their "religion" had no type of western ethics.
Of which Truman was CinC.Manhattan project was performed authomatically by the techno-military leadership without any political, ethical, moral control
Golly Gabriel, read Eisenhower's presidential farewell speech.
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presi ... wer001.htm