In 1936, talking about the brutality of the Western Front during the First World War, American president Franklin Roosevelt said: “I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed….I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.”
Nine years hence, the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, perpetrating one of the most brutal wartime strikes that killed more than 100,000 people.
President Harry Truman ordered the bomb — called Little Boy — dropped on Japan to bring an end to the Second World War. His decision would lay the pitch for international politics to heave with the tragedy for the next century.
Barack Obama has become the first sitting US president to visit the war memorial site in the East Asian nation. History is a relentless partner, and Washington learnt it so. The hubbub in the international press about a possible apology by Obama dominated the headlines even as the Peace Nobel winning leader was seen hugging a Hiroshima survivor.
History can be unforgiving. To deflect the burden of history and probably not to roil his domestic constituency back home in an election year, Obama decided not to apologise for an incident that took place 71 years ago. The erudite president, instead, delved into the realm of morality telling the world it is important to get rid of the scourge of atomic weapons.
Truman was advised by scientists to use the bomb as a demonstration to warn Japan of the consequences of its action. Probably, the US president didn’t realise the gravity of his actions and ordered the strike.
Seven decades after the catastrophe following which the rivals turned into the best of allies, an apology wouldn’t have reset the historical clock but may have taken away, at least temporarily, from a forward-looking course in ties.
That Obama spoke about the horrors of nuclear weapons served as a symbolic apology to humanity facing the threat from states like North Korea and Iran. The threat of non-state actors like the Islamic State or Taliban getting hold of nuclear weapons is no less.
Instead of pondering regrets and apologies, the international community should close ranks to stop irresponsible powers from obtaining nuclear capability. That would be a historical ovation to the victims of Hiroshima.
In 1936, talking about the brutality of the Western Front during the First World War, American president Franklin Roosevelt said: “I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed….I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.”
Nine years hence, the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, perpetrating one of the most brutal wartime strikes that killed more than 100,000 people.
President Harry Truman ordered the bomb — called Little Boy — dropped on Japan to bring an end to the Second World War. His decision would lay the pitch for international politics to heave with the tragedy for the next century.
Barack Obama has become the first sitting US president to visit the war memorial site in the East Asian nation. History is a relentless partner, and Washington learnt it so. The hubbub in the international press about a possible apology by Obama dominated the headlines even as the Peace Nobel winning leader was seen hugging a Hiroshima survivor.
History can be unforgiving. To deflect the burden of history and probably not to roil his domestic constituency back home in an election year, Obama decided not to apologise for an incident that took place 71 years ago. The erudite president, instead, delved into the realm of morality telling the world it is important to get rid of the scourge of atomic weapons.
Truman was advised by scientists to use the bomb as a demonstration to warn Japan of the consequences of its action. Probably, the US president didn’t realise the gravity of his actions and ordered the strike.
Seven decades after the catastrophe following which the rivals turned into the best of allies, an apology wouldn’t have reset the historical clock but may have taken away, at least temporarily, from a forward-looking course in ties.
That Obama spoke about the horrors of nuclear weapons served as a symbolic apology to humanity facing the threat from states like North Korea and Iran. The threat of non-state actors like the Islamic State or Taliban getting hold of nuclear weapons is no less.
Instead of pondering regrets and apologies, the international community should close ranks to stop irresponsible powers from obtaining nuclear capability. That would be a historical ovation to the victims of Hiroshima.
