General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Every year, I see the same thing re Hiroshima and Nagasaki [View all]Whiskeytide
(4,461 posts)... It was primarily because we were viewed as the only real obstacle to the Japanese military's economic control of the pacific. But as is always the case, there were many, many reasons that went into the eventual decision. And some can be argued to have been because of our actions and/or policies in Indochina and elsewhere in the pacific (which is what I'm sure your getting at).
But that doesn't change the fact that they had invaded China and other countries. They were preparing to invade Indochina/Philippines. And they DID attack PH. After that, we had to do something - poor policy decisions leading up to that point notwithstanding.
We can argue this to death, I suppose. And you would likely find I agree with you on a lot of it. But at the end of the day, I believe both Germany and Japan threw the first real, out in the open, military punches. They could not have done so without expecting a fight. I don't blame the people of either nation, but their leaders made some poor choices and took poor risks, and suffered consequences. We certainly had - and still have - some shitheads on our side too (see Bush Doctrine, for a recent example), but that doesn't relieve the axis powers of blame. JMHO.