War casualties justify bombings

The dropping of the nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II was absolutely justified. Justifications abound: 260,000 Chinese non-combatants killed by the Japanese in air raids, 20 million Chinese people lost their lives in World War II and 63,225 Soviet lives were lost to the Japanese. There were 354,523 casualties to U.S. personnel and some 86,838 Indian soldiers were killed by the Japanese. Others from Australia, Netherlands, Philippines, France, etc., died.

If these deaths aren't sufficient justification for doing something to stop the war, then the entire human species is indeed lost. Ask survivors of the murders and rapes at Nanking, China, by Japanese if the dropping of bombs was justified. Ask the relatives of the valiant men and women who were mercilessly killed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Burma, the Philippines, Guam, Saipan and many other places.

Adam Zieser in his Sept. 13 letter “Impossible to justify killing 225,000 civilians” wrote that Americans can dehumanize and devalue others simply because they are not American is a totally unfounded statement. Americans have and continue to provide more humanitarian aid to others than any other government.

The nuclear bombs were the means needed to end the Japanese murderous expansionism and their inhumane disregard for all those other than Japanese people.

Ken Lowen

Central City