A friend from Church recently forwarded me an online post from an anonymous source which he clearly believed would resonate with those who embrace a more 'conservative' social and political philosophy.
My friend was trying to reinforce a very reasonable point about a very real danger inherent in the anti-US; anti-free market; anti-coal industry; anti-private schools; pro-euthanasia, pro-gay marriage & adoption; pro-unrestricted immigration policies of Senator Bob Brown and his socialist 'Greens' Party. While I agree that their ideologically-blinkered, socialist view of the world is both strategically and financially dangerous and fundamentally at odds with my own Christian views; I was surprised and a little disappointed that the author was attempting to justify his 'conservative platform' by drawing parallels with the 'evils' of Japan in the 1940's and through a string of non sequitors and puerile argument had concluded that the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not only militarily justified but also moral, humane and an action which set the necessary preconditions for Japan's subsequent financial success and happiness [sic].
Here's what the author said...my further comments follow below:
"People forget that there are about 100,000 US Marines who sacrificed their lives to help preserve this country from the Japanese advance in WWII. Thank God it was all so long ago....The commemorative plaque records that 16 hours after the nuking of Nagasaki , "On August 10, 1945 at 0300, the Japanese Emperor without his cabinet's consent decided to end the Pacific War."
Take a good look at these pictures, folks.This is where World War II ended with total victory of America over Japan . I was there all alone. There were no other visitors and no one lives anywhere near for miles. Visiting the Bomb Pits, walking along deserted Runway Able in solitude, was a moment of extraordinarily powerful solemnity.It was a moment of deep reflection. Most people, when they think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reflect on the numbers of lives killed in the nuclear blasts - at least 70,000 and 50,000 respectively. Being here caused me to reflect on the number of lives saved - how many more Japanese and Americans would have died in a continuation of the war had the nukes not been dropped.Yet that was not all. It's not just that the nukes obviated the US invasion of Japan , Operation Downfall, that would have caused upwards of a million American and Japanese deaths or more. It's that nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki were of extraordinary humanitarian benefit to the nation and people of Japan.
Let's go to this cliff on the nearby island of Saipan to learn why: Saipan is less than a mile north of Tinian ... The month before the Marines took Tinian, on June 15, 1944, 71,000 Marines landed on Saipan ... They faced 31,000 Japanese soldiers determined not to surrender.
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| Banzai Cliffs |
There were also one or two thousand Korean "comfort women" ( kanji in Japanese), abducted young women from Japan 's colony of Korea to service the Japanese soldiers as sex slaves. (See The Comfort Women: Japan 's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War, by George Hicks.)
Within a week of their landing, the Marines set up a civilian prisoner encampment that quickly attracted a couple thousand Japanese and others wanting US food and protection. When word of this reached Emperor Hirohito - who contrary to the myth was in full charge of the war - he became alarmed that radio interviews of the well-treated prisoners broadcast to Japan would subvert his people's will to fight.
As meticulously documented by historian Herbert Bix in Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, the Emperor issued an order for all Japanese civilians on Saipan to commit suicide. The order included the promise that, although the civilians were of low caste, their suicide would grant them a status in heaven equal to those honoured soldiers who died in combat for their Emperor. And that is why the precipice in the picture above is known as Suicide Cliff, off which over 20,000 Japanese civilians jumped to their deaths to comply with their fascist emperor's desire - mothers flinging their babies off the cliff first or in their arms as they jumped.
Anyone reluctant or refused, such as the Okinawan or Korean slaves, were shoved off at gunpoint by the Jap soldiers. Then the soldiers themselves proceeded to hurl themselves into the ocean to drown off a sea cliff afterwards called Banzai Cliff. Of the 31,000 Japanese soldiers on Saipan , the Marines killed 25,000, 5,000 jumped off Banzai Cliff, and only the remaining thousand were taken prisoner.
The extent of this demented fanaticism is very hard for any civilised mind to fathom - especially when it is devoted not to anything noble but barbarian evil instead. The vast brutalities inflicted by the Japanese on their conquered and colonised peoples of China , Korea , the Philippines , and throughout their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was a hideously depraved horror.And they were willing to fight to the death to defend it. So they had to be nuked. The only way to put an end to the Japanese barbarian horror was unimaginably colossal destruction against which they had no defense whatever. Nuking Japan was not a matter of justice, revenge, or it getting what it deserved. It was the only way to end the Japanese dementia.
And it worked - for the Japanese. They stopped being barbarians and started being civilised. They achieved more prosperity - and peace - than they ever knew, or could have achieved had they continued fighting and not been nuked. The shock of getting nuked is responsible. [my 'bold' emphasis]
We achieved this because we were determined to achieve victory. Victory without apologies. Despite perennial liberal demands we do so, America and its government has never apologised for nuking Japan .. Hopefully, America never will."
As a soldier and a student of history, ethics and leadership with many friends today in Korea, China, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey...and Australia, NZ, the UK and the USA; I find it difficult to accept any attempt to ennoble the 'nuking' of Japanese civilians - regardless of the postulated numbers of those who were theoretically 'saved'. To call the 'letting of that genie out of the bottle' a humanitarian act beggars belief - it is insane. A fantastical, delusional and condemnable rationalisation of what is, by modern standards, and with the benefit of hindsight, almost universally regarded as an unimaginable crime against humanity. Notwithstanding the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour which 'primarily' targeted naval and military assets, it was not our finest hour!
It is poignant because at this time three Australian Special Forces commandos in Afghanistan are being held accountable for their recent, allegedly reckless actions in which 5 children were killed. While I reserve my opinion concerning the various tactless and self-promoting statements by the Australian Director of Military Prosecutions, I do support the process which has presented sufficient evidence to leave her no alternative but to convene a Military Court Martial. Suffice to say, that charges of "Manslaughter" and "Disobeying lawful commands..." are not levied lightly. We do this because we have learnt from WW2 (Nuremberg Trials) and Vietnam (the Mei Li massacre). We remain accountable..."the ends do not justify the means!"
As a 'first world' country and a civilised people, Australia is a signatory to the Geneva Convention and the UN's seven key human rights treaties.
The 'Anzac spirit' is not some loose, poetic, aspirational concept but a statement of deep principles woven it seems into our DNA and demonstrated time and again by the actions of our officers, soldiers, sailors and airmen and women on and over battlefields and at sea for over a century...characteristics such as courage, mateship, initiative, humour, resilience and compassion. My concern is that there appears to be a chorus of 'patriots' insisting that such characteristics are somehow uniquely ours - determined to claim this moral high ground on behalf of Australia, the Allies, ANZUS, NATO or the Coalition forces?
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| Ataturk - the father of modern Turkey |
"Heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives! You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."— Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
During Gulf War II, Brigadier Maurie McNarn was appointed the Australian National Commander - Middle east Area of Operations for Operation Slipper, Bastille and Falconer (War on terrorism and Iraq War). He was later promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed Director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation - 2004. In 2009, General McNarn became Executive Director (Operations) and University Secretary, University of Queensland. He was four years my senior at the Royal Military College of Australia at Duntroon from which he graduated in 1978.
The Howard Government insisted that Australia's involvement was conditional (among other things) upon our having the right of veto over certain actions and targets. To exercise this veto is known as 'playing the red card' and is not unusual.
In 2003 when I attended the 'Pre-Command Course' before assuming my posting as Commanding Officer of the University of New South Wales Regiment (training and mentoring Army Reserve Officers) General McNarn who is incidentally a former Commandant of RMC and one of the most principled men I have known; explained the circumstances under which he played that card and the often 'heated' consequences. On one particular occasion he withdrew Australia's endorsement of a US proposal to use guided munitions to destroy a building believed to be one of Sadaam's HQs. There was a better than average chance that Sadaam, or at least a few of his infamous lieutenants - later immortalised in those decks of playing cards, were in there. The problem was that they located their HQ on the lower floors of (...I think it was) a hospital....this tactic continues today as terrorists attack our patrols from inside domestic dwellings...effectively sheltering behind their own (or someone else's) women and children. Could the Coalition have destroyed that target? Easily...no question and the war might have been over much sooner had they adopted their enemy's 'take no prisoners - give no quarter' tactics. Frankly, there might have only been only a few hundred civilian deaths (there would have been minimal damage to surrounding buildings as they could hit the hospital in such a way that it would collapse in upon itself) and it could be argued that many in the hospital were on their way out anyway...but you can see where that argument is going can't you?
What did we say about Germans sinking hospital ships during WW2? What did we say about the Nazi officers' defence at Nuremberg that they were " - just following orders? My opinion... not my point - because a point implies that I am right and opposing views are wrong or their proponents misinformed or without the benefit of the view from my own moral high ground; is that such actions as 'nuking' a n y o n e let alone civilians is morally indefensible...and I think that you will find that President Truman did not attempt to justify his actions on the grounds that he was being 'humane'.
I accept that 'decisions' to do the indefensible may inevitably be necessary...and I hope that I shall never have to make one of them; but I also pray that I shall have the courage to make such decisions, if such are mine to make - and deal with the personal consequences of them...and not still find myself, 65 years later, clutching at straws of logic to justify my actions. While I can understand how for some, the only way to cope with the reality of such horror in the world is to attempt to intellectualise it...to boil it down to 'zeros and ones'; I remain incapable of understanding how any person could be so breathtakingly arrogant or ignorant as to think themselves capable of distilling such wanton destruction down to a simple solution which provides moral justification to the victor.
We have struggled with versions of this problem for millennia - would you torture or kill 1 man to save a million? 10 men? 1000 men? What about 50,000 men, women and children? Before we attempt to exercise the power of the king, we ought to be sure that we first have the wisdom of Solomon.
Finally, we should always be careful of edifying the prose and opinion of any man (or woman) of unknown experience, motive or wit. The anti-Japanese 'post' above certainly appears sincere, but whether the gentleman was actually there on the island in 1944 - perhaps bitter, certainly scared; or the son of a soldier either killed in that war or one who may have subsequently returned home 'broken' who lived out his life diminished by that experience; or simply a modern 'patriot' who still thinks that Japanese sushi bars are an affront to dead Americans and Australians...we may never know. But it is neither well written nor well researched.
But I for one...and I cannot believe that I'm alone - refuse to hold a grudge against Japanese and German grandchildren for the crimes of (some) of their forebears. I have had an office in Krakow, Poland for 17 years and celebrated many times with my Polish and German friends together in Brno in the Czech Republic and on other occasions with our Turkish friends in Alexandroupoli, Greece just west of the Turkish border - great seafood...nice place if you ever get the opportunity to visit!
Many of our business friends have established and continue to nurture close friendships with men and women who at one time served in the Soviet Forces...but for the grace of God, there go I (us) and I'm sure that there were many fine, honourable Japanese officers and soldiers who deplored the 'goings on' in the POW camps or who had no knowledge of them. I presume that they fought and died bravely for what they believed in...some for their Emperor god, but for many on the battlefield, the less tangible or distant call of one's faith or country is often replaced by the immediate needs of one's comrades. These feelings and deep-seated human longings and motivations were the subject of President John F. Kennedy's Commencement Address at the American University 10 June 1963.
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| President John F. Kennedy |
He said: "So, let us not be blind to our differences -- but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
Surely there is little room left now in a modern Australia for this fear, paranoia and hatred of people due to the sins of a father (or grandfather), ancient cultural rivalries, or religious tradition. While I am not advocating multiculturalism - there are already too many enclaves (with money) and ghettos (without) in this land of opportunity; I fervently believe that those who seek these shores should do so (and most do) on the understanding that they and their children will integrate into this country and joyfully embrace this one Australian culture. Of course we should remember our routes but we must let go of the biases and hatreds from which we may have fled. Of course for some that is easier said than done.
I suppose I do have one point...we must ensure that we learn from our history:
• What made the German people susceptible to Hitler's very attractive National Socialist Party?
• What was the cause of the Japanese obsession?
• Why won't democracy work in Fiji and why must they always have a military coup d'etat to change government in Thailand?
• What makes some of the Islamic states and their people so embittered today while others such as Turkey, Jordan, Indonesia and Malaysia are desperately trying to stop the "radicalisation" of their societies?
We really ought to spend more time solving that one than vainly attempting to justify the decisions and actions of our parents and grandparents.
I have in this last week had the honour of presenting the Australian Defence Force Leadership and Teamwork Awards to atudents at Al Amanah College which is one of the largest Islamic highschools in Australia.
http://www.defence.gov.au/longtanawards/http://www.defence.gov.au/longtanawards/
Over these last four years, their founding Principal, Mr Mohamed El Dana has become a good friend and I have enormous respect for him, his staff, the parents and students of that school. Mr El Dana said: "First we are Australians; and we worship in the Islamic tradition." His school sings the Australian National Anthem each day...wow...we don't even do that in the Army any more and he is most proud of his girls achieving UAIs of 94 and how 2010 is the second year running that his senior boys won the inter-school rugby league competition.
http://www.defence.gov.au/longtanawards/http://www.defence.gov.au/longtanawards/
Over these last four years, their founding Principal, Mr Mohamed El Dana has become a good friend and I have enormous respect for him, his staff, the parents and students of that school. Mr El Dana said: "First we are Australians; and we worship in the Islamic tradition." His school sings the Australian National Anthem each day...wow...we don't even do that in the Army any more and he is most proud of his girls achieving UAIs of 94 and how 2010 is the second year running that his senior boys won the inter-school rugby league competition.
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| BIRR Initiative |
I am reminded of Dr Martin Luther King's great dream that one day his children would be judged on the content of their character and not on the colour of their skin...or by extension, their religion or culture. It is a pity that while Dr King's dream is enshrined in the secular constitutions and laws of countries around the world; it's practice remains merely aspirational in our society and it continues to be rejected outright by many.
By the way, many respected historians and academics have argued that the war in the Pacific was virtually over by the Spring of 1944. In my research I also found this conclusion compelling. What was very clear was that the Allies, and the US in particular, were attempting to achieve a position of strategic ascendency over Russia in the imminent carving up of whatever might be left of Europe...there was considerable concern that the Russians would simply roll on through Europe into the vacuum created by the collapse of the Axis Powers. As distasteful as it may seem, the argument goes that the saving of US (and Japanese) lives by the 100's of thousands or millions by dropping the bomb(s) and drawing the war in the Pacific to a speedy conclusion was actually a smokescreen where a 'strategically' sound political/military outcome would have the additional - perhaps primary benefit, of displaying superior US firepower - a prelude to the post-war meetings and a very clear warning lest the Russians seriously entertain any ideas of rolling south and further west. President Truman's message was clearly understood by the Kremlin, that is, the Americans not only had a 'working bomb' which the Russians, at that time, did not; but were more than prepared to use it...and against an enemy's cities should the stakes be high enough. It was the first move in the game of 'Cold War brinkmanship'.
So, in conclusion, let us not try to justify our past mistakes and current actions by citing the sins of others. I neither need nor desire the apology nor the public humiliation of current generations of former enemies to make amends for my personal loss or as a healing salve for some festering national wound. I would rather just pray for all those who died and suffered then and now - on both sides; while asking God to give us the continued strength to stand up and be responsible for our actions and that He bless the deliberations of our leaders - that they and we may have the moral courage to stand quickly and firmly against radical or extreme ideologies, selfishness and pettiness wherever we may find it...home or abroad; lest, through our apathy or inaction we ever again reach the point where Hiroshima becomes our only answer...for then we shall have truly failed.
Yours aye,
Michael Abrahams
"Lord, thy sea is so great,
And my ship is so small!"
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