A Day of Infamy

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Visiting Pearl Harbour brings up all sorts of emotions. The attack on Pearl Harbour was a horrendous crime. The men who died there should be remembered as innocent victims of Japanese aggression. It was rightly condemned by FDR as a "Day of Infamy". The USS Arizona Memorial is very moving. It seems to float on the water over the wreck of the ship. A wonderful reminder of all the dead sailors trapped in the wreck.
But I can't help thinking about all the people killed in American attacks. Particularly, after visiting Hiroshima I came to the conclusion that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was wrong. America could have bombed an uninhabited area as a warning and given Japan an ultimatum. The Shrine and Museum in Hiroshima showed the devastation that was caused there but it also talked about Japanese military aggression. We also visited a Museum of Peace in Kyoto which was very critical of Japan's role in the Pacific War. Not everyone thinks like this but Japan is still trying to come to terms with their military history. What I don't see is Mainstream America wrestling with its conscience about their long history of military aggression (ie not just Iraq).

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