Better recognize horrific truth

Dear editor,

In his Aug. 11 piece ``Obama insensitive to mark Hiroshima anniversary,” Dan K. Thomasson's attack on President Obama for sending the U.S. ambassador to Japan neglects to recognize the horrific truth that the U.S. dropped two nuclear bombs over civilian populations.

This occurred after months of fire-bombing raids, a practice that proved nearly, if not more so, destructive than the nuclear attacks. In our modern, post-Geneva parlance this could only be described as genocide. The mass killing of innocent civilians is never militarily necessary nor should it ever be condoned.

As evidenced by the New START treaty with Russia which awaits approval on the floor of the U.S. Senate, President Obama has made it clear that the world-wide reduction of nuclear arsenals is the center piece of his foreign policy.

Between nuclear enrichment programs in North Korea and Iran, and possible “loose nukes” being stolen or sold from Russia or Pakistan, these weapons pose the greatest threat not just to international security, but to the survival of humanity itself.

The U.S. has played a shameful and hypocritical role with respect to nuclear proliferation, exhibiting the worst aspects of American exceptionalism.

It is the only country to have actually used nuclear weapons, it has conducted over 1,000 nuclear tests, yet it still tries to claim the moral and political authority to forbid other nations from doing the same. It is refreshing to see Obama with all his “youthful ignorance,” as Thomasson describes, try to undo the harm caused by 60 years of destructive and arrogant nuclear policy.

Although Japan recently issued a formal apology to South Korea for its behavior during the occupation, many South Koreans were understandably still upset by how much still went unsaid.

But Japan's cowardly inability to properly own up to its past atrocities ultimately only belittles it in the eyes of the international community. President Obama is correct in making a symbolic gesture that gives credence to his effort to reduce nuclear arsenals, acknowledges the harm inflicted upon a civilian population, and exposes Japan's stubborn pettiness by juxtaposition. World leaders should set an example, not pander to the lowest common denominator.

Dekker Boulay

pdboulay@gmail.com