It's an interesting point but the nuclear weapons are not suitable as a declaration of revenge against Japanese soldiers since the people killed by the bombs were civilians. Would you accept a terrorist attack on your city as revenge for the actions of your military in another country?
The bombs were a strategic option designed to lessen the human cost of conquering Japan, they were not used to punish.
I think you need to look into the Rape of Nan King, most of the casualties were civilian, and the details are horrific and barbaric beyond comprehension. What makes it worse is that Japan actively down-plays the statistics, or outright denies the entire thing, despite solid evidence otherwise.
Truth; if we (Americans) had tried to traditionally invade Japan, the death toll probably would have been much higher, if not from armed conflict from Japanese soldiers and civilians hiding out in the city fighting to the last man, then the suicide rate among non-combatant civilians following at the suggestion of the then-current government would have been almost as high.
Most of you arguing against our decision to use the bombs don't truly seem to comprehend how formidable and resourceful the Japanese fought during that war. They almost literally fought to the last man; when they ran out of bullets, they would sharpen bamboo spears and freaking
charge our still-adequately-equipped soldiers. If they had any spare explosives or grenades, they would hide in the dirt or play dead (sometimes for
days at a time) until a tank would roll over them before taking the tank out with them.
This, not mentioning the kamikaze pilots they utilized against our ships. The government
encouraged civilian involvement in the war; and if they could not fight, they told them that the Americans were psychotic, savage, uncultured rapists that would sadistically torture them if they found them alive and that they and their entire families could be spared fates worse than death by mercy-killing their children and jumping off cliffs onto the jagged rocks that lined their shores (which they did by the droves).
The alternative to dropping Fat Man and Little Boy was to prolong the war possibly for months or years on end against an enemy that would not give up until none of them were left to keep on fighting.
I say this not entirely (but I admit my bias) to justify the death tolls of WWII, but to better explain the US's decision at that time; against an enemy that was so formidable to our CO's, and to our soldiers absolutely terrifying. A type of enemy we would not face again until Vietnam. That, and ashamedly we wanted to also test the bombs while scaring off the Russians in a pre-Cold War power-play.
As I said, I am sick of talking about WWII and just wanted to establish some historical context.
This truly is a tragedy for Japan; Obama said that we would standby in case Japan asks or requires help, and I hope we come through for them. Since the end of the last Great War, we have helped Japan regain economic power, set up a working democracy, and have long since been allies and trading partners. Shame on these morons on facebook for jeering about long-irrelevant conflicts they weren't even around for; outrage and blind-nationalism that should have phased out long before their time.