US Ambassador Drops the Bomb on Students
Zurui's Comment: US Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, seems like he cannot win in the latest debate on whether it was necessary to drop atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I will give you my opinion later!
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Schieffer was invited today as a special guest speaker for high school students attending the 5th seminar of the Japan Future Leaders School (JFLS) —a private institute headed by Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) Chairman Fujio Mitarai—in the city of Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture. In the seminar, Schieffer spoke on the topic of “when I was a high school student." In a question-and-answer session, there were questions from high school students wondering whether it was necessary to drop atomic bombs [on Hiroshima and Nagasaki]. Ambassador Schieffer answered that the atomic bombings were "intended to minimize the number of war victims." With this, Schieffer justified the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The seminar was attended by 160 JFLS trainees and about 300 students from Munakata High School and Tokai University Daigo Senior High School in the city of Munakata and also from Tomeikan High School in Saga Prefecture. At the beginning of his speech, Schieffer encouraged the attending students to "work for peace, justice, and other universal values for humanity as leaders in the future."
After the seminar, there was a question-and-answer session, during which two high school students asked questions. One of the two sudents asked, "Do you think it was right to drop the atomic bombs?" The other asked, "Do you not think it was unnecessary to drop an atomic bomb on Nagasaki?" Ambassador Schieffer answered, "While I won’t go so far as to say that I agree (with the atomic bombings), I can understand them." He explained that Japan would not surrender and the United States therefore dropped the atomic bombs so that many more lives would not be lost.
Source: NISHI-NIPPON SHIMBUN (Page 13) (Full), Evening Edition, August 1, 2008
