From Hiroshima

Well it's been A-bomb week in Japan again. 60 years on and how far have we come?
Living in Hiroshima makes you stop and think about it - especially at 8:15am on August 6th, once a year.
When it comes to politics I find myself perched on the fence on the issue of war. All the wrangling about apologies and who did what and why helps not one jot to sort it out. Having lived and loved people in two countries which were on the other side in WWII, and seen their ways of dealing with that, and coming from one of the countries considered victorious, I know emotions run high, and cannot bring myself to sit in flippant judgement on things that people felt strongly enough to lay down their lives for, and which for me are (touch wood) safely academic.

On the one hand I get annoyed as hell when I hear the words "innocent women and children in Hiroshima" used to support the "Japan as victim of the West's unpseakable atrocity" bit. What about Dresden, London, Okinawa, France in general, Nanking......! The stubborn lack of apology or even acknowledgement for war time atrocities here suggests that at least some still hold that war is, or was, an acceptable way to sort out disagreements at all. If you're going to espouse that, then you can't complain because your bomb wasn't as big as the other guy's. No fair!

I visited the set of a new Japanese movie ("Otokotachi no Yamato" ) the day after the anniversary of what the people of Hiroshima call "pika don" "flash boom!" with a levity only survivors can be forgiven. It was with very ambivalent feeling that I stood under this flag

on the deck of a very realistic recreation of the Japanese warship "Yamato"which was sent on a last stand suicide mission into the Battle of Okinawa at the end of the war. Fitting perhaps, to go on this day as a reminder that the stupidity and cruelty was on both sides.

I get equally annoyed with the "Let's Join Hands, and Give peace a Chance" brigade. Much though I would love it to be that simple, folding a thousand paper cranes and sending them to the children of Afghanistan, and then sitting back with a nice cup of tea, or perhaps popping out to buy a new party outift, chanting a few Anti-Bush or Blair or Koizumi slogans, and congratulating yourself on the difference you are making, seems to me not only naive, it's insulting to the victims of the acts in question. (It's not the symbols or the symbolic acts themselves I'm complaining about, before you protest. They can be very strong. I'm just moaning about a certain type of do-gooder.)

On the other hand my immediate ancestors weren't incinerated in an instant, or left to waste away with unspeakable cancers.

Intellectually, I can't believe we still engage in killing each other to settle political differences, and am totally against it. However I see that there is human nature involved here, as well as a lot of testosterone; and also acknowledge that the moral high ground is all well and good, but the sad fact is that some people will never be persuaded by logical argument, and that there are "Bad" people out there, who place no value on human life - September 11th underlined that in our culture with bangs. That being the case, if it comes down to kill or be killed, it's sensible to be prepared.
There are persuasive arguments that the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima was the only way to end the war. There are persuasive arguments that it would have ended anyway. The truth is always subjective.
It is easy to blast our leaders. I can wax lyrical on what I think would be best for the world with respect to international policy, but I then I don't take any responsibility for that, sitting here on my soap box. I disagree with many of the policies of my government and that of the World's Policeman, and can Bush-bash with the rest of them, but I do have respect for the job that they do -even George . Disagree or no, when it comes to war, I'm sure no decisions are taken lightly. I respect them for having the courage to take them on our behalf. They live with the outcome every day.
So yes, politically and intellectually I'm on the fence.

Problem is, when you live in a place like Hiroshima, it's the human element that tips the scales.
Respect I have for the high offices, and the decisions they are forced to make, but in the end it's not down to whether or not it was politically justfied. When the skin is burned away you can't tell whether someone was Japanese or American or white or black. They are just a victim of something horrendous and terrifying. I truly believe that every person who considers running for the top jobs should be forced to come to Hiroshima and see. See the results of the politics and theorising. Perhaps then they might use their power responsibly.

To do it once, before the effects were known - you can just about see an intellectual justification for it - maybe. But we're supposed to be intelligent. This should never be allowed to happen again. You come and see too. And if you can't , check out the virtual tour.

Peace be with you.