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Hiroshima: An American Crime

61 years have passed since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which killed 200,000 and 70,000 people respectively, and marked the end of World War II.

The United States, with the assistance of Britain and Canada, designed and built the first atomic bombs under what was called the Manhattan Project, led by General Leslie Groves and the physicist Robert Oppenheimer. The project initially started at the instigation of European refugee scientists (including Albert Einstein) and American scientists who feared that Nazi Germany would be preparing for a full-scale bomb development program- which was later discovered to be incorrect.

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent," Physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb, said years later of the reactions of the scientists, who were relieved the crucial test was successful.

Hiroshima, the city of water, built on the Ota River delta in one of the most sheltered harbors on the Seto Inland Sea, a city that stands as a commercial and industrial center, was destroyed more than 60 years ago when the United States of America decided to drop the first atomic bomb on the city, starting the age of deadly weapons that would lead the world into destruction and annihilation, and which alone should prompt the people of the 20th century to feel shame and disgrace until Judgment Day, said an article on Palestine's Alhayat Aljadeeda.

Hiroshima is much more than its Peace Memorial Park and a stepping stone to Miyajima. It's a historic city that any tourist would love to visit, with its World-class museums, gardens, temples, professional baseball and shopping malls.

Thousands of peace activists commemorate the anniversary of the U.S. heinous crime in Hiroshima and Nagasaki every year, with huge marches in downtown Hiroshima, calling for a global ban on nuclear weapons.

But unfortunately UN talks aimed at banning the use of deadly nuclear weapons collapsed in early 2005.

About 85,000 Hiroshima survivors still live in the city. They are known as "hibakusha". Some make regular visits to elementary schools to tell their story and recall their painful memories. Many bear scars.

The appalling memories of the event, which we were taught for twenty years, should stay vivid. We will never forget the picture of that war criminal who delivered the bomb and his bloody smile that circulated among magazines, reflecting his pride that he and he alone ordered carrying out this horrific crime.

Nobody at that time asked the then U.S. President Harry Truman whether he knew the extent of destruction the atomic bomb would cause and how it would impact human life on Earth for long years.

President Truman's principle which he sees was the reason behind the success of American administrations was "First comes America, and the tide will carry the rest".

The United States' policy is to pursue all means to assert its hegemony and strengthen the cross-continental grip of American corporations even if that means causing the destruction of other places in the world.

And the first bridal gift that America submitted at the genocidal wedding feast was President Truman's formal recognition of Israel.

Palestine was the first country to face atrocities that spread later across Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, the editorial further stated, adding that the U.S. crime in Hiroshima symbolizes what the human monster does to other human beings. And the administrations of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior were successful in bringing down on mankind the destructive force of the Hiroshima bomb.

And then came the current U.S. President, starting another era that stands as the most repugnant and hideous of all in the United States.

Source: AlLazeera