I.The Bombings over German Skies that caused far more casualties. These being a joint venture between all Allied Air powers provides global precedence for such actions.

II. The USSR was massing forces in the Kamchatka Peninsula, and had declared war upon The Empire of Japan. The possibility of a Soviet dominated Pacific would have forced Anglo/American ground forces on the main islands without the program of unconditional surrender in place already. American, French, and British interests in the area would have been affected in ways that would have shaped the future in a much different way.

III. The loss of human life was calculated at the time of the war by men who were in the position to have the best information to that task at any time past or present. Their estimates cannot be shrugged off and cannot be taken lightly.

Also as to American colonialism:

The current American Conflicts are not unlike the European wars against indigenous tribes in the except for the fact that they are backed by International Coalitions, though not in any way a large force, these show support from many forces. From Europe to Asia.

According to your statement, Japan deserve it because it attacked and killed millions of Chinese, then I think USA would deserve several nuclear attacks since it killed tens of millions after the second world war!!

Japanese have their pride and they were ready to fight for their country. They even wrote letters with their blood to beg the criminal court not to excecute their emperors! Let them die with honour in the battlefield not killing them while they were unprepared. FIGHT LIKE A MAN USA!!

Aby, I disagree on the approval part. Two of the USA’s most tragic and idiotic blunders had the approval of the majority of its citizens- the latest Iraq attack and each escalation in VietNam/Cambodia/Laos.

As for knowledge- I agree. A big part of the reason is that most americans are shockingly under-informed and often misinformed. Although much of the ignorance is due to the decline in journalism in the US main stream media, americans’ blindly believing what their politicians say and their MSM publishes are more than small factors. Alas, methinks that even if the majority grasped the important relevant facts, they’d probably still support similar stupid conflicts since jingoism is somehow embedded in the nation’s DNA.

I am glad you appreciate the destructive nature of wars. As someone already pointed out above, the US foreign policy is primarily based on application of force (including wars to achieve self-fulfilling ends). There is no period in the last 50 years in the US history where the nation wasn’t at war.

 
@ greg - “And the cartoon itself is quite misleading as Saddam was only a nominal Muslim prior to his imprisonment.”

The cartoon does not explicitly say that Saddam or Bush go to war for their ‘godly’ ideals. Saddam is as much Muslim as Bush is Christian and both know that religious sentiments of the fools can be easily exploited to goad warriors. Both these leaders exploit what they can.

 
@ greg - “He invaded Kuwait because of his need for oil. During the first Gulf War, he launched missiles at Israel in a political attempt to turn the fight into a Arab-Israeli conflict.”

I am afraid, Saddam is no longer alive to confirm or deny your claims, however true from your point of view it may seem. Perhaps he did it for oil or perhaps it was just to impress his wives, we can never know for sure unless we ask the real person.

 
@ greg - “I’m certainly not apologizing for American actions, but I do think that trying to say we are any worse than any other country is disingenuous.”

It is unfortunate that you think so. A country which is continuously engaged in serial wars, mass massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocides is worse than a country which is not doing any of these. It is even worse when moral justifications are made for all these crimes against humanity. We cannot have one set of standards for Americans and a seperate biased one for Nazis, Arabs or the other ‘un-American’ groups.

And the cartoon itself is quite misleading as Saddam was only a nominal Muslim prior to his imprisonment. He quite often played upon the theological divide between Sunnis and Shites to control the population of the Iraq and targeted other minorities within his nation. When he targeted other nations, he did it for non-religious reasons. He invaded Kuwait because of his need for oil. During the first Gulf War, he launched missiles at Israel in a political attempt to turn the fight into a Arab-Israeli conflict.

I’m certainly not apologizing for American actions, but I do think that trying to say we are any worse than any other country is disingenuous. You could make the valid point that we aren’t as high and mighty as we try to make ourselves out to be, but the educated people on both sides of the political spectrum already know that. The ignorant on both sides can’t be taught otherwise.