August 15: Nuclear bombings ‘show Allies no better than Hitler’

ADAM Cathcart’s article ‘The bombs kept falling in the wake of Hiroshima’ is a macabre reminder of how hypocritaical the West, in particular the USA has been about war and peace (The Yorkshire Post, August 8).

Back in the 1950s, we were told very little about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although we knew their names and that atom bonbs had been dropped. We were told that it was ‘a good thing’ because it brought the war to an end more speedily than would have been the case without the bombs.

What we weren’t shown until much later was the devastation caused and lives ruined by these horrendous bombs. But this horror did not deter the powers that be from creating bombs that could cause even more devastation. They were justified because they enabled a balance of power to be maintained between East and West, since they would never be used.

The ownership of H bombs has not prevented us from following America and ‘conventionally’ bombing several countries since World War Two and the fact is that we have never treated Japan and its people with respect. It was as if they deserved all that because they are an aggressive nation. I can- not understand how the Allies’ behaviour was any better than Hitler’s.