Swickard: Good bomb or bad bomb?

Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber is in in the Smithsonian
© 2015 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
            In the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was told by Glinda, "The Munchkins want to know, are you a Good Witch or a Bad Witch." Until then Dorothy and the viewing public had thought all witches were bad. But The Wizard of Oz revolves around Good Witches and Bad Witches.
            That lesson might translate to other things in our world. August 6th is the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. It followed the July 16, 1945 detonation of a 20 kiloton nuclear device at Trinity Site, New Mexico, and was followed by the detonation of a second atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan.
            A few days later Japan unconditionally surrendered. World War Two was over. It remains the most deadly war of all time in our world. About three percent of the world's population died in the conflict and that number might be low. In raw numbers the estimate is sixty million people died.
            And for the most part the dying was over after two atomic bombs forced Japan to surrender. Especially in the last thirty years there has been a fierce debate about those actions. Usually it is an explosive argument when people discuss using two atomic bombs to end World War Two.
            Perhaps we should ask: were they a good bomb or a bad bomb? Like witches we automatically assume all atomic bombs to be bad. Were they, are they?
            Certainly they have the liability of injuring people with radiation long after the war has ended. But the official position of our country and our politicians is that injury by radiation does not matter at all. How do I know that? I am a Downwinder injured by the Trinity explosion which injured thousands of other New Mexicans but our government and politicians are still seventy years later ignoring our injuries.
            The question most people ask: Did the nuclear bombs really end World War Two? The day of surrender Emperor Hirohito broadcast, "The enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization."
            It was very chaotic in Japan. Some members of the Japanese Military did not want to surrender but they revered the Emperor. Japan was in essence a dictatorship not of the Emperor but the Military. The Emperor was truly a figurehead and General McArthur who ran Japan in the first five years after the war's end understood this and allowed Hirohito to have a post-war figurehead role.
            For several years I lived in Japan and heard several Japanese say that they had been ordered by the military to sharpen broom handles and they were supposed to try to stab invading Americans when they landed. They were grateful the war ended for whatever reason. They did not wish to die needlessly.
            Further, I drink coffee with a man who was on a troop ship to Japan and was going to make the first of two major landings. He says the reason he is still alive and had a career as a high school teacher is that the war ended suddenly. He is a supporter of the use of atomic weapons.
            Seventy years later we can inspect the plans that were in effect for the invasion to end the war. Operation Olympic was to be on the Southern-most Japanese island of Kyushu November 1, 1945 while Operation Coronet the invasion of main island Honshu south of Tokyo was scheduled for four months later.
            The pentagon planning paper was called Operation Downfall. It projected millions of deaths. But we and the Japanese were spared that holocaust of death.
            Can atomic bombs be good? Yes, when they end a dictatorship and allow Japan to become a democracy. I told this to a clerk in a store recently. She said she could not believe atomic bombs to be good. I replied, the use of force, the use of good atomic bombs allows you to reject the truth.

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Swickard column: Between the ears safety

© 2015 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  "Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands." Jeff Cooper
             As a nation we are collectively being intentionally stupid about the safety of our citizens for political reasons. Places where the military are not allowed a means to protect themselves are in the news, but for the wrong reason. The issue is not if individual military members are armed or not. It is that sign, Gun Free Zone, deliberately telling people of evil intent or mental illness that those people stand no chance against a gunman.
            Gun Free Zone signs say to some people that No One Can Shoot Back. Telling people of evil intent or mental illness that our military and school children have no means of defense is insane. It makes them targets while also not giving them a defense.
            The danger of attack in our society comes from two major groups: people of evil intent and people who are mentally ill. Our society is caught in a dilemma. We have plenty of laws against people taking guns to certain places. But they are just words and not actions. People prohibited from having guns get them anyway.
            We are told if all guns were banned in America there would be no guns on the street. That is beyond stupid. The reason five military servicemen were killed a week ago was they and everyone around them followed the law while the perpetrator did not.
            Remember that we made drugs illegal and yet illegal drugs are easily obtainable in every community. We arrest and incarcerate drug violators all of the time and still the drugs flood our towns. Having laws against guns does not and will not stop their use by criminals and people with mental illnesses.
            The only way to stop a person with a gun and murderous intent is someone else with a gun who will defend the defenseless. George Orwell wrote, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
            We cannot reason with people of evil intent or mental illness, we must respond to force with force. The police cannot ever respond to violent attacks on our population in time to prevent them. They can end the carnage but precious minutes go by as they travel to the area where people are being attacked. The only logical answer is that some of the people be able to respond instantly.
            Now I do not want to see lots of open carry firearms because that means that the person who intends to defend the defenseless is apparent to someone of evil intent. Rather, I like conceal carry and making sure that someone coming to military facilities, public schools or churches does not know who may be packing.
            The defenders of Congress, the Supreme Court and the President of the United States work very hard at not disclosing their strategy for defense. It is multi-layered and robust. The primary defense of these people is between the ears and not in the hands.
            Let me ask you: is the President that much more important than a class of first graders in your local elementary school? Both the President and the innocent children deserve our best defense. But defending children has been hijacked by political operatives who wish to impose gun control on the population as a whole. They unintentionally sponsor domestic terrorism in our public schools by taking away all semblance of defense.
            Yes, the police can come within fifteen minutes and take a report but the need is for people to be armed and ready every second. Most of those armed and ready people will never be called upon because people of evil intent avoid places where those people will shoot back.
            That leaves the mentally ill who have watched hour after hour of coverage when someone shoots up a military facility or a public school. They may attack regardless of if there is a defense. Then the defense need to work and work very effectively.
            Our safety really does rest between the ears of our leaders. Only they can remove the Gun Free Zones and replace them with effective defensives.

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Swickard: New Mexico Downwinder justice denied

© 2015 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. 
"Justice delayed is justice denied." William Gladstone
             A group of New Mexicans have a legitimate suspicion that they were injured by the actions of our government years ago but no one today cares. I am one of them. We are called Downwinders since the suspicion is that our injury is from the downwind residue from the first nuclear explosion.
            That twenty kiloton nuclear explosion was in a remote area of New Mexico seventy years ago this July 16th. The scientists wanted to be sure the device would explode correctly when dropped over a Japanese city.
            The implosion-design plutonium device at Trinity Site was similar to the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan August 9, 1945. In the seventy years since that nuclear test our world has changed dramatically and yet some of that 1945 world perhaps stays with us Downwinders.
            We suspect we are survivors of invisible pollutants from that nuclear explosion leading to our health problems. For me it was an aggressive form of thyroid cancer. Around Chernobyl it is called Radiation Induced Thyroid Cancer.
            The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident injured many people downwind of the area, however, there are robust efforts underway to identify and help those injured by the radiation. In our country our government has no interest in the radiation injury to New Mexico Downwinders. Does anyone doubt that the atomic explosion polluted New Mexico?
            Years ago one politician stated, "We beat the Japanese, what do you want?" He seemed mad that I was bringing up stuff from years ago. Politicians and journalists alike are not interested. I have written these issues in columns several times to the yawns of our leaders.
            Worse, we Downwinders are dying out. Our movement is like the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) founded in 1868 with their membership limited to Union military in the Civil War. Five US Presidents were GAR members. Then Albert Woolson, age 109, died in 1956 and then there were no longer any GAR members.
            The same will happen to the New Mexico Downwinders. One of us will be the last one alive and then the movement will end. Will we Downwinders find justice in our lifetime?
            The problem is we do not know for sure. Suspicion is not proof, but we have a right to be suspicious. Our government has not done what was done in Europe after Chernobyl where they studied carefully the people who thought they might have been sickened by the release of radiation.
            I appreciate that U. S. Senator Tom Udall held a meeting a couple weeks ago in Tularosa and New Mexico Representative Steve Pearce and I have spoken several times. But another day goes by, another week, another month, another year, and some more of us Downwinders have died.
            Why do I think it was the radiation release from the Trinity explosion that caused my cancer? Research is compelling around Chernobyl that a very aggressive form of thyroid cancer is tied to the radiation. I had that very aggressive form and was lucky that I noticed the tumor early and it was removed within ten days of diagnosis or perhaps I would not be here today.
            Again, suspicion is not proof but my government has not done anything to help Downwinders find out if our health maladies are tied to Trinity Site. These maladies are not cheap. We are out lots of money and there are quality of life issues.
            Our government is quick to throw money at other countries and other maladies in our country, why not this? Or even come up with the cost of looking at this issue. Because there is no political advantage and our people in government must always gain a political advantage.
            This issue will go away if politicians and government leaders can ignore us long enough. There is only one group who can bring justice to us if they will work at getting to the truth of the radiation.
            Journalists can continue to ignore us or they can put it on the front page until our government comes to its senses and acts responsibly. That is the role of the media in a perfect world. Justice delayed is justice denied.

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