Hiroshima in Iran?

That's a Catholic Church in the foreground.  FYI Nagasaki had an even larger percentage  of Christians in the population.  I generally don't sympathise with the Japanese for what happened to them in WW2.  The behavior of their army in China and the Phillipines often made the Waffen SS look like altar boys.  Anyone who thinks American soldiers were like the "banzai" crowd should compare our occupation of Japan with the Japanese army's butchery of Chinese civilians at Nanking in 1937.

Nevertheless, this was a terrible thing to do and reflective of a dread of the costs that would have accompanied invasion of Japan.  Okinawa was a warning of what that would have been like.

Gingrich was interviewed by Blitzer today and in the course of the interview he said that if the Israelis told him as president that they were going to attack Iran with conventional arms he would give them all necessary support "to keep them from going nuclear."

Well!  He is the first big time friend of Israel to raise that prospect.  Think about it.  pl

Comments

[Matthew]

There goes strategic ambiquity.

[rkka]

"The behavior of their army in China and the Phillipines often made the Waffen SS look like altar boys."

One fascinating thing is how the IJA evolved in the course of their long pre-1941 conflict with China. In the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, the IJA's treatment of civilians and POWs was exemplary.

The dynamics of conquest and occupation made them barbaric.

[Robert C.]

'support "to keep them from going nuclear."'...

Does he mean he wants to keep Iran from aquiring nuclear weapons, because I do not loose too much sleep about that.

Or, does he mean he is afraid Israel would go nuclear and drop nuclear weapons on Iran....now that I fear.

RC

[turcopolier]

robert C

He was talking about Israeli use of nuclear weapons. why would they do the\at. it is because they lack the conventional capability to do the job. pl

[Jake]

We are in a world of hurt.... Newt becoming our next president would be our Hiroshima!

[highlander]

Anybody have any knowledge of how many earth penatrating mini nukes it would take,to actually shut down the Iranian program?

That number is the basis of determining,the numbers of aircraft the Israelis would have to put at risk. Which in return, says how much the risk/reward ratio is in favor or not of Israel having a go at the "Rag Heads", before the RH's get off the first shot at Israel.(Tel aviv will look just like Hiroshama.)Because,I can assure you, the Mullahs arent going to use "no stinkin" mini nuke on the Jews!

[Lars]

I don't think Israel can afford to use nukes in any preventive manner. Hopefully somebody there realizes it. The backlash would swamp them.

[Jake]

Like I said our Hiroshima....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/newt-gingrich-john-bolton-secretary-of-state_n_1134402.html

Scary!

[jerseycityjoan]

Should we assume that Newt's been told that the Israelis will use nuclear weapons?

Or is his willingness to jump in the front the Israelis with our troops and assets just the usual friendliness that we show our #1 best allies in the world?

I get all confused, between the threats and the bribes, about where we stand and what is real.

Somehow I don't think I the only one.

[kao_hsien_chih]

IJA underwent very weird transformation in 1920s and 30s. Before WWI, the Japanese state, including the military, went extraordinary lengths to "act Western." After WWI, Japan turned sharply Eastward, with many Western niceties that they were so eager to adopt being rejected explicitly--including, apparently, adherence to accepted conventions of warfare. One rather trivial example of this change that always struck me is the adoption of the katana-type sword as standard issue in 1930s and the obsession with the traditional swordsmanship taken up by Japanese officers about then.

Japan's war of conquest in Asia (and colonial enterprise before that) was equally bizarre. It was certainly very brutal, but, on the other hand, many Japanese, including some of top leaders, took their own "uplift Asia" propaganda quite seriously, and I occasionally wonder whether Japanese atrocities were actually driven in part by their misguided idealism, perhaps out of the sense that those Asians who rejected Japanese leadership (and did not actively cooperate with them) were traitors to the "Asiatic cause" or whatever. Of course, there were many others who were cynically exploiting the conquered peoples for their own benefit, but pure utilitarianism, for sure, could not account for their brutality.

[DanM]

Joan,
We should assume that Newt is dangerous to the interest of the United States (and to others as well, of course).

[turcopolier]

khc

When did the IJA stop having German instructors? pl

[gallid]

Not surprised. Newt reportedly has said that he would make John Bolton his Secretary of State - enough said.

[WP]

"Gingrich was interviewed by Blitzer today and in the course of the interview he said that if the Israelis told him as president that they were going to attack Iran with conventional arms he would give them all necessary support 'to keep them from going nuclear.'"

The transcript is at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1112/07/sitroom.02.html

From a reading of the transcript it seems that the "them" being referred to by Newt is the Israelis. Is Newt saying that if the Israeli's say they are going to use nuclear weapons against Iran, he will send in all of the "necessary support" of the US as a substitute for the Israelis "going nuclear" when the Israeli conventional arms prove inadequate?

Newt brags, "I am very close to Netanyahu." like he should get some points for knowing him.

This whole thing seems really whacky. Gingrich's glib talk of nuclear attacks discussing them as lightly as if nuclear war is something as routine and entertaining as a Hollywood stunt and explosion filled thriller movie shows a peculiar separaion from morality and reality. How can such a shallow and vain man ever be qualified to make the deadly decisions required of a president? Has he any appreciation of the value of human life of the non-american people of the world? The whole thing seems to be a parlor game for him.

[turcopolier]

wp

no. he says that he would provide the Israelis all necessary support to prevent them going nuclear bcause of their conentional incapacity to deal with the target set with what they have. pl

[turcopolier]

highlanders

"rag heads?" does "nigger" still work for you? pl

[turcopolier]

highlander

You are the first i have seen who wants the Izzies to go nuclear. "earth penatrating mini nukes" pl

[jr786]

Rag heads, indeed. One positive thing that is certain to come out of this will be to reveal the racism and hatred that is usually concealed behind the high-minded hand wringing of the Israel Firsters.

Col. Lang's acute observation of the 'unmasking' of Mitchell is part of this, too. The screeching will be that of demons being exorcised from the American body politic.

[Robert C.]

Highlander, you always frame everything using the word Jews. This is because you believe, or want others to believe, that criticism of Israel is synonymous with anti-semitism. You are wrong, and transparent.

RC

[Neil Richardson]

"When did the IJA stop having German instructors? pl"

Dear Col. Lang:

IIRC after Japan entered WWI, the Army War College (Rikudai) didn't retain any foreign instructors. However, they still sent promising officers like Yamashita Tomoyuki to Kriegsakademie during the interwar period.

[Jane]

A lesser systematic form of the Cambodian attempts to purge the population?

[Jackie]

I heard somewhere years ago, that the Israelis had all those nukes not for their neighbors, which are too close to home, but pointed at capitols around the world as blackmail. Now that is something that I can believe. One pointed at Paris, Rome, DC and pretty soon you get your way or we get it big time.

Highlander - you are truly something else!!!

[optimax]

highlander uses slang. He appreciates Americanisms, so do others--Camel Jockey, Wall Wailer, what's the difference? That's how us Ridge Runners talk.

[kao_hsien_chih]

My understanding is that there was no permanent presence of foreign advisers in Japan after 1890 (they had both German and French advisers until that time, I believe), although long-term visits by foreign advisers continued into early 1920s--the last being the British mission (the Semphill Mission) to help the Japanese build up their air forces, both army and navy.

[kao_hsien_chih]

Interesting analogy, if you mean Pol Pot's crazy ideas about creating an ideal society (and liquidating every Cambodian who didn't buy into it).