The Sacrifice of Hiroshima Was in Vain

“Trinity,” “Little Boy,” “Fat Man” — three innocuous and innocent designations for one of the major crimes against humanity, for certain the greatest war crime which remains unpunished.

Three names, innocuous and innocent, for three nuclear bombs calved by what was called “the Manhattan Project,” in maximum secret and through clandestine financing, inspired by mafia-like money laundering practices. The price of the first three prototypes of atomic bombs constructed by the United States, two of which were tested, as ordered by President Truman, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, tragedies which sparked 70 years of universal mourning, was $2 billion.

Nazi Germany surrendered, as did fascist Italy. Nationalistic Japan was on track to negotiate its surrender behind the scenes with the winning nations. Tokyo intended only to safeguard the figure of the emperor, a circumstance with internal significance but without any external or military effects.

Using the uranium bomb over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and the plutonium bomb over Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, was not necessary to win the war. The sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese was an investment made by the American military-industrial complex to show who effectively won World War II and, most of all, who would win in following wars — that is, who would reign supreme over the world. These were, therefore, the circumstances.

For strategic reasons that had to do with the great advances in scientific research on the processes of nuclear fission and chain reactions, the race for the atomic bomb mobilized Germany and the allies in the final years of the war. The United States, which entered the war late, was in the front of this, thanks to the work of scientists from various nationalities, among whom J. Robert Oppenheimer, of German descent, stood out. Roosevelt designated him as the chief of the Manhattan Project, the code name for the production of the atomic bomb constructed at a secret location at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Los Alamos did not exist except as a remainder post-restante “1663 Santa Fe.” The project resulted in three prototypes. One of them, “Trinity,” was tested in secret in the desert, near Alamogordo, on July 16, 1945. The war in Europe had ended two months earlier, and the war in Asia was coming to an end. One can say, without error, that despite scientific advances, the atomic bomb arrived late in the world war. Truman had succeeded Roosevelt because of Roosevelt’s death, and Truman’s administration unfurled pretexts at that point to test the two other prototypes on a real life scenario as a sign of global superiority. Oppenheimer figured that the launch of an atomic bomb over a city would result in 20,000 deaths.

These were conservative estimates, one might say today. In Hiroshima, under the impact of “Little Boy,” more than 100,000 people died in the first two days; there are still people who are dying now due to the continuing effect of radiation, including people who inherited genetic degeneration caused by the radiation from parents and grandparents. In Nagasaki, under the impact of “Fat Man,” 60,000 to 80,000 people lost their lives in the early days. The first bomb was launched on Aug. 6. It was planned for Aug. 1, but a typhoon altered the plans. The second exploded over Nagasaki, but had been planned for Kokura. This did not happen because the city was covered by a cloudy sky. One can see by the nature of the decisions that they were not made out of necessity, but rather because of the arrogant desire to equally intimidate our enemies and our allies.

The secrets of Los Alamos were quick to become open. Today there are 17,000 nuclear warheads in the world, according to North American physicist organizations. It is not known whether this number includes countries such as Israel, who hide their capabilities. All of them exponentially multiply the three rookie bombs’ potential for death. The sacrifice of the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was in vain. A nuclear conflict, in fact, would leave no one in any condition to register who won, because there would be no victors.