Interview with the pilot who dropped the first atomic bomb

Here's a link to an interview of Paul Tibbets, who was the pilot who dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima:

http://dalesdesigns.net/interview.htm

[[MORE]]There are some interesting lessons here:

1. To get someone to kill thousands of innocent civilians, all you need to do is convince them that it's for the "greater good" -- the fact that the people being killed are, in fact, innocent, has no bearing. Applying that concept to the world as it is today leads to some pretty ugly thoughts.


2. The US made plans to nuke Europe at the same time as Japan. I don't recall hearing that before. Hitler was vilified for having thousands killed in Berlin in the last days of the war; imagine how many more would have died if a bomb had been dropped there. Also, the US almost certainly would not have been able to withdraw their forces before the bomb was dropped, due to secrecy.


3. The winners write the history, and spin it their way. The pilot and crew of the plane that killed thousands is a hero. If Japan had won, the US would certainly have been cast in a much different light.


4. There was a third bomb. From the tone of the discussion, it sounds like Japan would have had a third one dropped on them if they hadn't surrendered. I don't recall ever hearing that before, either.

In case it's not clear, I actually agree with the reasons why the bombs were dropped on Japan -- but that's a subject for another post.