The 60th Anniversary of V-J Day
by Timothy Horrigan
August 19, 2005
This is a letter I wrote for my local paper— Foster's Daily Democrat (Dover, NH)— about Bush II's actions at the time of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II (i.e., VJ Day.) I wrote it on August 18, 2005, and sadly it never got published. The letter was in large part inspired by Bush II's August 11 Israel TV interview, where he threatened to invade Iran.
The 60th anniversary of
one of the greatest events in American history is passing by almost
unnoticed: this is the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
World War II is still the bloodiest conflict in history, and
the Pacific War climaxed with acts of violence which are still
unsurpassed: in August 1945, American planes dropped atomic bombs on
the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and we also
fire-bombed Tokyo and other cities.)
Given what has happened
in Iraq during the past few years, it is understandable why President
Bush does not want to draw too much attention to what happened 60
years ago. For starters, President Roosevelt had five adult children
who all joined in the war effort. Jenna and Barbara Bush have very
conspicuously chosen not to serve.
Presidents Roosevelt and
Truman did not declare victory until the war was in fact over. Bush
unfurled his “Mission Accomplished” banner in May 2003.
However, most of our casualties in Iraq have happened after his
victory dance on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
President Truman showed a willingness to declare peace when
the opportunity finally arose. The Americans wanted Japan to
surrender “unconditionally.” Truman was willing to
compromise at the end of the war by allowing the emperor to stay in
place, along with most of the existing power structure in both the
public and private sectors--- while still calling the peace agreement
an “unconditional surrender”
It is time for Bush
to declare peace in Iraq.
Ironically, Bush recently tried to
do the opposite. On August 11, 2005, exactly 60 years after Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, Bush gave a little-noticed
interview with Israeli TV where he proposed a joint
Israeli-American attack on Iran (ostensibly because of Iran's
nuclear weapons program.) Understandably, the Israelis did not take
Bush up on his offer.
Timothy Horrigan; Durham NH
Read
The Forgotten Liars, the novel by Timothy
Horrigan