My father, Joe O'Donnell, was a U.S. Marine Corps photographer during World War II and was stationed in Japan for 7 months after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through his camera's viewfinder, he saw first-hand the atomic bomb's devastation and it's victims. He also felt a great sense of shame, sorrow and remorse.
Volumes have been written criticizing or justifying the dropping of the bombs. The purpose of the Phoenix Venture is not to debate the subject but to be a forum to educate and expose the atrocity inflicted upon the many, many innocent civilians of Japan.
Author Gar Alperovitz ("The Decision To Use The Atomic Bomb" Knopf, 1995) wrote that the use of atomic weapons against Japan was an understandable but unnecessary act. It is a sad, grim reality that had the bombs not been used in 1945, they would have been maliciously used at some point in the future-- if not by the United States, by the Soviet Union. Many think the atomic bombs ended World War II but actually they birthed the Cold War; the arms race with the Soviet Union. Ironically it was this arms race that kept the superpowers from initiating Armageddon. The truth that there is no victor during a nuclear exchange resulted in this fact actually becoming each superpowers' defense.
When I lived in the south as a child, I knew kids who had been taught the Confederate States won the Civil War. I do not know if they learned this from their parents or teachers but it led to many rumbles on the playground between any yankee boys and the southern rebels. On a greater scale, we are taught (with great assumption) the atomic bombs actually saved lives-- both Japanese and American. Teaching this is a fallacy for the statement is mere speculation and arguable. Do we know for certain how fortified Japan was and what they were prepared to do? I pose this question as an example, keeping in mind U.S. "Military Intelligence" warned us about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and yet none have ever been found. If intelligence was wrong about Iraq, just how accurate was information about Japan over 60 years ago? Look at this photograph for example:
From the air and sea this Japanese Island appeared to be heavily protected with bunkered artillery. Wading ashore, my father found only exotic sand castles with harmless pillars posing as cannon barrels.
There is a fine line between what is known, what is assumed and what is propaganda. It is up to you to learn the difference. Watch the videos. Read the articles in the blog. Do your own research. Question authority and decide for yourself. As you view the slideshow of my father's photographs, remember this: The cat is out of the bag. Nuclear proliferation continues and is no longer confined to the superpowers of the world. Religious fanatics, third world countries and enemies of the state are getting the bomb. The next nuclear event may not be a simple "dirty bomb" tainted with radioactive garbage. It could very well be a simple, yet more powerful bomb than those that fell on Japan in 1945 and wearing sunscreen will not help you. We do not know when or where this will happen... but this time we are all potential victims.
