61 years later, why Nagasaki still matters

http://www.attytood.com/archives/003625.html

In hindsight, Nagasaki was a turning point in a century of a world history in which the killing of civilians has now become far too commonplace. It's stunning to realize that less than 100 years ago in World War I -- while clearly an unnecessary tragedy of epic proportions -- almost all of the death took place on the military frontlines.

Today's headlines -- that's not a metaphor, I mean today, Aug. 9, 2006 -- concern the ever-growing use of civilians, including children and women, in the global great games of power, fundamentalism, and war. A movie opened today called "World Trade Center," the story of the attack by hate-filled zealots who thought nothing of killing innocent secretaries and stockbrokers in the name of seeking power a world away. In Lebanon and Israel this very day, the boundaries between warfare and killing random civilians have grown weak, if non-existent.

Even in Connecticut, a politician who wants to end the war in Iraq is under siege from some quarters, because he dares to question the necessity of a conflict that is killing 100 civilians every day as well as 2,595 American soldiers, for a "cause" that began with a lie and still manages to defy any good explanation some three years and so many bodies later.

That's why we should never forget what happened in Nagasaki, and never stop asking the hard questions about it. Nothing can bring back those 74,000 people, but the lives of millions of civilians today from Tyre to Manhattan and beyond depends on an open and honest debate about war, about why we fight, and how.