Slashdot Mirror

Many POWs were forced not to repatriate.

Inside the camps, anti-communist enclosures used brutal methods to coerce the majority for non-repatriation, "harrowing scenes preceded the official screening, in which violent, systematic terrorism occurred". "Those who wanted repatriation were either beaten or killed". "As a result, when polled the majority were too terrified to say anything but 'Taiwan' repeated over and over again". (MacDonald).

From stories told by POWs who got back to PRC, the KMT agents used most brutal methods to ensure non-repatriation, the details can be found from a book written by a former POW, it is in Chinese and is online. (link to be added)

US did nothing to stop this kind of brutality within the camps, on the contrary , it introduced anti-communists agents into the camps and encouraged their coercions.

http://www.centurychina.com/history/faq6.shtml This online statement above is real as the book I read is older and is written by an American author.

Actually, there don't seem to be photos of the spike on Wikipedia. Here is a list of links:
Here is an in-flight photo of the spike.
Here is a photo (on a .ru site!) of the X-37B hull with the structural opening for the spike.
Another photo of the composite fuselage and load-bearing structure.
Similar photo on .tw site.
The X-40A precursor vehicle to X-37B, landing with spike extended.

Photos and drawings which do not show the spike:
This official USAF photo seems to chop the interesting area out of the frame.
A drawing used all over the web, but I'm not sure of the source.

I didnt say industry. That was a different poster.

And even if you included industry, financial institutions are a far cry from the factories where bombs or poison gas or nuclear weapons are made. If UBL had attacked one of the plants out in Arizona where tomahawk missles were made, I could see that as being a 'millitary' target. But a bank? Money is fungible. Destroying a bank eliminates no tangible assets. It's done purely for the purpose of terrorism. And you know this.

You're really really stretching here.

But of course, that was perpetrated by the good o'le USA, so flag-waving and cheering is supposed to go with that, right?

I'm not flag waving or cheering any loss of human life. But take a look at the situation. Look at some of the atrocities the Japanese committed against Chinese civilians, and civilians in other Asian countries and continued to commit throughout the course of the war. The Japanese were on par with the Nazis in their disregard for civilians. When you calculate your civilian death toll, please consider what a delayed end to the war would have meant in terms of all civilian casualties, not just those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I don't believe that bombing Mt. Fugi would have had the same effect.

But most importantly, if Japan were invaded by the Chinese and Russians, I can promise you that the civilian death toll would have been much higher. There was not a choice between dropping the atomic bombs and not dropping them. The US had a choice between dropping the bombs and conducting a bloody invasion in concert with two other nations which had endured a litany of Japanese atrocities and wanted revenge.

Excoriate the US for the civilians that died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I can't imagine an ending to the war which ultimately did more to preserve Japanese civilian life than a quick end and an exclusively US occupation.

Does that justify, then, the use of nuclear weapons? I don't know.

I would find it hard to believe that there was much talk about "justification" at the time.

My grandmother was in a Japanese prison camp. She was there simply because she wasn't Japanese. She was "different" from them and perhaps that's while they raped and tortured her every day for months. Apparently it didn't matter to the Japanese that she was pregnant at the time. Later her son was born, but babies can't work so they don't get fed. One of the other prisoners (I don't even know his name) smuggled in some food & medicine to try and keep the kid alive. Unfortunately they found him out. The Japanese assembled all the prisoners in the camp to make an example of him. They shoved a fire hose down his throat and pumped water into him at high pressure, his stomach exploded and his internal organs flew all over the place. The prisoners could only watch as he died in agony, trying to pick up all his bits and put them back in.

This is not a unique story and not a particularly bad one when it comes down to it compared to a lot of the stuff that went on. A lot of really awful shit went on in that war.

Dropping atomic bomb(s) on a (comparative) handful of people (compared to the millions dying and in danger) to end the war with Japan is a no brainer. It only seem "wrong" to a lot of people today because they aren't having their internal organs removed and fashioned as a hat.

"American imperialists are very arrogant, they are very unreasonable whenever they can get away with it, if they became a little bit reasonable, it was because they had no other choice."

This reminds me of GWB who is such a "decisive leader" that he wont accept constructive critism to his policies. I think it was a mistake to accuse North Korea, Iran, and Iraq of being the "axis of evil" -- and impling that he might take military action to preempt the threat from their weapons of mass destruction...and then actually invading Iraq which didnt have a WMD programme but the other two do. this has effectively pushed North korea and Iran against the wall. They are next!

From the three, I rate North Korea as the most dangerous. They are still technically at war with the UN with a truce that could end anytime. Dear Leader Kim is unpredictable that even the Chinese do not trust him. This is the person the US should have taken out first and not Saddam.

Iranians are nationalists. Any form of outside political influence will be resisted from the moderates and hardliners alike. I personally do not see them as a threat since the government does not threaten its neighbours militarily directly but through proxies, the same methods empoyed by the CIA for decades. Setting up the Shah by the US and Britain taught them a lesson they are not ready to forget.

Iraq was the weakest of them all and definately not a threat. Saddam was powerfull during the Iran-Iraq war but was firmly under the control of western powers. Incidentally, this is when he commited most of the crimes he is now being charged with like the gasing of the Kurds. The 8 year war against Iran had drained its resouces and he disastarously invaded Kuwait. Kuwait was actually formed in 1961 by Britain, though Iraq had already gained independence in 1932. A look at the map and you see why Saddam really wanted Kuwait. His actions were followed by a devastating war and 10 years of sanctions. No wonder he was easy prey for GWB and co.

The PS2 roll-out [in China] seems very low-key indeed

Many Chinese (including those under 30) are still quite upset at the Japanese over the Sino-Japan War atrocities they committed, and would never consider buying a legit PS2 from Sony when they could easily get a black market, pre-modded one for a fraction of the price.

It's amazing what people don't know about history isn't it. If the person that posted the parent to this thread wants to actually learn something about the Korean War and China's involvment in attacking a Western Power, this is a very good FAQ on the subject.

http://www.centurychina.com/history/krwarfaq.html