Quote:Civilians and dependents may live on a military base but that doesn't mean the base itself is not a legitimate target. Pearl Harbor was a massive naval base and most definitely a legitimate target.

 

I know what you're saying. I guess the way I read his comment just rubbed me the wrong way. I live near, and was stationed in the 90's at Fort Bragg, one of the largest U.S. military installations in the world and employs and houses a lot of people. I've always assumed it would be a major military target because Delta, Special Forces and 82nd Airborne alone are all trained and stationed there, not to mention other major operations. That being said, it is still a place where innocent people work, live and play. Collateral damage is a [BLEEP]. 


 

BTW, I checked; 68 civilians died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, 35 were wounded. Lowest estimate on the Hiroshima bombing; 70,000 civilians killed. Lowest estimate on the Nagasaki bombing; 39,000 civilians killed.

 

As someone else said, the bombs needed to be dropped or the Japanese would never have stopped. It sucks that it took the bombs to get their attention. A lot of lives could have been saved had they never attacked us in the first place. Desperate times called for desperate measures.