Discussion of Whether The Nuclear Attack on Hiroshima Was Justified

Although there are many theories on the incentive of the decision to drop an atomic bomb in Japan, of which mainly revolve around traditionalist and revisionist accounts of intending to urge Japan to surrender in order not to increase american casualties, or to consolidate America's dominant power position in connection with the Soviet Union, neither reason, nor any reason for that matter, I believe can truly justify the bombing of civilians. Killing innocent people is murder that cannot be justified as self defense. To do something wrong and apply the justification of "self defense" by killing the innocent cannot be applied as a real, true justification, but rather mass murder.

I personally believe that the dropping of that bomb on civilians was a cruel act, and can be compared to the ongoing cruelty civilians suffer in present day Syria by the Syrian government. Had they dropped the bomb on the Japanese military, would it have been a completely different justification. Those are the attackers, the ones America needed to defend themselves against. Not the tens of thousands of innocent people killed because each and every person involved in making the decision to drop it on them was unwise and evidently did not deserve their position. Weapons of mass destruction are meant to protect potential victims against attackers, not innocents!

When someone is trying to attack you, will killing their friends, family, or people who are not trying to attack you solve the matter? That is not guaranteed, and even if it was, it is unjust. Why aim for an innocent to stop an attacker when you can aim for the attacker? That way the innocent can live, and the attacker cannot attack you anymore. The Japanese military who started war and attacked for no just reason are the ones we should be aiming for, not those unfortunate souls, many of whom if they had the chance to live could have had great positive impact throughout their lives, unlike their military who are noticeably cruel hearted themselves. Therefore no reasoning or explanation can justify killing civilians. Even if, for example 100,000 more american deaths occurred than what has already occurred in the history of WWII if we had not dropped a bomb at all, it would have been better than killing civilians, as the casualties of americans defending their country and fighting back justly would guarantee martyrdom, and they would be remembered as heroes. This act that occurred was the exact opposite of heroic.