Debate on Justification of Nuclear Weapons

The, the actual use of nuclear weapons-

No

... is that ever justified offensively?

I think it was justified in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, yes.

I think it was justified in bringing the Second World War to an end, yes,

unquestionably.

Unquestionably justified.

Unquestionably, yes. I thought the num- the, the, um, number of lives-

So it's justified to kill people who did nothing wrong?

Well, we're not talking about people who did

nothing wrong.

The, the Japanese were warned.

Well, the populations of crowded cities are-

We, we-

... not responsible for the war-

We, we were in a-

... women and children getting incinerated

... we were, we were in a state of total war.

Okay. Well-

I, I think-

We were not in a state of total war, actually.

There were no Japanese troops on American soil.

We were not in a state of total war.

Well, they, they'd attacked-

That's not even close to a state of n- total war

... they had attacked, um, American soil, as you know.

Four years before-

Yeah

... and then they were losing, but we were not in a state of total war