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Enola Gay Flies into
Tip to WND.In a determined effort to rewrite history and cast the U.S. as the bad guysâŠ.. Fifty-eight years after turning Hiroshima into a nuclear Hell, the US plane that dropped the first atomic bomb used in combat has detonated a fierce row over its debut at Americaâs top museum. Controversy is raging over plans to put the restored Enola Gay, which dropped the "Little Boy" bomb, on public display in a new wing of the world-renowned Smithsonian Institution next month. (I have no âControversyâ over this historic plane) Activists want the Smithsonianâs National Air and Space museum to detail the death toll from the August 6, 1945 blast alongside the shiny, metallic Boeing B-29 Superfortress with its characteristic fishbowl window nose. A total of 230,000 people are thought to have perished, both in the initial firestorm which consumed the Japanese city and in subsequent years from toxic radiation. (A good IDEA! How about we also include the death toll of Americans that died in WWII?)
(Boo FRIGGIN HOO, donât start a war if you canât handle the consequences) "They will see in all its glory, the plane that incinerated the city," said Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action. Activists are not opposed to the aircraft going on display, but want to see it presented in the context of the raid in the dying days of World War II. They also hope to stir debate about the tens of thousands of warheads in the current US nuclear stockpile and plans for mobile, battlefield nuclear devices. "We donât want this just to be an argument about what happened in 1945 ... the first concern was about current US nuclear policy," Martin said. (What concern? We have yet to use it again.) The National Air and Space Museum says its display will reflect the fact that the Enola Gay was, in its time, the most technologically advanced aircraft in the skies. A decision to put it on display "does not glorify or vilify the role this aircraft played in history," it said. But the descriptive label attached to the exhibit will mention the notorious raid only in passing. The aircraft "dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan," says the label. This, the museum says is consistent with the mission entrusted to it by US Congress, which is to display and preserve historic and technologically significant air and space craft. "In the end, the Enola Gay played a decisive role in World War II," the museum said in a press release prompted by the controversy. "It helped bring the war to an end in that after the bombing of Nagasaki, shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, surrendered unconditionally. "But perhaps more critically, it profoundly affected our concept of major conflict and the importance of maintaining global peace." One survivor of the blast, speaking in his home city in August, savaged the decision to put the Enola Gay on display. "For us, the Enola Gay just equals the atomic bomb," said Sunao Tsuboi, 78. "Displaying the plane is not only an insult to us but also glorifies the bombing," said Tsuboi, scarred by burns to the head and suffering from cancer believed to be caused by radiation exposure. (I am squirting tears here Tsuboi! Do you cry for those that died in the Philippines? Nan King? Burma?) The activists, under the umbrella of the Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy on Wednesday presented the museum with a petition calling for changes in the exhibit. (Which they the put in the circular file.) Signatories include the mayor of Hiroshima Tadatoshi Akiba, author and activist Noam Chomsky and film director Oliver Stone. (Usual suspects here) Akiba has been harshly critical of President George W. Bush and in August accused Washington of worshipping nuclear weapons as "God." I was not alive in WWII but my Grandfather was. He was VERY happy not to invade the Japanese Islands because of the Enola Gay. Did a lot of Japanese suffer from the blasts? Yes. But even after the first blast, the Japanese refused to surrender. Mr. Martin thinks the country should carry some shame because we did use the weapons but overlooks the deaths caused by the Japanese Army/Navy. Dead is dead, be it by nuclear of by a sword. P.S. I would add that âwar is hellâ but that is a given. Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-11-10 |
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