The lies of Hiroshima are the lies of today 6 August 2008 When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the

shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfe t impression of a human !eing at ease" legs spla#ed, !a $ !ent, one hand !# her side as she sat waiting for a !an$ to open. At a %uarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 19&', she and her silhouette were !urned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, then wal$ed down to the ri(er and met a man alled )u$io, whose hest was still et hed with the pattern of the shirt he was wearing when the atomi !om! was dropped. He and his famil# still li(ed in a sha $ thrown up in the dust of an atomi desert. He des ri!ed a huge flash o(er the it#, *a !luish light, something li$e an ele tri al short*, after whi h wind !lew li$e a tornado and !la $ rain fell. *I was thrown on the ground and noti ed onl# the stal$s of m# flowers were left. +(er#thing was still and %uiet, and when I got up, there were people na$ed, not sa#ing an#thing. ,ome of them had no s$in or hair. I was ertain I was dead.* -ine #ears later, when I returned to loo$ for him, he was dead from leu$aemia. In the immediate aftermath of the !om!, the allied o upation authorities !anned all mention of radiation poisoning and insisted that people had !een $illed or in.ured onl# !# the !om!/s !last. It was the first !ig lie. *-o radioa ti(it# in Hiroshima ruin* said the front page of the -ew )or$ 0imes, a lassi of disinformation and .ournalisti a!di ation, whi h the Australian reporter Wilfred 1ur hett put right with his s oop of the entur#. *I write this as a warning to the world,* reported 1ur hett in the 2ail# +3press, ha(ing rea hed Hiroshima after a perilous .ourne#, the first orrespondent to dare. He des ri!ed hospital wards filled with people with no (isi!le in.uries !ut who were d#ing from what he alled *an atomi plague*. 4or telling this truth, his press a reditation was withdrawn, he was pilloried and smeared 5 and (indi ated. 0he atomi !om!ing of Hiroshima and -agasa$i was a riminal a t on an epi s ale. It was premeditated mass murder that unleashed a weapon of intrinsi riminalit#. 4or this reason its apologists ha(e sought refuge in the m#tholog# of the ultimate *good war*, whose *ethi al !ath*, as 6i hard 2ra#ton alled it, has allowed the west not onl# to e3piate its !lood# imperial past !ut to promote 60 #ears of rapa ious war, alwa#s !eneath the shadow of 0he 1om!. 0he most enduring lie is that the atomi !om! was dropped to end the war in the 7a ifi and sa(e li(es. *+(en without the atomi !om!ing atta $s,* on luded the 8nited ,tates ,trategi 1om!ing ,ur(e# of 19&6, *air suprema # o(er 9apan ould ha(e e3erted suffi ient pressure to !ring a!out un onditional surrender and o!(iate the need for in(asion. 1ased on a detailed in(estigation of all the fa ts, and supported !# the testimon# of the sur(i(ing 9apanese leaders in(ol(ed, it is the ,ur(e#/s opinion that ... 9apan would ha(e surrendered e(en if the atomi !om!s had not !een dropped, e(en if 6ussia had not entered the war and e(en if no in(asion had !een planned or ontemplated.* 0he -ational Ar hi(es in Washington ontain 8, go(ernment do uments that hart 9apanese pea e o(ertures as earl# as 19&:. -one was pursued. A a!le sent on ;a# ', 19&' !# the <erman am!assador in 0o$#o and inter epted !# the 8, dispels an# dou!t that the 9apanese were desperate to sue for pea e, in luding * apitulation e(en if the terms were

hard*. Instead, the 8, se retar# of war, Henr# ,timson, told 7resident 0ruman he was *fearful* that the 8, air for e would ha(e 9apan so *!om!ed out* that the new weapon would not !e a!le *to show its strength*. He later admitted that *no effort was made, and none was seriousl# onsidered, to a hie(e surrender merel# in order not to ha(e to use the !om!*. His foreign poli # olleagues were eager *to !row!eat the 6ussians with the !om! held rather ostentatiousl# on our hip*. <eneral =eslie <ro(es, dire tor of the ;anhattan 7ro.e t that made the !om!, testified" *0here was ne(er an# illusion on m# part that 6ussia was our enem#, and that the pro.e t was ondu ted on that !asis.* 0he da# after Hiroshima was o!literated, 7resident 0ruman (oi ed his satisfa tion with the *o(erwhelming su ess* of *the e3periment*. ,in e 19&', the 8nited ,tates is !elie(ed to ha(e !een on the !rin$ of using nu lear weapons at least three times. In waging their !ogus *war on terror*, the present go(ernments in Washington and =ondon ha(e de lared the# are prepared to ma$e *pre5 empti(e* nu lear stri$es against non5nu lear states. With ea h stro$e toward the midnight of a nu lear Armageddon, the lies of .ustifi ation grow more outrageous. Iran is the urrent *threat*. 1ut Iran has no nu lear weapons and the disinformation that it is planning a nu lear arsenal omes largel# from a dis redited >IA5sponsored Iranian opposition group, the ;+? 5 .ust as the lies a!out ,addam Hussein/s weapons of mass destru tion originated with the Ira%i -ational >ongress, set up !# Washington. 0he role of western .ournalism in ere ting this straw man is riti al. 0hat Ameri a/s 2efen e Intelligen e +stimate sa#s *with high onfiden e* that Iran ga(e up its nu lear weapons programme in 200: has !een onsigned to the memor# hole. 0hat Iran/s president ;ahmoud Ahmadine.ad ne(er threatened to *wipe Israel off the map* is of no interest. 1ut su h has !een the mantra of this media *fa t* that in his re ent, o!se%uious performan e !efore the Israeli parliament, <ordon 1rown alluded to it as he threatened Iran, #et again. 0his progression of lies has !rought us to one of the most dangerous nu lear rises sin e 19&', !e ause the real threat remains almost unmentiona!le in western esta!lishment ir les and therefore in the media. 0here is onl# one rampant nu lear power in the ;iddle +ast and that is Israel. 0he heroi ;orde hai @anunu tried to warn the world in 1986 when he smuggled out e(iden e that Israel was !uilding as man# as 200 nu lear warheads. In defian e of 8- resolutions, Israel is toda# learl# it hing to atta $ Iran, fearful that a new Ameri an administration might, .ust might, ondu t genuine negotiations with a nation the west has defiled sin e 1ritain and Ameri a o(erthrew Iranian demo ra # in 19':. In the -ew )or$ 0imes on 9ul# 18, the Israeli historian 1enn# ;orris, on e onsidered a li!eral and now a onsultant to his ountr#/s politi al and militar# esta!lishment, threatened *an Iran turned into a nu lear wasteland*. 0his would !e mass murder. 4or a 9ew, the iron# ries out. 0he %uestion !egs" are the rest of us to !e mere !#standers, laiming, as good <ermans did, that *we did not $now*A 2o we hide e(er more !ehind what 6i hard 4al$ has alled *a self5righteous, one5wa#, legalBmoral s reen CwithD positi(e images of western (alues and inno en e portra#ed as threatened, (alidating a ampaign of unrestri ted (iolen e*A >at hing war riminals is fashiona!le again. 6ado(an ?aradEi stands in the do $, !ut ,haron and Flmert, 1ush and 1lair do not. Wh# notA 0he memor# of Hiroshima re%uires an answer.