"We Come To Mourn The Dead" – Obama Is First Sitting President To Visit Hiroshima, Offers No Apology
By Tyler Durden
Ealier today, Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to visit the memorial of the American atomic bombings of Japan in Hiroshima, however without offering no apology for the attacks. The trip comes amid Japanese protests over alleged crimes committed by US troops stationed in Japan.
“We have a shared responsibility to look directly in the eye of history. We must ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again,” Obama said in a speech at the memorial. Some of the speech highlights:
“We’re not bound by our genetic codes to repeat the mistakes of the past. We can tell our children a different story. Those who died, they are like us. Ordinary people understand this I think. They do not want more war. The world was forever changed here. But today, the children of this city will go through their day in peace. What a precious thing.”
Obama placed a wreath in front of a cenotaph at Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Obama’s visit opened a new chapter of reconciliation for the US and Japan, and praised the president for his courage in coming to Hiroshima.
White House press corps board Marine helicopter at #Iwakuni. Next stop for us and @POTUS: Hiroshima pic.twitter.com/LJZZH8paBO
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) May 27, 2016
Somber mood. There are hundreds of journalists here & everyone’s been silent as we await the start of the memorial. pic.twitter.com/mEba6oSpJa
— Elise Hu (??? ?) (@elisewho) May 27, 2016
President Obama on his way to the peace park in Hiroshima. Every second of this trip is being broadcast on NHK pic.twitter.com/h9R7cFSo6o
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 27, 2016
All the way along the route to the peace park in Hiroshima, people are lined up to see President Obama pic.twitter.com/XEoSx0DIUJ
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 27, 2016
A solemn Obama and Abe are walking into the peace park on Hiroshima pic.twitter.com/WcaFxHcwSQ
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 27, 2016
Obama talks about the need to limit nuclear weapons, to prevent conflict through diplomacy. Abe is at his side pic.twitter.com/k9ir7vmxWo
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 27, 2016
Obama visits Hiroshima, more than seven decades after the world’s first atomic strike https://t.co/mKviuZJsXW pic.twitter.com/cmrxw1Ii8g
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 27, 2016
As a reminder, the US is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in warfare. The two bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 killed thousands, with the death toll reaching 140,000 by the end of the year. The majority of Japanese disagree with the American justification that it was necessary to drop the bombs in order to bring an end to the war.
As noted in the comments from survivors below, some had expected an apology from the US president “to help ease their suffering.” They did not get it. Instead they got more of the token Obama specialty, rhetoric:
“We come to ponder the terrible force …read more
Source: "We Come To Mourn The Dead" – Obama Is First Sitting President To Visit Hiroshima, Offers No Apology
