Mansoor, the historian

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Mar 26, 2008 at 23:38

Mansoor, the historian,

No, we have not forgotten Nagasaki and Hiroshima. We also have not forgotten the series of events that led to the tragic events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki that you love to talk about. That series of events that you seem ignorant of, a series of events generally referred to as "World War ll." A series of events during which the Islamic world generally sided with Germany, and lost. A series of events most other historians are familiar with.

The USA did not, as you imply, just decide for fun one day to drop atomic bombs someplace and randomly pick a couple of cities in Japan. Japan attacked the USA. Japan declared war on the USA. Japan attacked China, Korea, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Burma. They had to be stopped. Ask a Korean if Japan had to be stopped. The Korean peninsula was turned into one huge slave labor camp, where thousands of people "died helplessly."

Ask a Chinese if he or she thinks Japan had to be stopped. The Japanese army killed more people in one week in Nanjing, China with bullets, knives and flames than were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. I never hear you complain about any of those barbaric acts. Perhaps you have no problem with that behavior. We did, though. The air attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, tragic as they were, were done to eliminate the need of a full-scale invasion of Japan, which would have cost many more lives on both sides than did the bombings. After the war we stayed temporarily and helped to rebuild Japan's infrastructure and economy, and instituted a democratic government. We didn't stay, we didn't conquer, we didn't force anyone to convert to Christianity, nor did we levy extra taxes and burdensome rules on non-Christians.

Why is it I never hear complaints like yours from Japanese people? Why are the USA and Japan such good friends, now and since only a few years after we were attacked and our POW's were used for bayonet practice? Why is it, every time I am in Japan, I enjoy the warm hospitality of my Japanese friends and colleagues, and look forward to returning the favor when they visit the USA? Meanwhile, Muslims still whine about wars of a thousand years ago. You could learn something from the Japanese and us, if you weren't so incredibly chauvinistic and xenophobic.

No, we haven't forgotten Vietmam, in my opinion a tragically misguided attempt to contain Soviet expansionism. None of the millions of Vietnamese who have subsequently escaped from Vietnam and come to the USA seem to agree with me that it was misguided, though. How many millions of Vietnamese have emigrated to Pakistan? Millions more than to the USA? What do they say?

No, we haven't forgotten the British Empire, my country used to live under its yoke. But we don't blame all our problems on the British, nor do incessantly claim we're still somehow victims of our former colonial masters. See the difference? By the way, isn't the Hindu Kush in your part of the world? Under whose empire did it get its name?

And no, we haven't forgotten the slave trade. England outlawed slavery in the early 1800's, and its navy began fighting the slave trade shortly after. The USA outlawed slavery in 1863, the result of an anti-slavery movement that was born in Christian churches and nurtured by freedom of speech. Have you forgotten the millions of African slaves forced from Africa to the Islamic world? Or the million plus European slaves taken by Muslim slave traders in the 17 and 1800's? Or the black slaves bought and sold by Arab slave traders in Mauritania today? A conveniently selective memory for a knowledgeable historian like you, Mansoor. How many slaves did Mohammed have? Ever complain about that?

Oh, and of course, Abu Graib. To date, at least fifteen American servicemen and women have been tried in court, convicted and imprisoned because of their activities at Abu Graib. In Evin prison in Tehran, thousands of Muslims have been tortured to death for voicing mild criticisms of government policy; for being victims of rape; for being gay; or, in the case of Zahra Kazemi, for being Canadian. How many Iranian revolutionary guards have been tried, convicted and imprisoned for any of that brutal torture, or any of those murders? See the difference?

Where would you (and every Islamic government) be without the USA to blame for all your self-inflicted problems? What a frightening thought: actually confronting reality.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".