Tara Sattar
United States of America had dropped a bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima 71 years ago which exhilarated the entire city and killed about 140,000 soldiers and civilians. Ever since, none of the American President has paid a visit to the once devastated land.
But, that history is about to change.
President Barrack Obama is set to visit Hiroshima and will give a speech on the mass loss of lives and grieves of people. He will also talk about the prevention of the use of nuclear weapons.
He will be accompanied by Prime Minister of Shinzo Abe while visiting the city that was destroyed by nuclear bomb in 1945 during the Second World War.
However, according to an article published in People magazine, there are myriads of reasons for what happened in Hiroshima and why Obama is visiting the historic city.
The bomb was dropped by an American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay. The name of the atomic bomb was ‘Little Boy’. The bomb was dropped 2000 feet above the city in a population of 350,000. About 80,000 were killed instantly and another 60,000 died later from fire and radiation.
The decision to drop the bomb was made by President Harry S. Truman. He said that he decided to drop the bomb because he wanted to save the lives of thousands of American he feared would otherwise lose life when Japan would invade in U.S.
The after effects of the bombing are suffered by the survivors till date. The survivors, as they are called, have remained alone for the fear of the diseases or illness induced from the radiation. They have had either cancer or other radiation borne diseases.
The American scientists are still studying the cases of the survivors and their effects. Other than the 94,000 cases of survivors studied over 70 years, additional 1,000 cases.
Deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes informed that Obama is likely to visit Hiroshima Peace memorial and place a wreath there. He will visit a few memorial grounds and talk about his impressions of the bombing and other things.
However, he has no plans of apologizing.
The White House has made it clear that the U.S President will not make an apology because all should know that amidst a war, it is up to the leaders to make the decisions and they make all kinds of decisions in the moment.
Instead, the President’s visit will be an opportumity to address the human toll in a war. Not only in Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also all around the world, the count of human deaths in the war should be put to check, says Rhodes.
Also, he will be delivering public speeches about the danger of nuclear bombs. He will reassure and secure the commitment of keeping the world safe of nuclear weapons. He will also state the healthy relationship that has been built between U.S and Japan.