Facts v Fiction: Breaking Down 'Oppenheimer' | Greg Mitchell | TMR

While I'll agree the results of the bombs were horrific, the overriding issue is not

whether or not the bombs should have been used, because the fact is that we

were at war.  Our men and women were being killed, captured, imprisoned, 

tortured, and often worked to death.  It was not "kill or be harmed", it was

kill or be killed and the killing could not be expected to stop on either side

until one side was brought into submission.  Japan was losing the war,

they had already been driven out of many lands they had once captured,

if a reasoned stance was to be taken one would expect that surrender would

happen the moment an impending invasion of the home islands was imminent

but no, it was being "billed" as a fight to the death of the last man by Japan.

The required submission, therefore, could not be envisioned to ensue without

some terrible suffering being realized sufficient to absolutely horrify the

enemy forces leadership.  The leadership was comfortably insulated from

the war and could only be horrified by a real and present threat to themselves.

Therefore seeing that these terrible weapons might fall upon themselves

at any moment was convincingly terrorizing enough to force consideration

of humiliating capitulation.