The Manhattan Project -- the most closely guarded military secret of WWII -- wasn't about developing a more efficient way to destroy manufacturing sites. Robert Oppenheimer understood that, Roosevelt and Truman understood that and I understand that.

In another post you said the people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were warned "long" before the bombs were dropped. Now you admit it was "shortly" before. But what you left out was that by most credible accounts they got conventional bomb warnings, the same kind the military had used before. The people were led to believe that if they stayed away from military targets, they'd be safe. They quickly learned otherwise.

What the Islamists do to civilians is reprehensible. But if we are to make a sound argument as to our own moral superiority, we must come to terms -- honestly and courageously -- with our historic mistakes. Rationalizing Hiroshima and Nagasaki as morally justifiable will always be a stumbling block to that effort. Always.