Kuala Lumpur – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima underscored the importance of a deal reached on Iran’s nuclear programme last month.
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Ceremonies were held in Hiroshima on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing. The city’s mayor, Kazumi Matsui, urged that nuclear weapons be abolished.
Asked before meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Malaysia whether he had any thoughts about the significance of the anniversary, Kerry replied:
“It is impossible not to have thoughts about it. I watched the ceremony … Needless to say, it is a very, very powerful reminder of not just the impact of war lasting today on people and countries but it also underscores the importance of the agreement we have reached with Iran to reduce the possibility of more nuclear weapons.”
Kerry said the anniversary also emphasised the importance of work by the United States with other countries, particularly Russia, to reduce the number of existing nuclear weapons.
Under a July 14 pact with Iran, the United States and world powers agreed to lift sanctions in return for curbs on a nuclear programme the West suspects was aimed at developing the means to build an atomic bomb.
American Republicans have objected to the deal as not tough enough and the U.S. Congress has until Sept. 17 to accept or reject the agreement.
The U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, which killed 140,000 people by the end of 1945, was followed by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, which killed about 40,000 instantly.
World War Two ended on Aug. 15 with Japan’s surrender.
The United States was represented at the Hiroshima ceremonies by its ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, and Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller.
Kerry said he had listened to one Japanese woman talking about her experience of the bombing as a very young girl, “how she passed out, how the light flashed, how she was hit by this incredible blast of air that deprived her ability to breathe”.
“She’s a great witness to the human spirit and to our ability to reconcile after war,” Kerry said, describing today’s U.S. relationship with Japan as “one of the most important that we have in the world”.
“We share common values and a common vision for the future, and I think that today is really a great tribute to the remembrance but also the possibilities of the future,” he added.
Kerry is glued to his seat. Making a better planet is more the fix on his teetering seat legs than it is his hands on the table. Giving Iran a new shoe to wear is queer. (A deal to keep their crimes). The arabs usually throw them back at you.
Gold is not enough to balance Secretary Kerry’s chair. He needs humility too.
Choking Israel is just breaking the table.
Where do we get these fools?
A blind fool just like his boss Obummer.
a bit of history if i may.the atomic bombs dropped on japan SAVED hundreds of thousands of lives.By august 1945 the almost nightly fire bombings by us B29 bombers on japan’s city’s had killed more people than BOTH atomic bombs combined.in addition the US submarine blockade of japan’s islands was literally starving japan to a very slow death.in addition.up until the surrender every man woman and child was being trained to fight till death with bamboo sticks spears shovels and anything else that could be used as a weapon.on okinawa [the first real japanese island-it was theirs before the war]the japanese army used civilians as shields and civilians were so afraid of the american “devil’s” that they killed themselves and their children. the kamikaze planes AND midget subs were used for the first time in serious numbers.this showed the allied powers that invading japan would cost alot of lives some planners estimated the casualty numbers at over a million this led President truman to give the OK to drop the bombs and don’t forget japan didn’t surrender after the first bomb it took 2 to convince them.we used it to save people Iran want to kill.
last time i checked … Japan surrendered after the bomb…. just send one toward Iran problem solved
Is Kerry comparing the US bombing Japan to Iran possibly bombing…? Wow,moral equivalency much?
Correction to #3 and #4 - Okinawa was not the first Japanese held territory to be invaded; rather, it was Iwo Jima, which was invaded four months previously. Also, Japan did not immediately surrender after both atomic bombs were dropped. Their war council debated for days, with three members deciding to surrender, and three members who wanted to fight on. It was the Emperor who broke the deadlock. However, there were still a lot of hotheads, who tried to stage a coup. The Japanese still had several million troops with plenty of arms on their home islands, and theoretically, would have fought to the end. In 1947, nearly two years after the war ended, there were actually Japanese combat troops who attacked an American unit on the island of Saipan, as they refused to believe that they lost. A Japanese Admiral had to be called in to convince them to surrender. There were even two Japanese soldiers who held out until 1972, on Guam, and in the Philippines.
Iwo Jima was not uninhabited. There were civilians living there, whom the Japanese kicked out, before the island was captured. There were over 22,000 Japanese troops, who had constructed a series of fortified caves throughout the island. There were even Japanese troops who hid on the island until 1949, when they finally surrendered to American troops. Incidentally, the Japanese used midget submarines on Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. One Japanese sailor from a destroyed midget sub was captured, and he spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.