Justification of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The moral and military necessity of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been a subject of debate for nearly half a century. Most revisionists point to Japan's victimization during the attacks. They often forget military reality and historical context as they judge whether it was necessary for America to use nuclear weapons against the two Japanese cities. It is important to note that the aggressor was Japan. Japan triggered the war that led to the bombing of its two cities with its sneak attack on America's Pearl Harbor in 1941. Subsequent systematic and flagrant violation of numerous international agreements and norms through the use of chemical and biological weapons and the mistreatment of prisoners of war and civilians worsened the situation[ Gar Alperovitz, The decision to use the atomic bomb and the architecture of an American myth. (NY: Knopf, 1995), 89]. A response was needed to deal with growing aggression from Japan. Allied military planners had to choose between invading Japan and using U.S. atomic bombs in 1945 [Ronald Tabaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb. (Piccolo, Marrone, 1995), 101]. They had to carefully evaluate the present and future costs and benefits to the American people. They decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The choice they made was justifiable. Initially, the United States had planned to invade Japan in what would be known as Operation Downfall. America would provide the bulk of the forces for the operation. The rest would come from the British Commonwealth. However, the United States predicted that the operation would cost the country more than half a million troops. Furthermore, the United States feared that an invasion would have… half of the paper… that Japan would kill more people per week for many years than died in a single bombing raid. Indicting the United States and ignoring the fact that Japan was already committing war crimes before the United States struck is a feeble attempt to argue that the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All in all, although thousands of people died after the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the best solution to Japanese aggression. The victims of the bombings are much lower than those of the Japanese aggression. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved more than a million lives that would have been lost if the war had continued for a year. Bombing was a better option because invading Japan would have resulted in many civilian casualties. Therefore, the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.