Re: "Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Worst terror attacks in history"

I tried to post the following as a comment to an article on the Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal web site authored by Norm Dixon and titled Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Worst terror attacks in history. (It's worth noting that August 6th and 9th are the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bombings I find to be tragic but necessary.)

I take issue with Dixon's description of these bombings as "terror attacks".

Although I tried twice to post my comment on their website, it appears they must moderate their comments, and while other comments have appeared since I tried to post mine, mine has not shown up ... so I'm posting it here on my blog.

Your definition of "terrorist attack" is confused

The use of atomic weapons by the United States was done to end a World War and thwart the Japanese from continuing to try to expand their empire by use of military force. The United States only entered that war following being attacked by that came country. Furthermore, the Japanese were given numerous opportunities to surrender prior to the bombs being dropped.

To confuse the above use of atomic bombs with acts of terrorism is terribly confused. There are similarities in that both are violent actions resulting in tragic numbers of dead, but differences between the two actions are also stark: defensive versus offensive, provoked versus unprovoked, done to end a deadly, deadly conflict versus to provoke a new conflict, ... and. the. list. goes. on.