To the editor:

The truly innocent don’t dwell on their persecution. Jesus asked God to forgive his crucifiers, who knew not what they did.

But war-makers persecuting civilians always blame their enemy’s atrocities. Palestinians and Israelis each wreck brutality on the other’s innocents, while recounting the enemy’s evil in obsessive detail. Conversely, nations accused of immorality betray a guilty conscience whenever they point at another’s crimes.

Thus the Japanese can’t forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki yet, as carefully detailed by the Aug. 23 LJW editorial, have never atoned for terrible crimes such as Unit 731. Their active denial leaves us in fear of repetition.

But trying to defend American policy by attacking Japanese moral failure merely implicates American guilt. I can understand, though not agree with, a practical argument that destroying Hiroshima saved lives on net (but why bomb civilians rather than military bases? Why demand unconditional surrender? And why the useless but equally lethal firebombings of Tokyo and Dresden?) The editorialist who abandons utilitarian calculation (however flawed) for ritual condemnation of Japan reveals a deep-seated moral unease.

I also think it fortunate that many Americans hold their government to a higher standard than do the Japanese.

David Burress,

Lawrence