arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Dear Editor,

Although I greatly agree with the above-named points of view of Mr Destree, yet I aould like to make one critical remark:
For clearity I citate his following remark:

"Japanese victims only express complaints for their own suffering. Otherwise a monument still commemorates honourably the Japanese war criminals. In opposition to against the German war criminals, there has never been a Japanese Nuremberg lawsuit. Because some Japanese war criminals delivered their secrets to the Americans. How many remorse the so willingly bowing Japanese ever expressed? So it's rather natural that nobody ex-pressed remorse to the Japanese people.''

I was shocked by this remark of Mr Destree who, despite of his obvious indignation about the horrifying Hiroshima and Nagasaki war crime, impliciltly gives his consent to the showed lack of remorse to the Japanese people concerning this war-crime.
Of course I agree with him, that the presence of a monument, commemorating the Janapanese war-criminals, is wrong, but in the first place I want to remind him of the fact, that also Western countries like Great-Britian and the USA have their monuments, commemorating their war-criminals [like in the WOII, pilots who bombed German and Japanese citiesm yet apart from Hiroshima and Nagasaki]

It would be fundamental wrong from the other party (Germany and Japan) to show no remorse to the civilian/victims (yet apart from the crime without example, the holocaust of the Jewish and Roma people) they´ve made in WOII, because of the presence of Western monuments commemorating their war/criminals

Seen from the view of human rights, the standard which Mr Destree applies in his article in a very admirable and ethical way, the remorse with any war/victim is apart from the attitude of groups of the ´´other party´´

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings are the worse military war/crimes, ever committed to a civilian polulation and not only remorse have to be showed against the Japanese people, also those crimes had to be judged, just as the nazi/crimes has been judged.

Regrettably this didn´t happen because of the victors right, just like the later American war/crimes in for example Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the fact stays fundamentally, that lack of shown remorse by the other party may never be a motive for not showing remorse for committed war/crimes like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Warcrimes are warcrimes, despite of the committed party or the party against which they are committed and must be always followed by an utter remorse and the judgment of those responsible for them

Astrid Essed

Hereby I link the underlying article of Mr Destree
See
http://archive.indymedia.be/news/2005/08/98575.php