Call for a world without N-arms

Obama says Hiroshima memory must not fade, honours victims of the attack

hiroshima — US President Barack Obama paid tribute on Friday to the “silent cry” of the 140,000 victims of the atomic bomb dropped 71 years ago on Hiroshima, and called on the world to abandon “the logic of fear” that encourages the stockpiling of nuclear weapons.

Obama’s trip to Hiroshima made him the first US president to visit the site of the world’s first atomic bomb attack, and he sought to walk a delicate line between honouring the dead, pushing his as-yet unrealised anti-nuclear vision and avoiding any sense of apology for an act many Americans see as a justified end to a brutal war.

“Death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said, after laying a wreath, closing his eyes and briefly bowing his head before an arched stone monument in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park that honours those killed on August 6, 1945. “The flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.”

With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe standing by his side and an iconic bombed-out domed building looming behind him, Obama urged the world to do better.

“We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell,” Obama said. “We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to a silent cry.”

Obama hoped Hiroshima would someday be remembered not as the dawn of the atomic age but as the beginning of a “moral awakening”. He renewed his call for a world less threatened by danger of nuclear war.

“Among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them,” Obama said.

Abe, in his speech, called Obama’s visit courageous and longawaited. He said it would help the suffering of survivors and he echoed the anti-nuclear sentiments. “At any place in world, this tragedy must not be repeated again,” Abe said.

Critics believe Obama’s mere presence in Hiroshima would be viewed as an apology for what they see as a bombing that was needed to stop a Japanese war machine that had brutalised Asia and killed many Americans. But Obama’s decision also drew praise from those who see it as a long overdue gesture for two allies ready to bury a troubled past.

Obama’s remarks showed a careful awareness of the sensitivities. He included both South Koreans and American prisoners of war in recounting the death toll at Hiroshima — a nod to advocates for both groups who publicly warned the president not to forget their dead.

Obama spoke broadly of the brutality of the war that begat the bombing — saying it “grew out of the same base instinct for domination or conquest that had caused conflicts among the simplest tribes” — but did not assign blame.

After his remarks, he met with two survivors. Although he was out of ear shot of reporters, Obama could be seen laughing and smiling with 91-year-old Sunao Tsuboi. He embraced Shigeaki Mori, 79, in a hug.

Later, Tsuboi told reporters he

I think (Obama’s speech) was an apology. I feel different now. I didn’t think he’d go that far and say so much. I feel I’ve been saved somewhat. For me, it was more than enough.

Eiji Hattori,

A

73-year-old survivor

was struck by how Obama held his hand and listened carefully. He told the US president he will be remembered as the one who “listened to the voice of survivors like us”.

Obama’s visit, which lasted just under two hours while most Americans were sleeping, was crafted for close scrutiny in Asia, a region he’s tried to put at the centre of his foreign policy legacy. Obama and Abe strode together along a tree-lined path, past an eternal flame, towards

I was very much moved by his message ... that people were having ordinary lives 71 years ago just like we do today, and he is giving thought about those ordinary lives having been taken away.

Takeo Sugiyama, Former teacher

a river that flows by the domed building that many associate with Hiroshima.

They earlier went to the lobby of the peace museum to sign the guest book: “We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons,” Obama wrote, according to the White House.

The president’s call for a nuclearfree world was a long way from the

I’m afraid I did not hear anything concrete about how he plans to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons. As a serving US president ... I wish he had been more specific and concreter

A 75-year-old survivor

We stand here in this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell. We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to a silent cry. Among those nations that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them

Barack Obama, US President

optimistic rallying cry he delivered as young, newly elected president. Obama did not employ his campaign slogan — “Yes, we can” — as he did in a speech in Prague in 2009. Instead, the president spoke of diligent, incremental steps.

“We may not realise this goal in my lifetime but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe,” he said. “We can chart a course that leads to the destruction of these stockpiles.” — AP

was the population of Hiroshima before the

bombing

Japan has to apologise for Pearl Harbor, too, if we’re going to say the US must apologise ... That’s not possible, given the countries’ current situations

Kenji Ishida, Taxi driver

is the estimated death toll, including those who died from radiation-related injuries and illness is total death toll, including those who have died from radiation-related cancers

In all the years I’ve been alive, I’ve never once attended the memorial on August 6 ... My family avoids thinking about it as much as possible, we’re trying so hard to forget

A taxi driver