Although there are many theories about the instigation of the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Japan, most of which revolve around traditionalist and revisionist narratives that the intention was to induce Japan to surrender so as not to increase American casualties or consolidate America's position as the dominant power with regard to the Soviet Union, no reason, nor any reason for that matter, I believe, can truly justify the bombing of civilians. Killing innocent people is murder that cannot be justified as self-defense. Doing something wrong and applying the justification of “self-defense” by killing innocent people cannot be applied as true justification, but rather as mass murder. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay I personally believe that dropping this bomb on civilians was a cruel act and can be compared to the cruelty suffered by civilians at present. day in Syria by the Syrian government. If they had dropped the bomb on the Japanese army, that would have been a completely different justification. These are the attackers America needed to defend itself against. Not the tens of thousands of innocent people killed because every person involved in the decision to force such a decision on them was reckless and clearly did not deserve their position. Weapons of mass destruction are intended to protect potential victims from attackers, not innocent people! When someone tries to attack you, will killing their friends, family, or people who aren't trying to attack you solve the problem? This is not guaranteed, and even if it were, it would be unfair. Why target an innocent person to stop an attacker when you can target the attacker? This way the innocent can live and the attacker can no longer attack you. It is the Japanese military who started the war and attacked for no good reason that we should be targeting, not these unfortunate souls, many of whom, had they been lucky enough to live, could have had a tremendous positive impact throughout their lifetime. life, unlike their soldiers who are themselves visibly cruel. No reasoning or explanation can therefore justify the killing of civilians. Even if, for example, there had been 100,000 more American deaths than had already occurred in the history of World War II if we had not dropped a bomb at all, that would have been better than to kill civilians, because the losses of Americans defending their country and fighting back would rightly guarantee martyrdom, and they would be remembered as heroes. This act that occurred was the exact opposite of heroic.