Barack Obama, the first president of US visiting Hiroshima since 1945

Barack Obama, the first president of the United States in year to travel to Hiroshima

"We came to think about the terrible force unleashed in a not so distant past. We came to mourn the dead, among them 100,000 men, women and children in Japan, thousands of Koreans and detained dozens of American prisoners, "said Obama, who was accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We think of all the innocent killed in this terrible war. We have a shared responsibility to look history in the face. We have to wonder what to change so that such suffering does not recur. "

"The nations that, like mine, have their own nuclear arsenal must have the courage to abandon the logic of fear and move towards a nuclear-free world," he added.

Even before occurred, this historic visit is controversial, some accusing the US like Japan to have a short memory, others stressing the paradoxical position of the Americans, who use nuclear deterrence while advocating fight against proliferation.

"The courage to promote peace"

August 6, 1945, thousands of people were killed instantly in Hiroshima. In late 1945, due to exposure to radioactivity, the balance was 140 000 dead. Three days after Hiroshima, it was the turn of Nagasaki being subjected to nuclear fire.

Before going to the Peace Memorial, Obama had visited the museum dedicated to the bombing. "We have experienced the pain of war. Now find the courage together to promote peace and to work for the advent of a world without nuclear weapons, "he wrote in the guestbook.

The visit, long been unthinkable for US presidents, was the subject of intense debate in the White House, but Obama advisers have forehead and promised the veterans organizations that would dispute not the decision to Harry Truman.

For a majority of Americans, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a necessity to end the war and helped to save American and Japanese lives by shortening the war. Many historians dispute this version.

In Japan, public opinion mainly considers that the use of nuclear fire was not justified.

"It will take ten years for a president [US] do apologize," said Kenji Ishida, 38, resident of Hiroshima and taxi driver.

"Japan must apologize for Pearl Harbor, if it is required that the United States give excuses"

"The Japanese government is trying to use the historic visit to highlight the image of" war victim "of Japan," she said, recalling the "atrocities
Japanese ".



Source : "ici radio-canada"