Obama at Hiroshima: ‘We shall not repeat the evil’

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 26 (UPI) — President Barack Obama traveled to Hiroshima, Japan, on Friday, marking the first time a U.S. president has visited the site of the world’s first nuclear attack, carried out more than 70 years ago.

Obama arrived in Hiroshima Friday afternoon and along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, laid a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial — a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was built in 1915. Thirty years later, it was nearly decimated by the atomic bomb dropped by the United States. The structure, in fact, was the only one left standing near the bomb’s hypocenter.

“Seventy-one years ago on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. “A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.”

“Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil,” the president said. “We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in the not so distant past. We come to mourn the dead.”

No U.S. president has visited the site before, and last month, Secretary of State John Kerry became the first U.S. official to see in-person the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, which was established in 1950. In 1996, it was was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List based on the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

It is not for Obama to say that we will not use nuclear weapons in some future fight if it threatens millions of people or the very existence of the United States. Nor is it his right to declare that the action, which saved countless lives and stopped ravage and destruction of a world war, was evil. It was not. It was necessary to stop the evil that was World War II, and while terrible and destructive, by virtually all objective measures it was not evil, it was necessary.

Traditional and protocol mean nothing to Obama, and his ego and arrogance cause him to make stupid mistakes. Only a few weeks ago it was revealed the Deputy National Security Advisor and one of Obama’s primary political advisors, Ben Rhodes, has no formal training in international or diplomatic affairs and is, in fact, a science fiction writer with an ego to match Obama’s.

With such an advisor it is no wonder that Obama continues to make the United States look bad, and to cause the nation to lose stature in the world. The visit was a mistake, his comments were absurd, and it was a serious poke in the eye to Korea, China, and other Asian countries that was not wise or necessary. Obama is simply an international rookie who does not know how to play the game, and worse still, thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. The end of his regime cannot come soon enough.

Source: breitbart.com