<<"In other words it was stvation/devastation city">> It was lot worse than that on the Japanese-imperialits occupied islands of the Pacific when the Nisei troops choosenot to surrender and instead, mad last-ditch charges against AMerican lines - which killed not a small number of Americans. And of course, there were the suicide bombers. Submarine operations don't cost zero lives, either. In fact, just plain old regular military logistics - keeping the boys mobilized and in place ina theatre of operations - don't cost zero lives, even if there are _no_ hostilities. And while all the starvation and devastation was going on in Japanese cities, the Japanese troops were torturing and murdering Allied POWs, and Asian civilains in all the Japanese-occupied teritories. Those people deserved liberation, too. I think you give your game away when you complain about how we were being unfair to Comrade Stalin. As far as Pax Americana goes, the Japanese just _volunteered_ to_increase_ the payments they make to support the American garrison in Japan. The non-Okinawans want us in their country. I guess they know that the alternative is a Red Chinese garrison. And lots of other Asians are afraid of the same alternative - or of Japanese garrisons in their homeland. THey've "been there, done that". Alan Horowitz alanh@norfolk.infi.net