One could argue that those skills actually prevent far worse unethical actions. Without Hiroshima, how might World War II have ended? How would the Chinese and Koreans feel if Japan weren't defeated? Spend a few minutes at the Nanking museum or perhaps read about Bataan or Korean comfort women and then the moral high ground gets a bit slippery. One might, if one were so inclined, make an argument that nuclear weapons prevented World War III due to the mutually assured destruction concept. The Cold War would have become very hot if the politicians of both the Soviet Union and the U.S. didn't have to fear for their own annihilation.
War and politics is dirty and not as academic as many people would like to think. It never is black and white. For example, if we take the moral high ground, our enemies won't. Pacifism sounds good until it's your sister getting raped in your living room or your parents being shot out of the sky.
The theory that Japan wouldn't have been defeated without the Bomb is contended, at best. A far more likely outcome would have been A) the Soviets invading Japan (leading to Japan surrendering to the Allies to maintain their territorial integrity) or B) massive depopulation as a result of the ongoing firebombing. Basically, they'd either have surrendered, or become mostly irrelevant (like North Korea if it weren't for China).
Yes, Japan committed atrocities in WW2, but the US wasn't the Good Guy either.
There are no good guys in war. It's all just propaganda. And the thing with propaganda is that in order to claim any moral high ground after the war you have to abandon your propaganda and deal with the facts. The US never did that. Instead it dragged itself from one war to the next while pretending to be at peace.
The US is at war. It has been for a long time. Only it has outgrown the need of having an enemy. There's probably a clever 1984 reference in here.
The US has become a servant to its warfare, sustaining a state of war perpetually, moving from one "enemy" to the next, churning out propaganda for itself and for its allies. Except the propaganda has shaped its culture so much its citizens not only barely notice it anymore, they unknowingly perpetuate it themselves. And our advancements in technology allow the warfare itself to become less and less noticeable to them, too. Instead of scared men in tanks, we are demanding casual suits behind joysticks -- because it makes the warfare so much cleaner and easier, for us.
The US isn't a mighty eagle. It's quickly becoming a scared canary in a cage, pecking at buttons to make the scary people go away.
I think you're proving his point, which IIUC wasn't that the Bomb was necessary to end WW2, it was that there are differing opinions on whether the Bomb was necessary to end WW2.
The U.S. has always been highly morally questionable - after all, it's one of a few nations founded by a successful genocidal campaign, which we called Manifest Destiny. The perks of being successful with genocide is that you get to define the story as you wish, since there's nobody to call you out on it.
We're not the only country in that boat either, as I think the grandparent post was trying to point out. Japan, if left unchecked, would've happily raped and pillaged all of Korea - they were well on their way already. Russia was just waiting to come in and crush Japan, payback for the Russo-Japanese war 40 years earlier. Germany, of course, started to war in an attempt to exterminate the Jews.
While we're at it, let's not forget about the Armenian genocide (which Turkey still denies), and the recurring genocides in Africa (in particular the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda) in more recent history.
What you seem to gloss over is that Germany's crimes still play a strong role in the politics and culture of present-day Germany (to the point of obsessive paranoia about any expression of patriotism).
Even Japan -- which compulsively avoids admitting any wrongdoing -- is regularly facing the crimes of its past.
The US is not just built on the successful genocide of Native Americans. There is also the slavery and racial segregation (which still reverberates throughout American culture and politics though everyone seems to pretend it's no longer an issue). Then there's the religious fundamentalism (resulting in the Prohibition, the Red Scare, the War on Drugs, homophobia, Creationism and all kinds of other systemic problems). The internment of Japanese Americans during WW2. The McCarthy era (which likely re-enforced the underlying causes of the social problems we still see today by persecuting left-wing activists). The various CIA assassinations and coups, especially in South America. The gaming of Middle Eastern countries (including funding Islamist extremists until 2001). Agent Orange and other crimes in Vietnam. The mass seizure of communication data of its allies (both political and civilian). The mistreatment of Muslim or Arabian-looking Americans after 9/11. The blanket Authorization for Use of Military Force that cemented the US's permanent state of quasi-war. Drone strikes, including those against its own citizens abroad. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and black sites. Detention of citizens and foreign nationals without any process or trial. Extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation (i.e. torture). Systemic police brutality (Occupy, Ferguson, etc). Interfering with Ukraine prior to the secession of the Crimean peninsula ("Fuck the EU", right?). And so on and so forth.
The US is not just morally questionable. It is morally reprehensible. And it's chock-full of itself. The only reason everybody else is tolerating this behaviour is that the US is armed to the teeth and willing to go down fighting. The US isn't on top because it's good. The US is on top because it is holding the world at gun point.
Here's hoping that when the American economy is eventually overshadowed by whatever powerhouse comes next (my bet is still on China or India) it won't do something incredibly stupid and hurt us all.
Privacy is not just a moral good but necessary to for society to survive and thrive in the long-run. Countries and governments frequently do not act in their own best interest and I view mass surveillance as one of these instances.
For an interesting perspective on this, take a look at The Fog of War with Robert S. McNamara. He contrasts the firebombing of Tokyo with the use of nuclear weapons, among a variety of other topics.
War and politics is dirty and not as academic as many people would like to think. It never is black and white. For example, if we take the moral high ground, our enemies won't. Pacifism sounds good until it's your sister getting raped in your living room or your parents being shot out of the sky.