Until the Japanese government fully acknowledges, apologizes to, and compensates the many millions of victims of crimes committed by its forces against Japan's neighbors and the Allied (particularly United States) forces, I don't think that we should apologize for what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ("President Obama looks to Hiroshima visit; Abe won't go to Pearl Harbor," May 26).
War is hell on Earth when our common humanity breaks down into amoral darkness and chaos and split-second decisions must be made which can have devastating consequences for generations to come. That said, we can't go backward in time — we can only learn from the past. The unprecedented and only (thus far) use of nuclear bombs in World War II demonstrated to the world the terrifying power that humans developed to destroy one another.
As we are running up to World War III via NATO's obsessive and relentless provocation of Russia, our leaders need to understand what we did to Japan and realize that all-out nuclear war will be the end of all humanity.
Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nevada