RIP Paul Tibbets

Brigadier General Paul Tibbets (USAF, Ret) died today at the age of 92. Godspeed to you, good sir.

I grew up in the shadow of nuclear annihilation. During the late 70's and through the 80's, the threat of global thermonuclear war seemed very real and very frightening. Being a morbid child by nature, I was slightly obsessed with nuclear war.

Until recently, I was revolted by the fact that America had dropped atomic bombs on the citizens of Japan. The thought that 100,000 people could die in an instant is a horror nearly impossible to comprehend. Innocent civilians, children, vaporized. Hundreds of thousands more suffering and dying for generations after.

Then I learned about the Japanese and their quest to conquer the world. I learned about their mindset, their culture. The lengths they went to in fighting their war. The lengths they were prepared to go to to avoid surrender.

Suddenly the Little Boy and Fat Man made a lot of sense.

All Things Considered did a piece on him this afternoon. When countering the charge that the dropping of the atomic bomb was immoral, Tibbets made a remark that really moved me. He said somrthing to the effect that "first you have to consider that there is no morality in war. War itself is immoral."

That it is.

When all is said in done, no nuclear device has ever been used in conflict since the surrender of Japan. For that, we should all be thankful.

Paul Tibbets lived with the burden of ushering in the nuclear age. He appeared to accept it.