And the point of that would have been? We should waste a billion dollar asset on something that didn't exist in Japan, open space?
Know how many Japanese Curtis LaMay killed in one night by firebombing Kyoto? 200,000.
That was early in 1945, you can look up the date.
Did the Japanese surrender, even though we'd demonstrated complete air superiority and could wipe out entire cities at will with squadrons of airplanes?
No.
Did the Japanese surrender when we demonstrated that we had the power to wipe out entire cities with one airplane?
No.
Did the Japanese surrender when we demonstrated what we were willing to destroy as many cities as it took to get them to surrender, and there was nothing they could do about it?
Yes.
As for torture- how should we know? I reserve judgement for its necessity until secret documents surrounding it have been released, and that may take up to several decades.
As for torture.
Well, it extracts valuable information from people who not only want us dead, but are actively working to make us dead.
That's one thing in it's favor.
The value of that information can be measured in lives saved. That's indisputable.
That's another.
So what's the problem? There's no need to quantify the number of lives saved versus number of testicles crushed, is there?