#Triangulation | August 9, 2025

11:00 AM. A Familiar Time.

At exactly 11:02 AM on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The explosion, caused by a bomb nicknamed “Fat Man,” killed approximately 40,000 people instantly and tens of thousands more in the days, months, and years that followed.1

Today, at nearly that same moment—11:00 AM, 80 years later—we reflect not only on that day, but on how easily governments justify destruction in the name of necessity.

Necessary? Or Convenient?

The conventional narrative claims Nagasaki (and Hiroshima three days earlier) were bombed to “save lives” by forcing a swift Japanese surrender. But many historians question whether Japan was already on the verge of capitulation.2 Some argue that the bombing was less about ending WWII and more about sending a brutal message to the Soviet Union in the early days of Cold War posturing.3

August 9, 1998 – Déjà Vu in Sudan

Fifty-three years after Nagasaki, to the day, President Bill Clinton ordered the bombing of the al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. His administration claimed the factory was producing chemical weapons. The intelligence was weak, the evidence thinner still. But the strike went forward.

It later emerged that the facility produced 90% of Sudan’s pharmaceuticals, including vital antibiotics. The result: at least one civilian killed immediately, many more harmed in the ensuing public health crisis. No weapons were ever found.4

The Machinery of Justification

In both Nagasaki and Sudan, we see the same mechanism: government-sanctioned violence backed by stories. Tales of necessity. Urgency. Safety. Always “tragic but unavoidable.” The true motives—strategic dominance in 1945, political distraction in 19985—remain unspoken.

Clinton’s bombing of Sudan occurred just days after he admitted to a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The Wag the Dog jokes wrote themselves. But behind the punchlines was a lethal truth: even aspirin factories can be vaporized, if the right lie is told.

From Atomic Fire to Aspirin Dust

What unites these events—beyond the date—is how power uses language to sanctify violence. Whether it’s a mushroom cloud or a cruise missile, governments reach for the same script. They don’t call it mass killing. They call it “security.” Or “deterrence.” Or “limited strikes.”

And we, the public, are asked not to see the ruined hospitals, the incinerated cities, or the bleeding civilians. We are asked to believe. To accept. To move on.

Time to Stop Swallowing

80 years after Nagasaki, it still happens. It happened in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Yemen. Each time, the press conference is ready. The moral framing is tight. The language is tidy.

But the damage is not.

#Triangulation is about asking: What else have we swallowed? What lies were polished into policy, and who paid the price?

At 11:02 AM, The Sky Fell.

Today, as that same minute approaches once more, we remember not just the dead—but the stories used to justify their deaths.

And we ask: Whose stories will justify the next one?

Footnotes

  1. Walker, J. S. (2005). Prompt and utter destruction: Truman and the use of atomic bombs against Japan. University of North Carolina Press. ↩
  2. Hasegawa, T. (2005). Racing the enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the surrender of Japan. Belknap Press. ↩
  3. Alperovitz, G. (1995). The decision to use the atomic bomb and the architecture of an American myth. Knopf. ↩
  4. Ryle, G. (2001). The Secrets of the Al-Shifa factory. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/05/kenya.sudan ↩
  5. Hersh, S. M. (2001). The Target is Destroyed. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/10/08/the-target-is-destroyed ↩