Not Just Another Civilian Casualty

I wish to add support for the position that using the A-bomb was not the correct action to take. As in any war, civilian causalities almost always occur. Perhaps two armies converge at a town and in the battle, non-soldiers die as collateral damage. Or perhaps a bomb is dropped on a known enemy location and the resulting destruction takes the lives of some innocent bystanders. The difference between these scenarios and that of the A-bomb is the target of the civilian in the conflict. In a typical war situation, a civilian death is merely collateral. The enemy was not purposefully going after them, but they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In contrast, the A-bombs dropped in Japan were targeted at large civilian populations. They were the target. This scenario is completely different, especially on a scale as large as an entire city. Let’s say a man is firing gunshots at the police who are raiding his drug stash. The police, with two cops already dead and wanting to end the conflict quickly, decide to hold the man’s wife and child at gunpoint. First they shoot the child in hopes he will surrender. He does not. Next they shoot his wife to which he finally surrenders. Is this really the just way in going about ending a dangerous conflict? Some might argue that other cops lives were possibly spared. However, they were signed up or enlisted to put their life on the line for such conflicts. His wife and child were not. Likewise, the Japanese civilians were not in a position to purposefully have their life on the line. The United States and Japanese soldiers were however.