cle 6 is noteworthy: " The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:.. War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include.... plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation,...murder,...and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian populations, before or during the war." (qtd. in Laws 1-12). This document was signed three days after dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and one day before dropping the bomb on Nagasaki (Laws 1-12). There were several alternatives to the bomb which would have been far less costly. In the Franck Report, one of these suggestions is mentioned: "...a demonstration of the new weapon might best be made before the eyes of representatives of all the United Nations...America could say, 'You see what sort of weapon we had but did not use. We are ready to renounce its use in the future if other nations join us in this renunciation and agree to the establishment of an efficient international control." (qtd. in Brison 5). Another alternative to dropping the bomb could simply have been waiting. Several highly involved people believed that the Japanese were ready to surrender. "Japan was at that very moment seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face'...it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing." said General Eisenhower (qtd. in Bloomfield 1-3). Fleet Admiral Leahy said, "The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of an effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons....in being the first to use it [the atomic bomb], we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages." (qtd. in Bloomfield 1-3). Ralph Bard was the Undersecretary of the Navy and a member of a secret advisory group on the atomic bomb, called the Inter...
