The rules are changing, we are going to start showing the assholes the door

Someone must have forgotten to tell the US Army Air Force. They kept leafleting Japan warning civilians to flee cities that our bombers were about to destroy.

1. I'm not claiming that they should have done more to prevent citizens from being killed.

2. Over 90% of the dead were civilians.

95% of the Doctors and hospitals were wiped out, and they weren't on "military bases."

The death and destruction was, as planned, truly of biblical proportions.

It ended the war. Cool.

I'm not arguing that we shouldn't have dropped them A-bombs. I'm just saying that it's inaccurate to say they didn't target civilians.

Hiroshima was not a "military base." It was a large city of about 350,000 which happened to include a military base. We intended to destroy the entire city, which would, of course, include the military base, but.....

The goal (the "target," you could say) of the A-bombs was NOT to wipe out military personnel or industrial resources, even though that was an incidental consequence.
The goal was to force surrender, nothing less.

So would a nuclear strike against the Pentagon be a military strike or an attack against civilians?

Before World War II, most nations condemned targeting civilians in bombing raids. 

3. The result of the futile and senseless German resistance to the might of the aroused free peoples of the world stands forth in awful clarity as an example to the people of Japan. The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.

http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c06.html

You would of course know about the Herero and Namaqua genocide by German colonial troops before ww1.

you have examples, I suppose.

Front side of OWI notice #2106, dubbed the "LeMay bombing leaflet," which was delivered to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and 33 other Japanese cities on 1 August 1945. The Japanese text on the reverse side of the leaflet carried the following warning: "Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique which they are using to prolong this useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the Japanese people but is fighting the military clique which has enslaved the Japanese people. The peace which America will bring will free the people from the oppression of the military clique and mean the emergence of a new and better Japan. You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately." (See Richard S. R. Hubert, "The OWI Saipan Operation," Official Report to US Information Service, Washington, DC 1946.)

The intent is clearly spelt out in the Potsdam declaration setting the terms for a Japanese surrender:

Quote:

the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.

The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction.

It would be primarily an attack against civilians.

If we simply wanted to attack a specific military target, we had plenty of conventional bombers to do that.

As Truman himself later said, atomic bombs are not used to attack purely military targets. They are designed to, and intended to, wipe out vast quantities of civilians.

Some have argued, and they may be correct, that Truman actually thought that "Hiroshima" was the name of a japanese military base, not the name of a city. But the "target committee" certainly knew better.

Any nuclear strike in a populated area is mean to kill civilians.

The pentagon could be destroyed with smaller conventional weapons. A targeted military strike would be using those smaller weapons.

A City destroying nuclear weapon would be tontstget civilians.

The intent is clearly spelt out in the Potsdam declaration setting the terms for a Japanese surrender:

Quote:

3. The result of the futile and senseless German resistance to the might of the aroused free peoples of the world stands forth in awful clarity as an example to the people of Japan. The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c06.html

Truman made it even more clear that "homeland" wasn't just a reference to "land," eh? In his radio address given on the evening of August 9, 1945, he said:

Quote:

The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction.

By that time, it was common knowledge (except perhaps to Truman) that Hiroshima, and the people in it, had been utterly destroyed. More was coming Truman said, and, after this "first attack," we wouldn't be bothered by "killing civilians." Nagasaki gave further proof of that.

If some family called Orkin to come to their home and kill some fleas, I don't think the Orkin man would be immune from punishment if he tossed a bunch of grenades into the house, with the family in it, on the grounds that he was only trying to kill some fleas, know what I'm sayin?
But, to give credit where credit is due, let's assume that he did in fact kill all the fleas in the house, eh?