re: Do you feel bad about the US dropping the atomic bombs on Japan?

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While this is true, Pearl Harbor targeted military while 9/11 and the atomic bombs primarily targeted civilians.

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Geez, I can't believe that I'm about to be labeled like some terrorist supporter like Catfan but here goes...

You can easily make the argument that the 9/11 attacks were against valid military targets. First, the Pentagon is a no-brainer. Clearly a military target. Second, the plane that went down in PA was probably bound for a DC target. While some argue against it, the targeting of an enemy's political leadership is generally an accepted tactic.

That leaves the WTC. Certainly a civilian owned and occupied target, but also a big part of the US financial (and thus industrial) hub and destroying the industrial and economic base of the enemy is a valid military objective.

Understand, I'm in no way defending the attacks themselves. I honestly would have supported the use of groundburst nukes to get the frickers when they where holed up in the Afghan mountains but from a military operations perspective, the targets they hit that day were pretty legit.

As far as the a-bomb targets go, Hiroshima was the headquarters for the Japanese Second Army - the unit in charge of defending Kyushu - which was to be invaded in a couple of months. It was also a transportation hub that hadn't been hit by previous bombing raids. Nagasaki was a major seaport, shipyards, and also home to steelworks and ordinance plants. Like Hiroshima, it had also been mostly spared from earlier raids. It was also the alternate target that day. The primary was socked in by clouds and smoke. Again, both were pretty legit targets.