These numbers are horrific as the bomb was horrific and are part of the awful, inhuman calculus of war. On the other hand, in any group there are individuals who will commit violence and those with mental illness are no different. This finding says nothing about the correlation between the violent act and the mental illness itself. The responsibility of the psychiatrist in this case is to establish whether the accused was rendered unable to understand the criminality and consequences of his actions as a result of mental illness. Letter writer Doris Wrench Eisler is incorrect: most experts now agree that dropping the atomic bomb was based on finding a way to end the war quickly.

Source: National Post May 27, 2016 04:15 UTC