>>http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/587698/201110111829/Apologies-Not-Accepted.htm

Part of that matches word-for-word some Rush L commentary on his show today. However, IMHO it's worth reviewing the actual cable which was to Hilary Clinton from the US Ambassador to Japan:

VFM Yabunaka [Japanese Vice Foreign Minister] pointed out that the Japanese public will have high expectations toward President Obama's visit to Japan in November, as the President enjoys an historic level of popularity among the Japanese people. Anti-nuclear groups, in particular, will speculate whether the President would visit Hiroshima in light of his April 5 Prague speech on non-proliferation. He underscored, however, that both governments must temper the public's expectations on such issues, as the idea of President Obama visiting Hiroshima to apologize for the atomic bombing during World War II is a "non-starter." While a simple visit to Hiroshima without fanfare is sufficiently symbolic to convey the right message, it is premature to include such program in the November visit.

Does this mean that Obama wanted to apologize, or even had any part in it? Sounds to me like politician-speak by a Japanese host minister wanting to avoid domestic political inconvenience by having both governments dampen unrealistic expectations by some groups.

The way it was presented in some media in the US, no wonder people got cross. Seems to me that if partisan media keeps cynically snipping out "facts" to create furore, we can't trust them very much.

BTW, here's what Truman said when the first A-bomb was dropped:

I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb. Its production and its use were not lightly undertaken by this Government. But we knew that our enemies were on the search for it. We know now how close they were to finding it. And we knew the disaster which would come to this Nation, and to all peace-loving nations, to all civilization, if they had found it first…Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.

“We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us…It is an awful responsibility which has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.

Later on he questioned his own decision to use the bomb and is quoted to have said:

I don’t think we ought to use this thing [the A-Bomb] unless we absolutely have to. It is a terrible thing to order the use of something that, that is so terribly destructive, destructive beyond anything we have ever had. You have got to understand that this isn’t a military weapon. It is used to wipe out women and children and unarmed people, and not for military uses.

Imagine how that might have been presented had today's media personalities prevailed back then.