I am alive today because of the bombs. My father was in the invasion force headed to Japan when the bombs were dropped. As a 21 year old private, he was stationed in Hiroshima in the 3 week of Aug. 1945.
All counterfactual conditionals are true. It is easy to say today that the atomic bombing of Japan was a mistake, and it may have been so, with the advantage of hindsight. Equally, it is easy for you to say, "I am alive today because..."
But we can never know. I think it arrogant to say today that Japan should not have been bombed that way (Edit: I fully realize this is not your assertion). Maybe it's true. Maybe it's false. Which route would you (or I, or anyone else) have chosen, with access only to the information available in 1944?
The late George McDonald Fraser went to the heart of the argument. Let us assume that Allied casualties would have been 20,000 greater if the bomb had not been dropped, but that the Allies would still have won. Would your mother have volunteered your father as one of those 20,000? Would your wife volunteer you? Would you volunteer yourself?
Yes, war is hell. Both my grandfathers were killed at sea, one off Crete and one on the Russian convoys. It's now fairly clear that 'Bomber' Harris made exaggerated claims for the power of the air force in terror-bombing Germany: think of Dresden. But shortening the war by a year, a month, a day, a minute, must have looked like a pretty good idea at the time.
And none of this diminishes Raid's researches (congratulations, Raid) or the importance of this camera.
Cheers (if that's the word)
R.