Eighty years ago to the day, the most destructive war in human history drew rapidly to a close. The bill for Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor had come due as American forces closed in on the island nation, choking off its critical supply lines and bombing its cities into ash. An atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Another flattened Nagasaki on Aug. 9. Less than a week later, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender. Most serious historians regard the atomic bombings as a