我在互联网上搜索了一下，关于这段话最早的出处，能够找到的是钱江晚报2007年11月12日的报道：
钱江晚报
现在互联网上流传的这段话，便是出自这篇报道的倒数第二段。
那么蒂贝茨是不是真的说过这段话呢？
我首先搜索了一下文中提到的《哥伦比亚急件报》，并确认它应该是这个“https://www.dispatch.com/”“columbus dispatch”
与此同时，我也找到了当初这篇报道的原文——https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1458133/posts
“Still no regrets for frail Enola Gay pilot (Col. Paul Tibbets)
Columbus Dispatch ^| August 6, 2005 | Mike Harden”
粗略看过这篇报道之后，我确认其中没有任何和“南京”相关的字眼，主要以蒂贝茨投弹的心路历程和个人生活为主。
所以在此之后，我以保罗·蒂贝茨的英文原名Paul Warfield Tibbets ，加上关键词“nanking”在英文互联网上搜索了一下，依然没有得到与这段话类似的结果。
另外看了一下quora的回答，其中提到保罗·蒂贝茨的心理的答案是这样的——
“General Paul Tibbets, the Enola Gay pilot, had compassion for the people on the ground in Hiroshima, but also had a job to do.
Tibbets reflecting on what he did in 1989:
除此之外，另外能在互联网上搜索到的掷弹者的英文原文中，出现了南京的是这篇——Defending the Indefensible: A Meditation on the Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr.
“In 1990, Sweeney emphasized the positive legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “As a military man, I think…maybe we stopped some world wars.” He had a formula to deal with budding feelings of guilt: “If I ever approach that feeling, I start thinking about the rape of Nanking, and the duplicity of them lying to our president while they were bombing Pearl Harbor. I think of all my classmates who were killed.”[148] Sweeney opposed nuclear abolition. In 2001, he told the Boston Globe, “I hope we never use them again, but…we cannot afford to eliminate them and stay strong. The best defense, I think, is the strongest offense.”[149] But Sweeney quietly donated earnings from speaking engagements to an orphanage in Hiroshima.[150]”
“1990 年，斯威尼强调了广岛和长崎的积极遗产：“作为一名军人，我认为……也许我们阻止了一些世界大战。” 他有一个应对内疚感萌芽的方法：“如果我接触到那种感觉，我就会开始思考南京大屠杀，以及他们在轰炸珍珠港时向我们的总统撒谎的口是心非。 我想起了我所有被杀害的同学。”[148] 斯威尼反对废除核武器。 2001 年，他告诉《波士顿环球报》，“我希望我们再也不要使用它们，但是……我们不能消除它们并保持强大。 我认为，最好的防御是最强大的进攻。”[149] 但是斯威尼悄悄地将演讲收入捐给了广岛的一家孤儿院。[150]（机翻）”
“In 1985, Beser, having retired after working 27 years as an engineer for Westinghouse, returned to Japan with an ABC film crew to attend commemorative events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.He was particularly moved by one woman who had been in Hiroshima 40 years earlier when Beser and his crewmates dropped the bomb.She said simply, “You had a job to do, and you did it.”He reflected, “I don’t know if I could be so forgiving.”[187] He described Hiroshima as “the place where we opened a new era of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.”[188]Beser was annoyed by American peace activists who went to Hiroshima and criticized their own country.Like almost all his colleagues, he felt, “These people are of a later generation and do not comprehend what was going on in 1945.”He specifically cited “the Bataan Death March, the Rape of Nanking, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Sacking of Manila, and all of the other more sordid Japanese deeds…” As a result, his generation “thought in terms of total defeat ofthe enemy, and unconditional surrender.”They were not racists, he insisted, feeling the same way about Germany.He contended the Japanese, even the hibakusha he met, understood the situation better than many Americans.Japanese repeatedly told him that the Americans “did what you had to do to win the war”—a war that only the militarists in Tokyo wanted.But, “To hear American school children say they are ashamed of their country, without any understanding as to why these events took place is a bigger source of embarrassment to me than I can ever describe.We are teaching our children the wrong lesson.The moral of the story is ‘make war no more’.Find a way to settle our differences peacefully or surely we will all perish.””
“1985 年，在西屋公司担任工程师 27 年后退休的 Beser 与 ABC 摄制组一起返回日本，参加在广岛和长崎举行的纪念活动。 40 年前，当贝塞尔和他的船员投下炸弹时，一位女士曾在广岛，这让他特别感动。 她简单地说，“你有工作要做，你做到了。” 他反思道：“我不知道我是否可以如此宽容。”[187] 他将广岛描述为“我们开启了一个人类对其同胞不人道的新时代的地方。”[188]
贝塞尔对前往广岛批评自己国家的美国和平活动家感到恼火。 和他几乎所有的同事一样，他觉得，“这些人是后代人，不理解 1945 年发生的事情。” 他特别引用了“巴丹死亡行军、南京大屠杀、卢沟桥事件、洗劫马尼拉，以及所有其他更肮脏的日本行为……”因此，他那一代人“认为彻底击败了 敌人，无条件投降。” 他们不是种族主义者，他坚称，对德国也有同样的感觉。 他争辩说，日本人，甚至是他遇到的被爆者，都比许多美国人更了解当时的情况。 日本人一再告诉他，美国人“做了你必须做的来赢得战争”——一场只有东京的军国主义者想要的战争。 但是，“听到美国学童说他们为自己的国家感到羞耻，却不了解为什么会发生这些事件，这让我感到尴尬，这是我无法形容的。 我们正在给我们的孩子上错误的课。 这个故事的寓意是“不要再打仗”。 想办法和平解决我们的分歧，否则我们都会灭亡。（机翻）”
除此之外，我没能在互联网上找到任何关于保罗蒂贝茨说过这番话的证据。从现有材料分析，大概是国内记者将保罗蒂贝茨和斯威尼以及贝瑟三个人说的话笼统放在一起，同时运用了充分的艺术加工后，将其完全戴在保罗蒂贝茨一个人脑袋上的结果。
当然，以上的资料只是我一个人短时间内收集到的东西，可能并不会很充分。如果还有其他人能够对此问题提供更充分，更有力的证据，将“保罗蒂贝茨说过这段话”的命题完全证实或者证伪，那么不胜荣幸。
