I've just been out in my garden, sitting by my garden pond, and listening to the noise of B52 bombers high in the air above me, or at least imagining I was listening to them -- the background sound of traffic below me in the city made me slightly uncertain.
But what I certainly *do* know is that a few minutes ago a BBC TV reporter was showing us live pictures of American B52 bombers lining up on the runway at RAF Fairfield airplane base, one of the largest in the country and only a few miles north of here. Then they were taking off, one after the other. The BBC man said he didn't know whether they were on a training flight or whether . . . his voice trailed away then. I guess they'll still be taking off even as I'm writing these words. I think they were taking off in earnest and not on a training run. (I can hardly think their personnel need to train any more -- they came here fresh from America only a few days ago.) From here, B52s can reach Iraq quite comfortably. If they're going to Iraq, they'll reach there soon after Bush gives his declaration of war in about four hours' time -- though he won't call it that, of course. He'll use some other euphemism. America and the UK will not be "aggressors" either, which they are. They'll be "co-sponsors" of freedom or something or other -- the term that Blair used today to justify his illegal and immoral decision, taken against the will of the people. If this evening's B52s are indeed going to bomb Baghdad then they'll reach there at about dawn. They'll drop their loads while high in the sky, as they did in Afghanistan and there'll be little that's precise about it. The people of Baghdad will scarcely have time to greet the rising sun before devastation might be raining down on them and burying them in rubble and blood. It seems that nothing can prevent death to thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of innocent people now. If I were a praying man I would be praying now, but I'm not and the prospect seems unavoidable. Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Keith Hudson,6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel:01225 312622/444881; Fax:01225 447727; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
