Wednesday 26 July 2006

More Bombs & an Abandoned Horse

I watched the news tonight, stony-faced and uncomprehending, children losing limbs, chaos and terror where the bombs have fallen. And when they showed an image of an abandoned horse, tethered and alone in the desolation, stupidly, I started to cry.

412 now dead in Lebanon. 48 in Israel.

The talks in Rome have, of course, failed.
What is the point of sending Condoleezza Rice anywhere?

And why did the IDF bomb a UN compound? Kofi Annan claimed it was deliberate, but Ehud Olmert has expressed his 'deep regrets'. Oh, well, that makes it okay then.

But what really had me seething was that last weekend, the USA sent 'bunker-busting bombs' to Israel and refuelled at Prestwick airport. Prestwick airport is on the west coast of Scotland. You associate it with cheap flights to Pisa, not fucking bombs being sent to Israel. How dare they send their vile cargo via Scotland! Our mealy-mouthed foreign minister is at least making a formal complaint to the US that Britain wasn't consulted, but she seems more concerned by the fact that official procedures for 'hazardous cargo' weren't followed rather than by the principle.

. . . and here are those splendid bunker-busting bombs!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Prestwick is well known to be used for Bush's extraordinary renditions too. The bombs were probably on the same flights as the untried suspects.

Even the abandoned horse seems to understand the sickness that Bush has encouraged in the world - why doesn't Blair?

nmj said...

oh, keith, we know prestwick is used for extraordinary rendition flights (even though blair denies it), but we don't have to actually watch the torture of guantanamo prisoners on the news, though we may agonise about it in our heads, but we could well be watching lebanese being killed next week by bombs that went through prestwick, though these bunker-busters are no doubt precise & there will be no civilian casualties . . .

Ron Southern said...

It is sometimes very embarrassing to be an American, but it is hardly even very uncomfortable. I wonder if the world dreams of an embargo against us?

Anne said...

I am glad that I dont have the tube now after reading you. Already what is written is filling me with dread. So many world problems and we insist on having wars on top of that. Saw your links and this one is a sharp sword. " If we are to go by Olmert’s recent words, we should brace ourselves for a long haul, as the invasion “could go on indefinitely.” " I like the 'cognitive dissonance" term listed on one of the messages.
Anyway, we had two fairly decent days when it became easier to breathe but now we are in steam bath mode again. Took my shower then went into the office in a sweat. At work I froze my extremeties (is there a spell check on this?) and now I am steaming again. In my opinion this was not a spur of the moment decision. I think it ties in with the Iraqui initiatives if I may say so and it may be a continuation of the master plan conceived after 9/11. When I was young I imagined the existence of the Internet but I never believed that humans would be killing each other with bombs in 2006. My parents' lives were shattered by WWII and that was over 50 years ago...

nmj said...

Ron, I tried to comment earlier but Blogger has been horrible all day - just want to say, it's also very embarrassing being British just now, so I wouldn't worry too much.