Remembering Everyone Killed by Military Aircraft

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Wednesday August 26, 2015 23:43 by shannonwatch

The vintage Hawker Hunter fighter plane that crashed on to a busy roadway during an air show in Shoreham, Sussex on 22 August also performed at recent air shows in Ireland at Shannon, Bray and Foynes. Between them these were attended by up to 150,000 people.

The vintage Hawker Hunter fighter plane that crashed on to a busy roadway during an air show in Shoreham, Sussex on 22 August also performed at recent air shows in Ireland at Shannon, Bray and Foynes. Between them these were attended by up to 150,000 people.

The aircarft might just as easily have crashed on one of these shows causing many deaths including children.

These air shows are designed to have spectacular near misses, and, internationally, all too frequently they lead to spectacular tragedies. They are usually advertised as family outings suitable for children. Commentators have understandably used the phrase that "our thoughts and prayers must be with the families and casualties." Our thoughts should also be directed at the very many victims of fighter aircraft and killer drones that are occurring daily in the Middle East, and on whether all such air shows involving military aircraft should be prohibited in the interests of public safety. Knowing the dangers involved, it is irresponsible for parents to bring children to such air shows, and it is also inappropriate that families should be "enjoying" the spectacle of stunts by aircraft designed and actually used to kill so many people, the majority of whom in recent wars have been innocent civilians.

Our thoughts and prayers must be with the families and casualties of the thousands of innocent civilians killed by military aircraft in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Gaza and Syria. Planes presented as entertainment at air shows are anything but entertainment in these places. Take Gaza for example; between July 7 and August 26 last year at least well over 2,000 Palestinians, including over 500 children were brutally murdered in Gaza as a result of Israeli bombing. This is the brutality that military aircraft are designed to inflict. Air shows attempt to sanitise it and to distract from the reality of what fighter planes do. And what they do is kill people.