The Killing Fields

Had a great gig last night in a place called Inglemunster, at the Café de Fagot. Thanks to Jean Pierre and Carine for the great food and everyone who came to the show and made it such a memorable night. The concert off set the sadness and anger I was feeling in my heart after we (Diethard who has organized this tour and myself) stopped at the Tyne Cot War Cemetery.Here are the graves of twelve thousand soldiers from WW1 and the names of another thirty four thousand who died in this part of Flanders. I have started to read John Pilger’s new book ‘The New Rulers Of The World’. The chapter on Iraq entitled ‘Paying The Price’ is soul wrenching and horrifying. He talks of the consequences of ten years of sanctions that have killed half a million children, of how the sanctions have stopped the sending of medicines and drugs and parts for medical machinery that would have saved thousands of lives because they might be used in the making of weapons, amounts that are absurd and petty but have been held back none the less, of how the levels of depleted uranium from the Gulf war in 91 have caused an increase in cancer amongst the population that’s off the scale, and how good men and women who have been in charge of relief for the United Nations have resigned because they could no longer lend their name to the ‘genocide’ being caused by sanctions primarily put in place and adhered to by guess who, the UK and USA. Richard Garfield, a renown epidemiologist at Columbia Uni in New York, says that, in tripling since 1990, the death rate of children in Iraq is unique. ‘There is almost no documented case,’ he wrote, ‘of rising mortality for children under five in the modern world. American researchers Mueller and Mueller conclude that ‘economic sanctions have probably taken more lives of more people in Iraq than have ever been killed by all weapons of mass destruction in history. Having read this, and I wholly recommend the book to everyone, I stood amongst the thousands of white headstones, those I saw with names had ages ranging between 17 and 27. I tried to imagine the 500,000 headstones of those children and then I got angry, so bloody angry. I’m more convinced than ever that the truth really has to be searched out. I mean even if Pilger is only 20% correct it’s horrifying, and I happen to trust him. There is a madness afoot and its scary, right now I have know one I would vote for. But bollocks to votes. Sit and see this carnage and try to even begin to take on its fullness. I’m passing through this world, there is a struggle to be had and I’m up for it, but there are moments when I don’t want to be here anymore