In Perspective, Planet: No angels in war except

[fahim mohammed]

The angels of death and destruction.

The only thing I can be certain of is that all sides tried their level best to destroy as many of humans on the other side as they could. Kill and maim. All sides.

I only visited one side, and hence this is the side I saw. I am sure the other side was equal in savagery.

A bomb of that era that fell in a village. As I was told, an average of one bomb fell around here every 8 or ten minutes on average ( weather permitting ) continuously for about 4 years.

But how big were they..in size and firepower? Supersize, I guess, for that era. We certainly have come a long way from then. Mine is bigger than yours!

I shall show you a photograph to give you an idea of the size of bombs falling on this village later on.

 

[fahim mohammed]

This region...Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia... and it's people has unfortunately lived through death and destruction from ages past.

Let there be no mistake. The savagery of man is on show as one travels through the region.

And the worst of it has been wrought by their own people, without foreign intervention.

Just across the river..maybe a day's or less of a drive by bus...one crosses into Cambodia.

The barbarity of the Khymer Rouge! The killing fields! Own people killing over 2.5 million of their own!

In my own region....Syria, Iraq and on and on. Rwanda and countless others across the globe.

Through it all, it is the innocent, the old and the infirm, the women, the children...they are those who bear the brunt of such barbarity and death.

But there is a common thread connecting it all. The DNA. Across this planet, the DNA of each one of us is the same....as far as I know.

Welcome to the community of Man!

/ end rant /.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Fahim,

The amazing thing is that orators can mesmerize followers to do awful things. The killing fields of the Khemir rouge are just one example. Imagine they did that without the powerful industrial organization of the xenophobic Third Reich of Germany, Cambodia, a poor 3rd world country, just put all its energies to autodigesting itself.

We respect authority too much and allow ourselves to shed well-tuned values for the leader that directs us to violence. Humans can swing from great nobility and sensitivity to brutality worse than carnivores of the jungle.

Asher

 

[Martin Stephens]

Those appear to be cluster bomb cases? Interesting and powerful photo. Thank you.

 

[Jarmo Juntunen]

Fahim, again it seems to me that within all the brutality you're able to show us signs of human resourcefulness to survive and the will to find a light in the dark. In the last picture it seems to me that this community has turned the bombshells into something useful. And not just that: the chap to the left is laughing aloud to these former bearers of death.

 

[Martin Stephens]

I should add, that I am very appreciated that these are posted.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Fahim

But how big were they..in size. . .

411 mm in diameter, 2100 mm long, typical weight (full? empty?) 377 kg.

. . .and firepower?

These scattered in midair various kinds of fragmentation "bomblets", typically about 64 mm in diameter, weighing about 500 g, with maybe 100 g of high explosive in each.

These bomblets are described as "antipersonnel and antimateriel munitions".

Not a nice thing.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[fahim mohammed]

Asher, Jarmo, Martin, Doug...

Thank you all for your comments. Doug, thanks for the stats.

Best to you all.