By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer
Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack
Saturday with prayers and water for the dead and a call by the mayor
for nuclear powers to abandon their arsenals and stop "jeopardizing
human survival."
At 8:15 a.m., (a day ago, by Japanese time), the instant of the blast,
the city's trolleys stopped and more than 55,000 people at Peace
Memorial Park observed a moment of silence that was broken only by
the ringing of a bronze bell.
A flock of doves was released into the sky. Then wreaths and ladles of
water -- symbolizing the suffering of those who died in the atomic
inferno -- were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the
center of the park.
Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing
after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" -- falling to the
ground to dramatize the toll from the United States bombing that
turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the
face of war.
Thousands of paper lanterns symbolizing the souls of the dead were
floated on a river next to the park, concluding a day of rememberance.
Fumie Yoshida was just 16 when Hiroshima was bombed. She survived but
lost her father, brother and sister. On Saturday, she chose not to
attend the formal memorial, but paid her respects privately with a
small group of friends in the peace park.
"My father's remains have never been found," she said. "Those of us
who went through this all know that we must never repeat this
tragedy. But I think many Japanese today are forgetting."
In a "Peace Declaration," Hiroshima's outspoken Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba
vowed to never allow a repeat of the tragedy and gave an impassioned
plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying the United States,
is "jeopardizing human survival."
"Many people around the world have succumbed to the feeling that there
is nothing we can do," he said. "Within the United Nations, the United
States uses its veto power to override the global majority and
pursue its selfish objectives."
In a more subdued speech, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered
condolences for the dead.
"I offer deep prayers from my heart to those who were killed," he
said, vowing that Japan would be a leader in the international
movement against nuclear proliferation.
Though Hiroshima has risen from the rubble to become a thriving city
of 3 million, most of whom were born after the war, the anniversary
underscores its ongoing tragedy.
Officials estimate that about 140,000 people were killed instantly or
died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly
payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350,000.
Three days later, another U.S. bomber, Bock's Car, dropped a plutonium
bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people.
Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II.
Including those initially listed as missing or who died afterward from
a loosely defined set of bomb-related ailments, including cancers,
Hiroshima officials now put the total number of dead in this city
alone at 242,437.
This year, 5,373 more names were added to the list.
In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others
gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967
in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing.
Jeremy Corbyn, a lawmaker in the governing Labour Party and vocal
anti-war campaigner, urged people to remember the "unique horror" of
what the United States did to Hiroshima in 1945.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have to wonder if it has occurred to
Mr. Bush that what is good for the goose is often times good for the
gander as well. How would _he_ (or Mr. Blair for example) feel if the
Iraqi government decided "in order to end further suffering or loss
of innocent lives in this war with the United States, _we_ have
elected to drop the big one on their country." In other words, Harry
Truman's line, all over again, one big blast to end the agony of
war, but this time fingers pointed at us as the agressors ... and the
Iraqi government did, just this past week, invite the United States to
withdraw totally from Iraq and let all of us go back to living at
peace. We know that Mr. Bush refused that offer totally. We also know
that China has threatened us in recent days regards its ongoing spat
with Taiwan, stating that if Bush insisted on remaining involved in
that situation, they (the Chinese) 'would not hesitate' to use strong
medicine on us. And the North Koreans, I am sure, would get involved
also as circumstances permitted. I have to wonder if Mr. Bush even
realizes how close he is coming toward getting a taste of his own
medicine or if he even cares, in his deluded state of grandeur.
Considering Bush's strong association with the right-wing fundamentalist
Christian movement in this country -- people who feel from their
reading of scripture that the end is near anyway -- I really wonder if
he _does_ care ... if nothing else, it would most assuredly allow
_his_ congresspersons to declare a state of emergency and retain him
in office for the duration of the first real war on American
soil. Under the present constitutional constraints, he is ineligible
for another term in office, but just as in New York City a few days
after 9-11-01 there were suggestions seriously considered to put off
installing the new mayor and retaining the old mayor 'due to the
crisis'. I am sure the same ideas would be floated around as Bush's
term would otherwise draw to a close. Do the Atomic Scientists still
keep setting that clock periodically on its journey to midnight?
What is that clock setting now? PAT]
Eric Talmadge (