Democracy Now's full hour show on Hiroshima today: here.

Or stream here.

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Laura's SPIN :: The Hiroshima Anniversary

From The British Guardian newspaper, July 31:

"It should have been a beautiful day in Hiroshima. There was hardly a cloud in the sky when the

American planes appeared high overhead; they were clearly visible to those watching from the ground.

The attack sirens had sounded at around 7am when the planes were first spotted approaching the

Japanese coast, but at around 8am the all-clear had been given. The Hiroshima radar operator had

said there were no more than three in coming planes. What damage could three planes do? It was

probably a reconnaissance mission. Many of the victims were still emerging from air raid shelters when

the bomb was released.

The bomb doors of the Enola Gay overhead opened at 8.15am and about 40 seconds later the bomb

exploded, around 600m above the city. The Americans knew this was the way to cause the most devastation....."

Up to 140,000 people are thought to have been killed August 6th, 1945, when an atomic bomb was

dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. As many as 80,000 more died when a second device was

exploded in the skies above Nagasaki three days later. Ironically, the same day that the Guardian dedicated

a feature to new research on the death toll, the newspaper also reported on two other developments:

the Bush administration has quietly disbanded the only quasi-independent experts panel which provided

oversight of the development of US nuclear weapons and is pushing for a new generation of nukes.

How are you going to mark the Hiroshima Anniversary?

US scraps nuclear weapons watchdog.

The day the sky exploded.

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Hiroshima

David Rovics

Ten thousand children played in the playground

Swinging on the swings, didn't hear the sound

Of the single plane that flew overhead

The third shift workers were just going to bed

There was a flash of light and a rumbling noise

And gone in a flash, parents, girls and boys

Ten thousand mothers were boiling rice

A thousand POW's were rolling dice

Hoping they'd survive this terrible storm

When each young man in his uniform

Vanished in the air in the blink of an eye

One moment they lived, the next they all die

Hiroshima, Hiroshima

Ten thousand chickens were sitting on eggs

Heads in their wings, resting their legs

Ten thousand farmers were looking at their fields

Planning the harvest, guessing at yields

Dreaming of life after the war

The next second they weren't living no more

Hiroshima, Hiroshima

Ten thousand lovers made lover to each other

Each one of them thinking they might not get another

Living so long with death everywhere

Much more than one person alone can bear

But there wasn't time for a final kiss

Who could've known it would end like this

Hiroshima, Hiroshima

A hundred thousand people were living their lives

Grandparents, children, fathers and wives

Now they're just shadows on the street

In such a quick burst of incredible heat

Now listen to them talk about doing it again

From whence came the souls of these terrible men

Hiroshima, Hiroshima

Created May, 2003

Copyright David Rovics 2003, all rights reserved