http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/eyewitness/e-27051999.html
Wednesday, May 27st, 1999
BELGRADE IN FLAMES!
What a night! I have thought that nothing is able to surprise me after these two months of heavy bombing. The intensity of bombing NATO used on Belgrade yesterday, again with no mistake just before the visit of Russian diplomats who try to resolve this conflict with peaceful political means. Some interest circles on the West, who have influence on the command structure of NATO, seem to have great advantages from the war, just like Milosevic does. If this thing never stops, they would be at the advantage.
The start was usual. The sirens have already finished their vocalisation, but the one who still gets upset about that can only slowly go crazy. So, the sirens were silent again and we were trying to simulate the normal life. I was walking my dog, who is becoming the experienced war veteran, and only lifts one ear when he hears detonations. I was also talking with V. about the problems of an UPS on an important NT server, who has decided that it got enough of this electricity situation, so it refuses to send the signal for server shut down. Then we stopped in the middle of the sentence, as we heard the faint sound of aeroplanes from the south, becoming stronger every moment, turning into the usual sound of the aeroplane going into its routine night killing.
Only this time it was not the routine one. The first plane came and threw two projectiles on Makis. Huge detonations! The only thing they can be compared for are those detonations on the very beginning of the war, when Sremcica was used as a polygon for testing the new strategic American bomber B2. It was unbelievable - you can see thick black smoke in a black night. Actually, the smoke was blacker than the night, and that was the reason why we were able to see it at all. Right away there come four more planes, this time from the Northeast. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth detonation. Everything is shaking, and the balls of fire are plowing the sky. The dog is roaring - it seems that it is not a completely experienced war veteran. In the middle of all this, I am thinking with gusto - one part of the projectile is turning into an ordinary ball of fire, and the other one flashes like a lightning or, perhaps, more like a flash on the camera. V. is excited and points to the sky. It is surprisingly clear. Then, two months after the beginning of all this, I actually see the planes. The afore-mentioned four, buzzing out of the area on the afterburner, after they are now unloaded of their projectile cargo. PVO is howling from the ground all the time. Another unexpected thing - they have never shot so many rockets on the attackers in such a short time. I counted ten in the immediate vicinity. My eye is already trained, so I have noticed that these were all Strelas (Arrows), the shoulder rockets. They have proved to be great for the projectile putting down. They, however, can disable a plane only in rare circumstances. PVO guns are even less useful, they are used to make a Fire curtain and put down the projectiles that way, in the same time deflecting the planes from flying too low. But, it is still nice to know that somebody is shooting those who shoot you. I am watching a rocket zigzagging, guided by a warmth source. I catch myself cheering it to find it, in a low voice. Some kids around are shouting their cheers loud, just like they used to cheer their favourite soccer team. I think that those people on the West do not realise the way a completely anti-Milosevic Belgrade can cheer PVO.
I try to use my cellular phone. It is working! I am calling my brother to tell him what is going on, and in the same time the third wave of aeroplanes came by. This time from the west. One, two, three, four large flashes. The sound is arriving later. Makis again! The public aqueduct of Belgrade has its water factories in Makis. I am thinking about their fate while I am making a direct broadcast over the phone.
And then a cowboy from the sky misses his target! The projectile fell more than 500 meters from the place the others fell on. I prey for those who happened to be on the end of its way. I didn't have much time to think about their fate anyway, as the planes roam from the west in waves. Detonations again. This time Rakovica, and somewhere further, on the other side of Avala Mountain. I don't count any more - it is over 40 of them. I am watching the sky. The unbelievable sight. You can clearly see the sky criss-crossed with the remains of plane jets. It looks like a gigantic weaving cloth emerging. I have enough, and the traumatised dog deserves to go home, too.
There were two more waves of bombing until the morning. They hit some civilian buildings. Three persons were killed. The fourth person is heavily wounded, and the doctors and nurses are fighting for her life. The killed are surely feeling better as they are killed by mistake.
I just got e-mail from an acquaintance from America, who is puzzled that I am making such a fuss about the civilians getting killed. He says it is war. You can expect such things. The guy is OK in other matters, but I can not but feel the irony in the words of a man living in a country which never felt the bombing on its territory. And that country is now killing completely innocent people just like Milosevic does. And they say it is a mistake and that there are higher goals, just like Milosevic does.
Fifteen years ago a movie was made here, and its title is now often in my mind. It is "In the Jaws of Life". That is the way we are living now -- in the jaws of life, stuck between Milosevic and NATO. They complement each other wonderfully.
- Severian, age 26