The Allies spent a stressful day trying all forms of diplomacy to try to persuade Israel not to retaliate as Iraq escalates Gulf War by attacking Israel with Scud missiles and the true aircraft casualties were kept secret on both sides. A little work outside today and a Council meeting in Huntingdon as I was recovering fitness after illness
For the second day running, I awoke to bad news from the Gulf. I was first awake at about 5.00am when I had to get up for the toilet but turned on the TV to hear that Iraq had successfully attacked Israel with Scud missiles. I went back to sleep and got the full details when I was called later. Seven missiles had hit the coastal plain with most in Tel Aviv and Hiafa. A further one nearly got through to the main Allied air base in Saudi Arabia but was shot down within camera range by a "Patriot" ground-to-air missile. Evidently, these occurrences were a great shock after the euphoria of the first day's Allied successes and particularly so as at first they thought that the warheads contained chemicals or biological agents. Most of Israel spent the early hours in their sealed rooms and bunkers and were very worried.
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More worrying still this morning was the fear that Israel would retaliate against Iraq and possibly break up the existing anti-Iraq alliance of western and Arab countries which, of course, was Saddam Hussein's intention. The Allies spent a stressful day trying all forms of diplomacy to try to persuade Israel not to attack and then US President Bush, looking tired and haggard, held a Press Conference which continued the appeal to Israel in public. The odds are still on them retaliating anyway, particularly as the Iraqis would goad them into it with other attacks. There were more admissions of Allied war-plane losses, now up to seven, but Iraq were claiming many more and the US may be keeping them quiet for reasons of domestic morale and to maximise the chances of recovering pilots. It seems strange that, whilst Britain has lost two, Italy and Kuwait one each and the French having four damaged out of a sortie of twelve; that the US has only lost three, given that they comprise ninety percent of the air force.
The day was dominated by the Israel attack and the resulting scramble to find and destroy mobile Scud missile launchers after which the US claimed six hit and six more under attack. British journalists managed to telephone reports through from Baghdad, despite restrictions and censorship, and all of the domestic news coverage was heavily censored as well and so it is impossible to know the real casualties. There were massive demonstrations in the US, UK, Germany and half a dozen other countries in protest at the war being started but there was little coverage of this either. I did not manage to get too much done today but I was out this afternoon, pruning the Birch tree and then carried all of the resulting foliage away to the riverside garden which was quite an exertion. I also finished recovering the dinghies and stored them on their sides away from the water. It has become milder this last two days and I am recovered from my illness but still hopelessly out of condition. This evening, I turned out for a Council meeting in Huntingdon, but it was somewhat overshadowed by the Gulf events. The stock exchange slipped a little after an unsettled day.