Aiming the morter fire

Robert Fisk: They're Getting Better

"Take-off is rather faster than usual. But there's no steady climb to cruising altitude. The Airbus turns sharply to port, G-forces pushing us into our seats, and there outside my window is the tented prison-camp city where the Americans keep more than 4,000 of their Iraqi prisoners without trial. The tents start to spin as the plane twists to starboard and then to port again, and there is the same prison camp outside my window, but this time upside down and turning anti-clockwise. I look around the cabin and notice fingers dug deep into arm-rests. The Airbus engines are howling, biting into the thinner air, and our eyes are searching for that thin trail of smoke that no one wants to see..."