Do not gloss over Enola Gay : A-bomb sufferers to visit U.S. museum

The Japan Confederation of A and H Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo) on December 1 announced that it will send a delegation to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to protest against the plan to exhibit the restored "Enola Gay," the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 58 years ago.

The four-member delegation is led by Tanaka Terumi, Hidankyo secretary-general.

The museum earlier announced that it will open its exhibition of the aircraft on December 15 at its new facility in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Hidankyo insists that Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) can never allow the bomber to be put on display as a "proof of technological achievement" since it brought about inhuman atrocities unparalleled in history.

It has been collecting signatures calling on U.S. President George W. Bush and the director of the museum to "include in the exhibition photographs and materials showing the damage and after-effects of the bombing or cancel it."

The delegation will stay in the United States from December 11-19 to submit more than 10,000 signatures, give Hibakusha's testimony at American University, participate in a Hibakusha conference, visit the Enola Gay, carry out protest actions outside the museum, and have meetings with various U.S. peace groups.

Tanaka Terumi said, "To be frank, we would like to request that the planned exhibition be canceled. But we calmly demand that the museum exhibit not only the advance of technology aspects but also the human and environmental consequences so that U. S. citizens may understand the Enola Gay affair more broadly." (end)