For the past ten days, villagers near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire have felt as if they've been living through their own high-octane movie.
asserted
they → feel → movie
That at least is how district councillor Tristan Wilkinson sums up their mood.
asserted
Wilkinson → sum → mood
Few would accuse him of being melodramatic.
asserted
Few → accuse → him
'This feels like another plot twist,' he says, referring to America's decision on Sunday to suddenly withdraw its £3.6billion fleet of B-1 bombers from the base to prevent them being wiped out in a fiendish Iranian drone attack.
asserted
them → feel → attack
Certainly, the international emergency that fixed the world's attention on this quiet corner of the Cotswolds contains ingredients for a Hollywood blockbuster and, depending on how things unfold, perhaps a sequel too: Villagers evacuated from their homes, police swooping on terror suspects, secret agents deployed across Europe to name but a few.
asserted
things → fix → few
And the question locals keep asking is – what's going to happen next?
asserted
what → ask → ?
Because events, claims and counter-claims are becoming curiouser and curiouser by the hour.
uncertain
events → become → hour
First, what we know so far.
asserted
we → know → what
Normally life moves slowly in Whelford, a leafy spot not two miles from the base's perimeter fence.
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life → move → fence
Some remember when a Nasa space shuttle landed at the base in 1983 (Fairford was designated a Transoceanic Abort Landing site, to accommodate any shuttles needing an emergency landing spot, because of its two-mile runway).
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Fairford → remember → runway
Indeed, the US has used the base for decades.
asserted
US → use → decades
But with no shops or pub, just a 19th-century church delivering one service a month, thrills are generally in short supply.
asserted
thrills → deliver → supply
Armed police officers are pictured stood outside an entrance to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire last week
The ordeal began when a local farmer spotted three white vans abandoned on a country road
Five men (pictured) were later arrested near the base early on September 27, though that number has since risen to seven
At least that was the case until March when former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer granted Washington permission to use the base as a staging post for airstrikes in the Middle East.
asserted
Starmer → picture → East
Then the bombers, at £300million each, began to arrive.
asserted
bombers → begin → 300million
And the good people of Whelford were about to find themselves at the centre of nerve-shredding drama.
asserted
people → find → drama
Tensions in the area had been mounting for some months.
asserted
Tensions → mount → months
One woman, who has lived on the perimeter of RAF Fairford for around 50 years, said 'great big concrete walls' and vehicles had recently appeared at some of the base's gates.
asserted
walls → live → gates
In March, Seyed Ali Mousavi, the Iranian ambassador to London, gave an interview in which he said Tehran was considering whether British military bases were legitimate targets after they were used by American bombers for strikes on Iran.
asserted
they → give → Iran
Villagers' nerves were further shaken in July when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) singled out Fairford, saying it was indeed such a target and threatened to attack it.
asserted
it → shake → it
Were Hollywood to bring the events unfolding around the base to the screen, though, it could do worse than begin with a Saturday afternoon cricket match – for it was this that exposed significantly ratcheted-up tensions and indicated that some kind of incursion, or worse, was imminent.
uncertain
kind → bring → incursion
Armed police stopped the match near the perimeter fence at around 4.30pm on September 26 due to a 'live incident'.
asserted
police → stop → incident
One of the group said: 'We'd played the evening before with no issue but on Saturday two guards ran to the fence with guns and said, "You can't be here.
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You → say → guns
'
Previously it had been assumed that it wasn't until eight hours later that police got wind something was afoot.
asserted
something → assume → wind
Two police officers, one donning a snood over his face, are seen near RAF Fairford on September 27
A bomber jet flies over the sleepy village of Kempsford, just a 15-minute
asserted
jet → don → Kempsford
That was when a local farmer driving home in the early hours of the morning from a party, came across three seemingly abandoned white vans blocking a quiet country road.
asserted
farmer → drive → road
Confused, she turned her car around then spotted a group of men in balaclavas darting through trees and across the fields towards the airbase, a few hundred feet away.
asserted
she → turn → airbase
She dialled 999 and later messaged her local WhatsApp group, warning neighbours to lock their doors.
asserted
She → dial → doors
Police arrived at the scene ten minutes later and arrested five young men.
asserted
Police → arrive → men
Video footage recorded by a villager shows them sitting in the middle of the road with their hands behind their back in restraints.
asserted
them → record → restraints
All five had been stripped of their upper clothing by police fearing they may be wearing suicide vests.
uncertain
they → strip → vests
Quickly, a major incident was declared and a large emergency services presence, which included a Hazardous Area Response Team within a 400-metre cordon, was put in place.
asserted
which → declare → place
The first most of Whelford's residents heard about it was when they were woken by officers banging at their doors, demanding that they evacuate their homes immediately.
asserted
they → hear → homes
With no explanation, or even time to brush their teeth, they left behind their pets and headed to the nearby Cirencester Leisure Centre, which is being used as an emergency shelter.
Julian Tudsbery and his wife were among 85 households ordered to evacuate.
asserted
Tudsbery → brush → households
He answered the door in his dressing gown at 7am.
asserted
He → answer → am
'There were several police, three police cars in the drive, and they said you need to evacuate, there's been a major incident, said he couldn't elaborate,' said Mr Tudsbery, who had to leave his cat, Misty, behind.
asserted
who → be → cat
Donald Trump (pictured on Monday) revealed earlier this week that the US chose to remove its B-1 bombers from the site over a 'specific threat'
asserted
US → picture → threat
An American jet is seen leaving RAF Fairford on Sunday afternoon
With the village safely cleared, a bomb disposal robot began inspecting three white vans, two of which had open rear doors, and were surrounded by large black barrels scattered on the ground.
asserted
two → see → ground
'Thinking about it now, and what could have happened if they had tried to stop me from driving away, I am quite lucky,' the farmer said.
uncertain
farmer → think → me
'A plucky amateur shouldn't be spotting an unusual bit of activity at 1am when the air base is on high alert.
asserted
base → spot → alert
I think it's absolutely astonishing.
asserted
it → think → ?
…and 35 more, not listed.
The Aporia
