The Fairford Five would be branded terrorists by our PM

Two days before the missiles started raining down on Baghdad in March 2003, Josh Richards packed a mixture of petrol and washing-up liquid into his rucksack and headed off to RAF Fairford base in Gloucestershire. His plan was to set fire to the wheels of a B-52

- ALAN RUSBRIDGER

USAF bomber to prevent it from joining in the imminent shock and awe.

He was caught before he could act, but he was not the only person with the idea of mounting a last-ditch attempt to hinder a war which many considered illegal. A few days earlier, Margaret Jones and Paul Milling had cut their way into the same airbase and damaged a number of fuel tankers and bomb trailers. Another two men in their thirties, Philip Pritchard and Toby Olditch, armed themselves with paint, nuts and bolts, with the intention of damaging the bombers' engines.

Today, this group of five would be labelled terrorists. See the government's reaction last week when pro-Palestinian activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and - just like their earlier counterparts at Fairford - damaged two military planes with red paint. "A disgraceful act of vandalism," said the prime minister, Keir Starmer.

Within days, home secretary Yvette Cooper was on her feet in the House of Commons announcing that the group involved, Palestine Action, would be added to the list of organisations proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000. If you dare donate so much as a fiver to it in future, you will be committing a crime.

Twenty-odd years ago, we lived in a kinder, gentler age. Society was not so harsh in its judgements about the group which became known as the Fairford Five. The protesters lawyered up and their briefs decided on an original defence, arguing that their actions were justified, morally and legally, because they were aimed at preventing a greater evil - ie the war in Iraq and its probable consequences. They were, in short, willing to commit crimes in order to prevent greater crimes.