Antiwar Public meeting

Today Wednesday 26th November a public meeing of the antiwar movement in Fairview, Co Dublin ( organised by www.irishantiwar.org ) was attended by about 50 people. The speakers were:

Tim Hourigan (Shannon peace camp and documenter of US military planes)
Finian McGrath TD (independent)
Iain Atack (AFRI - Action From Ireland )

Tim Hourigan

Tim started off describing how he used to work at Shannon airport so has more than a casual acquaintence with what normal traffic through the airport is, and what abnormal traffic is. He doesn't work there anymore since a judge has barred him from the building for looking at planes...
After the twin towers disaster Shannon started to be used in the Afghanistan war and in 2002/2003 for the Iraq invasion. Some of the aircraft seen are:

C-20 jets, small passenger planes, the equivalent of a Learjet . Used by high profile US Generals and politicians to fly from the Washington to Shannon and onward to Iraq, Afghanistan etc.
F-16 fighter - used for blowing up things.
A10 warthog - used for blowing up slow moving stationary objects. These often depleted uranium shells which can pierce armour and lying all over the deserts in Iraq causing cancer. These slow planes cannot fly the Atlantic without refueling so it is assumed they have also used Irish airspace for midair refuelling from:
Hercules transporters, which can be used as midair refuelling tankers, or transporting jeeps, humvees, soldiers, bombs etc. (see pic on www.refuelingpeace.org ) One of these was spraypainted orange by Eoin Dubsky who was subsequently dragged through the courts.
C10 transporters, bigger than a Hercules. Could drive a double decker bus in one end and out the other.
DC-10 WORLD AIRWAYS cargo planes. Look like civilian planes but are used for transporting rounds of ammunition and ordanance. In February 2002 one of these had a fire in the cabin which forced an emergency landing and the fire brigade were called. 15 units of the fire brigade arrived when the plane stopped but at this stage the air crew had it under control. When the firemen tried to enter the craft they had guns pointed at them by "Special Forces" soldiers and were told their services were no longer needed. This story doesn't seem to have made the national media but appeared in the local newspaper "The Clare Champion" and the local radio station "Clare FM".
EVERGREEN INTERNATIONAL a cargo firm with a $75 million / Yr contract to ferry US military cargo around the world regularly use the airport. / airbase / warport.
POLAR AIR also run civilian looking planes through the airport but transport Daisycutter bombs made at Elglin Air Force Base in Florida to be loaded to bomber aircraft. Patriot missiles each 20 feet long containing 44kg explosives and 1/2 ton rocket fuel have been ferried through the airport. On transit documents found by Ed Horgan the retired Irish army and UN commandent who brought the state to court over the war, these missiles were described in the loosest innocent terms as "Rocket motors" not Patriot missiles..

Tim described his interview on Primetime a few months ago. Brian Cowen, the FF foreign affairs minister, was the pro-war representitive and Gay Mitchell FG the indifferent representitive. At the time is was rumoured that 1/3 to 1/2 of all US troops were using Shannon. Since then the Irish times Saturday Dec 6, page 2 has revealed that 115,000 of a total of ~190,000 US soldiers in Iraq have used Shannon in return for $14 million blood money. The main focus of the interview was on troops and whether their guns accompanied them or not.Brian Cowen insisted they were unarmed troops but Tim pointed out that of course the troops would have their own M16 machine gun and handgun on their person at all times. What use is an unarmed soldier ? What is he /she supposed to use when they land in Baghdad airport ? A handbag ? When Tim proceeded to talk about non-personnel bomb carrying planes he was cut off and any talk of bombs was not broadcast. RTE, the state broadcaster, would like everyone to believe that "dual-purpose" soldiers are being used for the purpose of peace-keeping but you can't really but that slant on bomb...
Tim noted how the landing charges Aer Rianta, the state airport controlling company, imposes on US warplanes are less than those it charges Ryanair, the "budget" airline operator, who are forced to share runways with warplanes.
On Ed Horgans case Tim described how in the end the judge decided that yes, the Irish government was guilty of breaking the law on transporting troops and arms and could not call itself neutral. But the judge decided it was better for the government to decide how to punish the government rather than he !!! which so far has amounted to no punishment at all. Very few cases end with the guilty defendant deciding how the guilty defendant should be charged but thats the Irish justice system...
Tim brought home the message of the current governments role in "aiding and abetting" the US invasion.

Finian McGrath TD - independent.

Finian is one of the 166 TDs in the Dail who had just rushed from a vote on medical related matters in the Dail to the meeting. As a paid representative of his constituency in Dublins northside he promised everyone present that he would keep voting antiwar in the Dail and try to raise awareness of the war to his colleagues. He said that like a lot of people, many of the FF TDs were actually against the war, and would say so informally in the Dail bar. But when push came to shove and they were asked to vote on the matter, the FF Party whip would get them all in line and they would all vote pro war - see the "Name and Shame" section on the homepage of this site for names. Finian also told all present that he would turn up at the Dec 6 antiwar blockade / protest at Shannon airport. He also said he would try to convince some other antiwar independent TDs to turn up.
UPDATE: Dec 6 has come and gone and Finian did not turn up , or kept a very low profile at the Dec 6 event. In fact no TDs from any party made a speech. Maybe they had a genuine reason, or maybe they were afraid their suit would get ruffled in any direct action. But maybe he will return to the fold.
www.voteoutffpd.com -> www.voteoutffpd+untrustworthyindependents.com ???

Iain Atach (AFRI)

AFRI, Action from Ireland is a group that represents the religious sectors "foreign policy". Iain described how the US has gone from superpower to "hyperpower" since the Russian economy collapsed. Personally I disagree, any country has descended to the depths of invading other countries to plunder their oil etc. under the guise of "WMD in the wrong hands" and "enforcing a democracy" is a hypopower , but anyway. As a hyperpower he said it has a lot of responsiblilites but was the self-appointed "Worlds police man & soldier" really one of them? He talked of a "Medact" analysis. Medact is a medical action charity operating in Iraq which has come up with a ratio of 1 US soldier : 25 Iraqi civilians killed, which is not that surprising.
He also recalled a speech by Alexander Cockburn (Editor of www.counterpunch.org) at Trinity college a few weeks ago, who quoted that in general " The US bombs, UN rebuilds & EU pays".
Iain also recalled a quote by Goebbels one of Hitlers minsters who said at the Nuremberg Trials , something like: " Governments lead, and the population just follows. If you can convince your population that what the government is attacking is a threat to their lives,then they will support you". Very applicable to George Jnrs pre-war mantra of " Iraqs WMD are a threat to US homeland security and Iraqs neighbours" which is no longer used by CNN, Fox news etc.