Boycott Bush's Paddywhackery

Tuesday March 11, 2003 00:49

by John Meehan

George Bush is hosting a "Patrick's Day" reception for irish politicians on March 13 - brought forward to suit the war timetable. This is a comment on the event, and a call to boycott it.

George Bush will be meeting Irish politicians for St Patrick's Day celebrations this week - but the dates have been changed to suit the timetable for war against Iraq.

BBC reporter Mark Devenport tells us that "Ireland's patron saint is having to fit in" with Washington's war plans "so the reception will take place four days early on 13 March."

In a recent open letter Vincent Doherty makes the following useful and modest proposal :

"Perhaps he (Bertie Ahern) and all other Irish political leaders should task a stand and for once forego the shamrock and the shenanigans and the shoneenism at the White House this March, as a sign of the opposition of the Irish people to the war plans of Bush and Blair.
It time we stood up and were counted."

This is clear and sharp.

Let's show out contempt for this crawling. Protest as far and wide as possible against these sleeveens. Encourage everybody - public representatives, anti war organisations, trade union and community groups, prominent personalities - to support the call for a Bush boycott.

And, beware : don't the Irish "peace process" distort a clear vision :

As Mark Devenport says :

"Some newspapers have reported that the President intends to snub Gerry Adams, denying him a handshake, because of US concerns about the IRA's alleged links with the Marxist FARC guerrillas in Colombia."

But, republican spinners in 44 Parnell Square can relax :

"The President's point man, Ambassador Richard Haass has denied this, saying the report had no standing."

Time for Sinn Féin to spin the wheel the other way - they too have a duty to boycott Bush and his imperialist warmongering.

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An Open Letter Vincent Doherty February 16, 2003

Now that the tide has turned against the warmongers, watching the worms wriggle makes fascinating viewing. Pat Rabbite suggests that maybe if we were as intelligent as he was, we would have realized by now that his counterpart in Britain has really been against war with Iraq all along. We just couldn't see it. Good man Pat. Good man Tony. Maybe its got to do with the way that Labour Party leaders here and there, have become accustomed to speaking out of both sides of their mouth at the same time. We haven't quite caught up with what they really mean, that is if they ever really mean anything.

For the tens of thousands who marched in Dublin and throughout Ireland yesterday, and the tens of millions more who marched across the globe there was no such confusion. In what was possibly the largest single co-ordinated mobilization in human history there was absolute sense of clarity about Tony "W" Blair's role in all this. Along with George Bush and the most reactionary right wing Cabinet in US history, Blair has brought the world to the edge of catastrophe. If, in the changing circumstances the worm does turn, we should not allow ourselves to fall for the line that Tony was really a nice guy all along, just trying his damnedest to keep those Texan's in check.

For months now we have been told that war is inevitable, literally inevitable. Every day for weeks every Colonel Blimp half wit who could be rounded up has been paraded across the airwaves to make the case for bombing Iraq. From morning till evening, from Marion Finnucane to Pat Kenny to Joe Duffy we have been reminded of how we have to get ready to fight the good fight. We have been reminded. And reminded. Remember our "blood ties" with our American cousins. Remember that we depend on the benevolence of US investment. Remember that we must do what our masters, sorry slip of the tongue, our "allies" tell us. We must always do what our "allies" do. Our "allies" right or wrong. That's what neutrality means Fianna Fail style. Pat even had two gun slingers on his show in the form of Des O Malley and Dairmud Mc Dermott complaining that the soldiers at Shannon would not be allowed to shoot the "so-called peace protesters."

Its well past time that we wised up and listened to those voices that we never hear. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Irish Anti War Movement and the global anti war movement for not succumbing to the "inevitability" of war thesis. We own them more than we might yet be able to imagine for their guidance in combating fatalism and demonstrating that protest does work. We owe an enormous gratitude to those who have been unafraid to say that this war is about oil and greed and consolidating the interests of the multinationals. It's about imperialism, the highest from of capitalism, which is precisely what the First World War and World War 2 and the Vietnam War and countless other 20th Century wars were all about. It's about who controls the worlds resources in the 21st Century and has nothing whatever to do with the ordinary people of Iraq. Anyone who thinks that Bush or Rumsfeld or Blair or Straw gives a fig for the women and children of Baghdad or the human rights of those who live under tyranny is e ither a liar or a half wit. Its time to call it as it is. If the UN was so concerned about defiance of its international resolutions how come the bombs haven't been raining down on Tel Aviv, given that Israel continues to be in breach of no less that 64 UN resolutions.

Even if the UN does manage stand up to the US for once, will Bertie still continue to sanction our participation in the US war efforts through the use of Shannon as part of the military buildup? It will be interesting to see how Bertie, the master wriggler gets of the hook on this one. Even if the US goes it alone without a UN Resolution will he make the annual pilgrimage cap in hand to Pennsylvania Avenue in March to pay homage to Pax Americana and our "special relationship." Perhaps he and all other Irish political leaders should task a stand and for once forego the shamrock and the shenanigans and the shoneenism at the White House this March, as a sign of the opposition of the Irish people to the war plans of Bush and Blair.
It time we stood up and were counted.

from the website "The Blanket"