Criminal Complaint of Govt aiding the war.

national | miscellaneous | news report

Saturday March 15, 2003 05:14

by Tim - Citizen of Ireland

The following is a sample complaint which I have drafted which you might find useful if you belive the FF/PD complicity in Bush's war is criminal. I'm not a lawyer, but I think this should be good enough for a criminal complaint. It is based on a complaint I submitted last December which is 'still with the DPP' I will put in the long version first, to cover everything I think is relevant. Will probably stick in a less detailed summary as a COMMENT. Feel free to suggest extra pieces. If you want to take this seriously then add in any personal experience you have of witnessing these acts. If you have not actually been struck by fear at the sight of US Special Forces and their aircraft in Ireland then omit that from your complaint. If we're going to do this right, lets be serious about it.

Statement of :
Of:
Date of Birth :
Occupation:

Report of Criminal Activity taking place at Shannon Airport, Shannon, Co. Clare, and also at the offices of the Taoiseach, Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Transport, Defence, and other involved members of Government.

I, , am making these allegations in all seriousness and with genuine concern. I have no intention of wasting police time. I am making serious allegations about serious and worrying crimes. I have reached this conclusion by my own reasoning and with reference to recent public statements by Irish lawyers and barristers, as well as the arguments of Professor Francis A. Boyle and the Robert Jackson, former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (and also Chief Prosecutor for the United States at Nuremberg)

I state and I believe that serious crimes have occurred and are ongoing at the present time. I believe these crimes to include:

*Aiding and abetting a war crime by means of facilitating unlawful landing of military personnel and hardware at Shannon airport, and passage of same
through Irish airspace whilst engaged in an act of unlawful aggression against another state or states.

*Usurping the authority of the State, acting ‘Ultra Vires’ in a treacherous, if not treasonous, fashion by means of wilful and deliberate violation of articles 28.3.1 , 28.4.1, and 29.3 of the Irish Constitution, as well as violating or being reckless as to the violation of other acts of the Oireachtas relating to Air Transport and Navigation and the transport of uniformed foreign troops and their munitions through the sovereign territory of Ireland without due recourse to legal authority

I believe the perpetrators to include Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tanaiste Mary Harney, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen TD, former Minister for Transport, Mary O'Rourke, her successor, Minister Seamus Brennan TD, Minister for Defence Michael Smith TD, and any other person involved in this common plan of complicity
Controlling members of Aer Rianta are obviously accomplices in this crime.

Obviously these people are in positions of power in the state, but that official capacity does not make them immune. In fact in some respects it would be not be possible to commit these crimes without access or control to certain organs of the State, particularly being in a position to “incite or encourage any person employed in any capacity by the State to refuse, neglect, or omit … to perform his duty or shall incite or encourage any person so employed to be negligent…” contrary to Section 9- (2) of the Offences against the State Act.

The primary facts of the case are as follows:

The Irish Government is participating in a horrific war by facilitating the refuelling and overflight of military flights using Shannon airport and Irish
airspace.

Article 28.3.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann/the Irish Constitution, states that
"War shall not be declared, and the State shall not participate in any war save with the assent of Dail Eireann."

Dail Eireann has not even voted on this issue and has not given assent to participate in any war.
The Taoiseach, and others, has without legal authority, allowed a belligerent foreign power, namely the United States, to use Irish airspace and at least two Irish airports while engaged in a massive military campaign.
Not only is this contrary to our Constitution and various pieces of domestic law relating to flights of troops and munitions, but it is also contrary to principles of International Law to which Ireland is committed by article 29 of the Constitution.

Article 29.3 "Ireland accepts the generally recognised principles
of international law as its rule of conduct in its relations with other states".

“Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land (Hague V); October 18, 1907” (Generally referred to as the 1907 Hague Convention)

Art. 2.
Belligerents are forbidden to move troops or convoys of either munitions of war or supplies across the territory of a neutral Power.

Art. 5.
A neutral Power must not allow any of the acts referred to in Articles 2 to 4 to occur on its territory.

We are also members of the United Nations and bound to abide by the UN Charter Article 2 para 4: All members shall abstain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against...the purposes of the UN

The recent UN Security Council Resolutions provided no authority to use military force at all, and our own Oireachtas has not been presented with a motion to participate in any military action.
The fact that the Government has repeatedly refused to debate this issue and vote on it in the Dail is of itself a violation of our Constitution.

Bunreacht na hEireann. Article 28.4.1
"The Government shall be accountable to Dail Eireann"

Furthermore, the Government cannot lawfully disburse any funds for such military campaigns or agreements without consulting the Dail.

Bunreacht na hEireann. Article 29.5.2

“The State shall not be bound by any international agreement involving a charge upon public funds unless the terms of the agreement shall have been approved by Dail Eireann.”

I believe that expenditure relating to overflight and landing facilities and securing thereof would warrant investigation in this regard.

I refer specifically to US military flights and landings from September 12, 2001 onwards. The fact that the US and other military aircraft occasionally used the airport for peacetime activities is irrelevant. This was not part of a war and not a breach of article 28.
Our Constitution prohibits us from assisting a US war on Afghanistan or any war on Iraq without a vote of support in Dail Eireann and a legal mandate from the UN.
According to Dail records, there has been no such vote in Dail Eireann.
The War in Afghanistan began in earnest on October 7th 2001. It has seen a massive and brutal bombing campaign by the US Air Force.
A report on the casualties has been provided in an earlier statement on these matters. The report is by Professor Marc W Herold of the University of New Hampshire, USA, and is publicly available. It is not include in this complaint at this time as it is a bulky document.
It estimates that at least 3,105 civilians have been killed by the US bombing campaign against Afghanistan.
The US ambassador to Afghanistan has referred to the military actions in Afghanistan as a war, and it has been repeatedly referred to as such by George W. Bush.
Our country is being used to participate in this war. From media reports and testimony, I am aware of many US military aircraft passing through Shannon, as well as many chartered aircraft under contract to US Air Mobility Command. A recent Dail question revealed that 22 foreign military aircraft used Casement aerodrome in the same period. Several hundred military flights have used Shannon.

These aircraft have carried a large number of US military personnel through Shannon who have been dressed in desert combat uniforms, including members of US Special Forces. Other flights have carried an unknown quantity of military hardware without being subject to inspection.
In fact, in sworn testimony before Judge Joseph Mangan at Tulla District Court on December 18th 2002, both Inspector Thomas Kennedy of Shannon Garda Station and Inspector Christopher Hickey of Shannon Airport Police testified that none of these aircraft have been inspected.

I also know from information contained in a letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs (Oct 26th 2001, in reply to Parliamentary Question 148 of Oct 16th) that military aircraft transiting Irish Airspace included the A-10 "Warthog /Thunderbolt"
attack aircraft as well as F-16 fighter-bomber jets.
I believe this is facilitated by the use of mid-air refuelling tankers, such as the KC-130 which have been photographed at Shannon.
It is not unreasonable to suspect that the A-10 which fires Depleted Uranium ammunition was carrying DU ammunition through our airspace, or that some of the munitions on military cargo flights may have been radioactive.
The Radiological Protection Act 1991, §38, outlaws "possession, use or transfer of nuclear materials. Even if threat of use is abroad."

It is also possible, if not probable, that weapons of mass destruction and /or illegally held prisoners may have been allowed through our territory.
“Daisy-cutter” bombs, MOAB devices, and Guantanamo Bay prisoners are all transported in C-130 Hercules, several of which have transited Irish airspace, and landed at Shannon airport.
Because of our geographical position between Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and the Middle East, it is not unreasonable to assume that any MOAB devices (or other devices of Eglin’s Air Force Armament Division / Test Lab) to be used against Iraq will pass through Irish airspace or even Shannon airport.

These devices are indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction, and are thus illegal under recognised International Law. They are illegal to design, build, use, or maintain because of their inability to be used with discrimination between combatants and non-combatants, civilian and military targets, with particular regard to hospitals and other facilities needed to sustain civilian life.

I believe that my life has been recklessly imperilled by these acts and the sight of foreign military aircraft at Shannon has instilled genuine fear in me, such that I feel as if I have been personally assaulted by their presence.
It is criminal to use a civilian facility like Shannon airport to conduct military operations because it makes human shields of the workers and civilian customers.
This is contrary to the results of the Rome Conference for an International Criminal Court.

ARTICLE 8 WAR CRIMES
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;

This applies to all persons regardless of political office.
ARTICLE 27 IRRELEVANCE OF OFFICIAL CAPACITY
1. This Statute shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a Head of State or Government, a member of a Government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Statute, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence.
2. Immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.

The Taoiseach and others share personal liability for these crimes against peace, as stated in relevant parts of Article 6 of the Nuremberg Charter.

“The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:
(a) Crimes against peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or PARTICIPATING IN A COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;
…
Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan”

To quote the US Chief Justice, Robert Jackson in his opening speech at Nuremberg.
“The Charter also recognizes a vicarious liability, which responsibility recognized by most modern systems of law, for acts committed by others in carrying out a common plan or conspiracy to which a defendant has become a party.”
Justice Jackson also argued that “ if aggressive warfare in violation of treaty obligation is a matter of international cognisance, the preparations for it must also be of concern the international community”
Professor Francis Boyle adds “Similarly, the Nuremberg Tribunal recognized that conspiracy should be included as an international crime because ‘planning and preparation are essential to the making of war’ ”.
Of the charges against the defeated German forces and leaders he said “We must make it clear that it is not that they lost the war, but that they started it.”
Conversely, we must not see the military victory against Afghanistan or Iraq as a legal vindication of the aggressors and their accomplices. A military victory is not a mitigating factor in a crime of aggression.

It is my belief that the Taoiseach, with the help of others, has undermined the Constitution - one of the key components of the State, and the highest law of
the land.
They have wilfully destroyed the neutrality of the State and damaged our foreign relations to an extent that I believe has increased the threat to Irish citizens
and Shannon airport. Mr. Ahern and his co-perpetrators have also subverted the accountability of the Government to the Dail, the Constitution, and the People.
I believe this amounts to an offence against the State, a dereliction of duty as an elected representative and a breach of the trust that is given to such elected officials.

Again, I repeat, these are serious allegations of serious crimes. They have affected the rule of law in this country, and the accountability of those possessing high office. These acts have also contributed to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and pose a grave and imminent danger to many thousands in Iraq.
I would expect that the Garda Siochana will make every effort to pursue an URGENT CRIMINAL investigation of these matters.
I believe that it is relevant to four of the Key Service Concerns of the Garda Siochana
~ Guarding the security of the State
~ Investigating and detecting criminal offences
~ Preventing criminal offences
~ Safeguarding human rights and dignity

References:

Speech of Chief Justice Robert Jackson taken from official English version of the transcripts from the Nuremberg Trials, 1945.
http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/nuremberg/jackson.html

Transcript of Trial of Eoin Dubsky at Tulla District Court, Co. Clare, December 18th 2002.

Public Statement by Lawyers and Solicitors made on March 5 2003.
Statement of : Timothy Hourigan
Of: Peace House,19, Inis Ealga, Shannon County Clare
Date of Birth : 17 December 1975
Occupation: Peace Activist.