Ireland becomes 51 State of USA

national | crime and justice | news report Monday February 23, 2004 11:44 by An Bean Siadha - Irish Defence Association foi at taoiseach dot gov dot ie The White House, Kildare St,. Dublin 01-6194020

Runsfeld praises An Taoiseach for Iraq War participation

Ireland Joins US and abandons Europe.
by An Bean Siodha - Monday, Feb 23 2004, 12:02am
address: phone:
international / anti-war / news report

Ahern and Cowen praised by US on Shannon stance
22/02/04 00:00
The Sunday Business Post, in an article by Pat Leahy reveals that the US and Ireland are far more closely interconnected than many Irish people realised. This article can be read on Page 4 of the SB Post on 22 Feb 04.

Ahern and Cowen praised by US on Shannon stance

22/02/04 00:00

By Pat Leahy
The US Embassy in Dublin sent messages to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praising the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs when the Dáil voted to continue the use of Shannon Airport by US forces last year.



Documents obtained from the State Department in Washington DC under the American Freedom of Information Act also show that the government told the US authorities that they were "reasonably confident of a favourable outcome" in a peace activist's High Court challenge to the use of Shannon last year.

In a cable sent immediately after the vote in the Dáil on March 20 last and marked "TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE . . . TO SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY",the writer noted: "Cowen in particular passionately defended Ireland's efforts throughout its UNSC [United Nations Secur ity Council] tenure in seeking to build consensus on diplomatic action to force Iraqi disarmament.




"He reinforced Ireland's commitment to its longstanding and important partnership with the United States, re-minded members of the economic benefit Ireland received from the US military's use of Shannon . . ."

The cable also noted that "Irish public opinion continues to be against USMIL use of Shannon . . . and the government will certainly take hits in the media and public for its decision."

Further communications between the US Embassy and Washington about Shannon continued during the case taken by Ed Horgan against the gover n me nt i n the H ig h Court.

Horgan, a former Ir ish army officer turned peace campaigner, claimed that the government's decision to provide facilities at Shannon to the US military was unlawful.

One message notes: "The GOI [government of Ireland] is reasonably confident of a favourable outcome."

The messages also revealed contact between the US Embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs about the Horgan case.Washington was kept informed about anti-war protests taking place in Ireland.

On several occasions, the embassy noted approvingly that the scale of protests was decreasing.

In April, a cable to the office of the Secretary of State, labelled "sensitive", observed: "USMIL use of Shannon continues to be a rallying point for anti-war activists and government critics, but the successful coalition operations in Iraq are rapidly taking the wind out of protestors' sails."

Later, the writer noted: "The success of coalition forces this week has greatly reduced the scope and scale of anti-war protests in Ireland."

Other documents obtained from Washington show that, at a lunch with Brian Cowen in January 2003, ambassador Richard Egan complained about damage caused to a US plane at Shannon.

A cable toWashington read: "The meetings were friendly and cordial, but I had the opportunity to discuss that morning's eventatShannon Airport where one of our military aircraft was damaged by an anti-war protestor."

The document was marked "confidential", so further details were excised by officials in Washington before its release to The Sunday Business Post under the American Freedom of Information Act.