Jeb Bush visit to Dublin: Press Statement

national | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Friday July 21, 2006 13:12

by Fintan Lane - Anti-War Ireland

antiwarireland at gmail dot com

087 1258325

Anti-War Ireland on Bush visit

PRESS STATEMENT, 21/7/06

ANTI-WAR IRELAND CRITICISES BERTIE AHERN MEETING WITH JEB BUSH

Jeb Bush, governor of Florida and brother of the US president, arrived in Dublin this morning. He is to meet the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and will speak at a business function at 12.30pm in the Conrad Hotel at Earlsfort Terrace.

Anti-war activists will stage a protest outside the hotel during the Jeb Bush event.

Anti-War Ireland, which organised the protest at Shannon airport when his brother visited in 2004, believes that Jeb Bush should be left in no doubt about the depth of opposition in Ireland to his support for the war on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr Fintan Lane, a spokesperson for Anti-War Ireland, said:

"Jeb Bush is a key figure in the US political establishment and has fully supported and encouraged the military actions engaged in by his brother. Consequently, he bears some responsibility for the carnage and death that US imperialism has brought to the Middle East. He is a prominent neo-con and one of the architects of the aggressive and deeply conservative regime that now runs the United States. As far as Anti-War Ireland is concerned, he is as unwelcome as his warmongering brother, George W. Bush."

"Bertie Ahern should have met Jeb Bush only if he intended to use the meeting as an opportunity to express Irish revulsion at US military actions in the Middle East. Anti-War Ireland wants to know if Ahern raised this issue and if he voiced Irish opposition to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Likewise, the US administration is playing a wholly negative role in the ongoing crises in Palestine and Lebanon, and anti-war activists are concerned that Jeb Bush hears Irish opposition to US-backed Israeli aggression. No member of the current US administration should be officially welcomed in this country."

"Anti-war activists turned up outside the Conrad Hotel to make it
clear that opposition to US policy in the Middle East is a global
phenomenon. The US political elite, including Jeb Bush, bear primary responsibility for the daily carnage in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon."

PRESS RELEASE ENDS
To contact Fintan Lane, phone 087 1258325

www.antiwarireland.org