Galway Resists Propaganda Visit of US Ambassador to NUI Galway

Bushie "Pioneer," Foley

Last night, activists from Global Women's Strike, Shell to Sea, Food Not Bombs, Galway Alliance Against War, Workers Solidarity, SWP, SP, Labour Youth, IPSC and Iranian students from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Malaysian medical students from UCHG and the college Human Rights Society resisted the progaganda visit, of the US Ambassador to Ireland; Thomas C Foley, to Galway University.

As was the case last year with the 4th October visitation of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland; Zion Evrony to the college, http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78807 this visit was facilitated by the student Law Society.

It beggars belief and tolerance that visits by representatives of two countries that are the most egregious violaters of international and humanitarian law on this planet are facilitated by a society that purportedly espouses principle and justice. Safe and easy propaganda passage was gifted to the two by this Society in that serious democratic debate was side stepped like an elephant in the parlour. No formidable debaters such as George Galloway, Joe or Michael D. Higgins, for instance were set against them to hoist and explode their lies on the petard of truth these, instead loathsome hypocrisy, PR and the glossing of war criminality was indulged in?.

Foley was a major fundraiser for Bush's 2000 election campaign - he's a Bushie "Pioneer", having raised over $100,000 as chair of Bush's Connecticut fund raising campaign. according to Wikipedia: "From August, 2003 through March, 2004, Mr. Foley served in Iraq as the Director of Private Sector Development for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Mr. Foley’s responsibilities included overseeing most of Iraq’s 192 state-owned enterprises, stimulating private sector growth, developing foreign trade and investment, and overseeing three state Ministries" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._Foley .

Naomi Klein in her powerful, The Shock Doctrine : The Rise of Disaster Capitalism illuminates "Private Sector Development" (in Iraq); "The Baghdad International Airport was completely trashed by soldiers who, according to Time, smashed furniture and then moved on to the commercial jets on the runaway: 'U.S. soldiers looking for comfortable seats and souveniers ripped out many of the planes' fittings, slashed seats, damaged cockpit equipment and popped out every windshield.' The result was an estimated $100 million worth of damage to Iraq's national airline - which was one of the first assets to be put on the auction block in an early and contentious partial privatization.'"

So it goes, more than likely, next year we'll be protesting against the propaganda visit of another Law Society darling and "defender" of democracy and international law, Gen. Pervez Musharrif, perhaps!.

Galway City Councillor, Niall O'Brolchain (Greens), a strong friend of Palestine and anti-war activist and noted writer Fred Johnson