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Irish anti-war activist deported from U.S. despite acquittal for damaging U.S. Navy plane

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release author Monday April 07, 2008 16:22author by Damien Moran Report this post to the editors

.

Irish anti-war activist deported from U.S. despite acquittal for damaging U.S. Navy plane

Damien Moran can be contacted at:
Landline 0048228944746
Mobile 0048607340093
Related Link: http://www.peacenikhurler .blogspot.com

Irish anti-war activist Damien Moran, acquitted in Dublin Circuit court 18 months ago by jury trial of doing €2 million damage to a U.S. military plane at Shannon airport as a protest against the Iraq war, was deported from the U.S.A.Sunday by Homeland Security agents at Chicago's O'Hare airport.
Moran had been invited to attend and speak at a conference against the U.S. Government's missile defence plans.

The 27 year old former Catholic seminarian, who has been living in and teaching English in Poland for the past 2 ½ years, was one of the organisers of the recent anti-missile shield demonstration in Slupsk (http://www.tarcza.org/). He is vehemently opposed to his tax money being spent on F-16's and

Poland's participation in the Iraq, Afghanistan occupations believing that tax money should be allocated to improve the health and education services, including raising nurses, doctors and teachers wages.

Moran stated: "I was immediately detained and questioned by Homeland Security officers about our nonviolent and legal action at Shannon in February 2003. The information the border authorities claimed to have was that I was arrested for damaging a U.S. fighter jet at Shannon. I let them know that their database was out of date and that it should also read acquitted as we had a lawful excuse."

He continued: "My mobile phone was seized and I was interrogated about the purpose of my trip and why I had damaged U.S. military property. I had been invited to speak at a university in Colorado Springs and at a conference in Omaha on U.S. militarism in Poland and Ireland. I also had tickets to visit my brother and his family in Virginia. Homeland Security 's unjustified refusal to allow me enter the U.S. is just another example of how quasi-fascist the U.S. State apparatus has become."

The juxtaposition of my refusal to enter the U.S. to speak on the grave need for military divestment and social investment as the U.S. officially celebrates the life of Martin Luther King Jr. should not go amiss. I was barred from entering due to my act of dissent at Shannon 5 years ago against their disastrous militaristic policies at home and abroad. There is no room for dissenters' perspectives in America today "

Furthermore the deportee claims "It is high time the omnipotent military -industrial complex in the U.S. is crushed by concerned citizens.When I informed them about our action and acquittal they were none too pleased."

Unfortunately I've lost $350 dollars in flight expenses while the Global Network Against Weapons in Space organisation that invited me have been setback over $1,000. Not much money compared to the $2 trillion plus bill that U.S. taxpayers have paid to help their government wage the Iraq war."

More on the conference that Moran was due to attend can be found at www.space4peace.org

As regards the Shannon Ploughshares action he was acquitted for with 4 colleagues more info. Can be sourced at www.warontrial.com

Moran's current activities include resistance to the controversial U.S. missile defence plans for Poland. See www.m29.bzzz.net for more details.

Related Link: http://www.cia.bzzz.net/english_news
author by Keith Harris - newsmedianews.compublication date Mon Apr 07, 2008 17:37author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Thanks for posting this item. All animals are free but some are freer than others...

author by Manuspublication date Mon Apr 07, 2008 20:39author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Article by Harry Browne

http://www.counterpunch.org/browne04072008.html

author by Use your head, pleasepublication date Tue Apr 08, 2008 08:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

You have got to be kidding me. You really expected to get into the states? Or is this another desperate publicity stunt? You can't have been that shocked. You may have been acquitted by Irish law, but you still attacked and damaged an American plane - that was never in question. And they would let you in their country to do more damage? A little civil disobedience at some military base near the university you would be speaking at? Not a chance! LOL. You play the tune, you pay the piper. In this case, you will likely never be allowed into the US. Principled stands come at a price, and being barred from the Great Satan (isn't that what you think of the US?) is the cost of yours. Them's the brakes.

author by bartpublication date Tue Apr 08, 2008 09:23author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Homer drop the donut and do some research.

A lot of Irish people who banned from the U.S. have been let back in...it depends on the administration and this one is on its last legs.

Heaps of people, with no track record of civil disobedience eg. lawyer David Lange before he became Prime Minister of New Zealand were denied entry at one point and later let in.

As pointed out elsewhere the joke (americn power/irish sychophancy) is daily letting young Americans into Ireland on their way to kill in Iraq and denying a nonviolent activist access to the U.S..

Congrats Damien on writing this up and getting this out...

author by Damien Moranpublication date Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

There goes the nyc shopping trip plan!

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/71319/

author by Homerpublication date Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:32author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The Icelandic woman was treated poorly however if she had overstayed her visa in 1995, according to US law she would not have been allowed in. Yet another case of ignorance of the law being no excuse. If you are visiting another country, you have to ensure you have the proper visas to do so, especially now when Immigration controls the world over (not just the US!) are so tight. It is easy to understand that in 95 she would have overstayed her visa and thought nothing of it as the controls were looser then, but it has come back to bite her on the backside.

This is not to say she does not have a legitimate complaint about her treatment and I hope she takes it as far as she can go and wish her luck in doing so. Unfortunately her case is weakened because she did not have the right of entry in the first place, but that is not excuse for her or any person in the same boat to be treated poorly as they are being processed back.

Point is, get your visas and papers in order before you go to any other country!! The world is not Europe!

author by Damien Moranpublication date Wed Apr 09, 2008 09:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The Irish Indo just never learns. Ian O'Doherty continues his hatchet jobs on peace activists (former victims Caoimhe Butterly , Mary Kelly and Pitstop Ploughshares have had to swallow his untruths before) in his column today by calling me a 'self-confessed vandal' and saying I claimed that Martin Luther King Jr. and I were like peas in pod. The former may be libelous, the latter an attempt to make me look arrogant and a deliberate attempt at skewing what I actually wrote.

In my press release (above) the context of the statement makes it clear that I was writing of the lip service US politicians pay co-opting the legacy of nonviolence and civil disobedience of Martin Luther King Jr. while at the same time repressing people's freedom of movement, speech, anti-war opinions.
https://www.indymedia.ie/article/87066

Relevant paragraph from my statement:

The juxtaposition of my refusal to enter the U.S. to speak on the grave need for military divestment and social investment as the U.S. officially celebrates the life of Martin Luther King Jr. should not go amiss. I was barred from entering due to my act of dissent at Shannon 5 years ago against their disastrous militaristic policies at home and abroad. There is no room for dissenters' perspectives in America today "

I would be grateful if people wrote letters to the Independent to complain about Doherty's remarks. Please write to:

independent.letters@independent.ie

Please also consider writing something brief to O'Doherty himself at iodoherty@unison.independent.ie

Fell free to use the above and below arguments and you may also agree that the best way to make them quake in their boots there is to tell them you will no longer buy their paper until they retract their libelous comments in the nearest edition of their newspaper.

Consider reminding him we were unanimously acquitted, a rarity in Irish court cases, and that he never even came to listen to our and expert military and legal testimony in public court during three trials, and is therefore ill-qualified to comment on the jury's informed decision. Please let him know that his comments are above all an offence to the conscience of the Dublin people who served on the jury that acquitted us.

Very Important: They will not even consider publishing unless you leave full name, postal address and phone number.

You can phone your Letters to the Editor on freephone 1-800-733-733

Feel free to send me a copy also or let me know if you've sent one so I can track the numbers:
dbamoran{at}yahoo{dot}com

It is also possible to write a comment under his article:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoher....html
so that would also be great. Short and sweet but straight to the jugular is best re. letters to editor and comments;))

Since our acquittal we have had to put up with establishment journos. calling us criminals who got away with an act of vandalism. The Irish Independent has been most guilty of this. We have decided for various reasons not to pursue these case in a court of law (mainly cause 4 of us live outside Ireland now).

One suspects they would rather the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo forms of justice to be meted out upon people who tried to stop the war.

Anyhow, it would be good to let them know that we bite back when unjustly kicked.

Best regards,
Damo

Ian O'Doherty's 'Ispy' column:

AW, THOSE MEAN AMERICANS
You'd need a heart of tungsten not to laugh at the case of self-confessed vandal Damien Moran, who was refused entry to the US the other day.
'Peace activist' Moran was one of those brave figures who decided that taking a hammer to a US plane and playing a game of smashy-smashy with its engines, causing e2.5m worth of damages in the process, would send a powerful message that violence never solves anything.
And despite being acquitted in one of the most disgraceful decisions in recent legal history, the man who is proud of causing the damage is upset at being refused entry, particularly as he was going over there to talk to an anti-war group.
He also complains, bizarrely, about the "juxtaposition of me being refused entry to the US ... and the official celebrations of the life of Martin Luther King Junior should not go amiss."
So now he mentions MLK in connection to himself? Wow. As the old phrase goes, sure doesn't he have a great welcome for himself?
Interestingly, journalist Harry Browne puts this refusal of entry down to the "skewed sense of justice that plagues America".
So, presumably the next time someone steals and trashes Browne's car, causing him a fortune in damages, he'll be the first to invite the guilty party into his house?

Related Link: http://www.warontrial.com
author by Tim Houriganpublication date Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:06author address author phone Report this post to the editors

"If there's one thing that even the most vociferous Left-wingers of this column's acquaintance will admit, it's a growing discomfort with the fact that lies and distortions and character assassination have now become acceptable in a debate"

That's for sure. A man acquitted unanimously in court is described as a vandal. A vandal is a criminal. Damien Moran has no criminal convictions. An aircraft used to transport the tools of death is compared to a journalist's car. Harry Browne's car, doens't transport weapons used to kill people in illegal invasions. Unless you know something the rest of us do not?

Still when you get your news from Tony O'Reilly, who cares about an inconvenient truth?

============

I say the comment is SUBMITTED, I doubt very much it will be published, but I won't lose any sleep over it. Mr O'Doherty knows very well the difference between the truth and what his boss wants to appear in the paper.

author by Timpublication date Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:07author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The final line
"Still when you get your news from Tony O'Reilly, who cares about an inconvenient truth?"

was left out by the indo moderators.

For those who read the entire column, my opening line was lifted staright from O'doherty's piece hitting out on comments made on websites about Charleston Heston, and his finaly line was basically the same as my final one, except I swapped in Tony O'Reilly, where he had "indymedia".

I guess my take on it was too close to the bone for them to digest, the poor sensitive dears.
Still, Mr O'Doherty is paid to do this, and will do more of the same tomorrow. Don't take it personally, don't lose sleep over him. Just don't buy their papers.

author by paulpeacecycle - Sinn Feinpublication date Wed Apr 09, 2008 17:39author email paul at peacecycle dot mobiauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

I forwarded this letter to the Independent today regarding their attack on Damien Moran.

To the Editor

Dear Sir/Madam
I can only gather from Ian O'Doherty's reference to Foster & Allen ( Wed.
8th.April) playing Sun City under the former South African regime that he
will be equally affronted by Bono's - of U2 fame - planned attendance at Israel's forthcoming
60th anniversary celebrations in Jerusalem; or perhaps that's expecting too
much by way of consistency from this journogoonalist whose formula appears
to be one of simply ticking opinion boxes for the boss.
Take his attack on Catholic Workers peace activist Damien Moran which
involved libelling both the jury that acquitted the Pitstop Ploughshares
Five and Moran himself. Ian's column wanders about from lambasting the
Chinese for crimes in Tibet to extolling the virtues of the US for crimes in
Iraq and praising their decision to send Moran packing from Chicago airport
last week, because of his planned attendance at a peace conference, which
coincided with celebrations commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. drawing a
parallel which Ian found challenging; the idea that we should seek
favourable comparison with our role models and mentors, specifically that
Moran should seek to identify with King the martyred Afro-American Preacher.
(Righteousness is inherent in struggle and inherited through action. It has
no breed or seed and belongs to all who defend what is right. It is
universal or not at all).
They say it's all about whose side your on and Ian for one certainly knows
what side his bread is buttered on. As for serving the truth Ian would
rather serve it up on a platter - to his Boss. Certainly he is remarkably
gifted in the consistency of his inconsistency, so much so one wonders
whether he hasn't studied at Bertie's School of Porkie Pies & Posturing.
But it is not until one is deluded to the point of no longer knowing what
truth is that one can be expected to put on sterling performances like
Bertie's 'How I wept for the weeping woman that wept coz of the lies they
made her say I told'. The frisson of excitement which swept across the
country after that performance is evident in today's opinion poll, which is
the clearest indication yet that the public actively endorses corruption.
Surely Ian's big moment is still ahead of him. Still, till then he must
satisfy himself with libelling a jury and the reputation of a man who
thought nothing of crossing the world for peace and who spent his Summer
holidays in Palestine, after railing across Europe - not to mention risking
imprisonment in Ireland and his tireless anti-war activism in Poland.
Well gosh isn't it just great to have writers like Messer O'Doherty to let
us know when our thinking has gone astray. From his very own self
constructed leaning tower of lob-side opinions pieces he is ideally placed
to drop indo-munitions on the upright passer bye. All we need now is a mass
grave to bury his victims in, somewhere down in Meath I suspect.

Yours
Paul Cassidy
(Monaghan Sinn Fein)

author by normal blokepublication date Thu Apr 10, 2008 15:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Poor Damien, the USA hasn't joined the EU yet. Countries still choose to exclude people and it's very unfair.

If anyone wants to see what the war has cost so far ($$ not lives), try the link below. Somewhere close to $521,000,000,000. No wonder the dollar has dropped, as it did during the Viet-Nam war.

Makes you think, what's $2m damage compared to the overall bill?

Related Link: http://zfacts.com/p/364.html
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