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Stop use of Shannon as Torture transit Airport
 international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report
 Friday May 09, 2008 12:03 by CIA Watch Shannon
A Chance to End Rendition Flights
The following letter has been published in the Irish Times on 9th May 2008. This is a significant development, because the Gardai and the Irish Government authorities have clearly failed to carry out their duties towards prevention of the crimes of torture at Shannon airport. This however does not relieve the citizens of Ireland of their responsibilty to prevent torture. It is the moral and legal duty of all Irish citizens to take 'all neccessary means' to prevent the possible continuing use of Shannon airport by the CIA and the US military for the purpose of transporting prisoners for torture.
 Prisoners en route to Guantanamo for Torture A CHANCE TO END 'RENDITION' FLIGHTS
Madam, - Last month the Republic of Ireland witnessed the resignation of Bertie Ahern as the leader of Fianna Fáil. He has been succeeded by a new party leader and Taoiseach, Brian Cowen.
We believe this transfer of political power presents the Government with a significant opportunity to review its policy on the use of Irish airports by US aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal kidnappings, the so-called "extraordinary renditions".
Aircraft landing at Irish airports, such as Shannon, are suspected of regularly travelling to and from countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, where torture is used. Such aircraft, usually owned by commercial companies but actually operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), are also suspected of heading for countries in Eastern Europe, where secret internment camps exist.
However, since the inception of the seemingly endless and calamitous "war on terror", the Government has merely accepted "diplomatic assurances" from the US administration that Irish airports are not being used as stop-over points for aircraft carrying kidnapped individuals. Thus, requests by peace activists for the Garda Síochána to search suspected aircraft have been refused. We believe this situation is no longer politically or morally tolerable.
For example, in April the Council of Europe's rapporteur on secret detentions, Dick Marty, castigated what he referred to as the "hypocrisy" of European governments in continuing to deny their involvement in secret detentions or illegal renditions.
Speaking at a Brussels conference about reporting on torture, Mr Marty asserted: "The United States made a choice to fight the war on terror using illegal means, but they at least made it openly and defend it. European governments, on the other hand, have been entirely hypocritical since their complicity has been clandestine. Even now, they do not have the courage to declare their involvement, unless forced to do so."
Furthermore, we agree with Mr Marty that governments "must also stop hiding behind the hypocrisy of diplomatic assurances. They are not worth the paper they are written on, and it is to be complicit in torture to accept them."
We, the undersigned - comprising diverse groups and individuals living and working in the west of Ireland, elsewhere in the State, and in other jurisdictions - have now decided to form a People's Inspection Team.
From today we are, therefore, beginning to recruit active lay inspectors to aid the Irish Government and the Garda in undertaking thorough and meaningful inspections of all aircraft suspected of involvement in "extraordinary renditions" landing at Shannon. - Yours, etc,
RHUHEL AHMED (Former detainee, Guantanamo prison facility); JOHN ARDEN (Playwright fellow of the World Society of Literature, Galway); TONY BENN (Former Labour MP, London); RONAN BENNETT (Author, London); RICHARD BOYD BARRETT (Chairperson of Irish Anti-War Movement); Prof NOAM CHOMSKY (Academic and author, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA); SARAH CLANCY (Galway One World Centre); Rev Canon PATRICK COMERFORD (President of Irish CND); CATHERINE CONNOLLY (City councillor, Galway); Dr JOHN CUNNINGHAM, (Historian, National University of Ireland, Galway); MARGARETTA D'ARCY (Member of Aosdána, Galway); MARY DEMPSEY (Artist, Galway); Dr SABER ELSAFTY (Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Ireland); NIALL FARRELL (Galway Alliance against War); DENNIS J. HALLIDAY (Former UN Assistant Secretary-General); BRIAN HANNEY (Teacher, Galway) EDWARD HORGAN (Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance); PAUL MICHAEL GARRETT (Siptu Shop Steward, National University of Ireland, Galway); JIMMY KELLY (Regional Secretary, Unite); FRANK KEOGHAN (People's Movement); MARILYN LAROSA (Galway); KEN LOACH (Film director, London); DONAL LUNNY (Musician, Okinawa, Japan); PATRICIA McKENNA (Green Party); DETTE McLOUGHLIN (Social Workers' Party, Galway); PHELIM MURNION (Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology); JOE MURRAY (Afri: Action from Ireland); Mgr RAYMOND MURRAY (Armagh); TREASA NÍ CHEANNABHÁIN (Palestinian Solidarity Campaign); SEOSAMH Ó CUAIG (County Councillor, Galway); LAURENT PARDON (Galway); Prof WILLIAM A. SCHABAS (Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights, Galway).
Hercules C130 at Shannon March 05
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Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8This letter also appeared with an abridged list of signatories in The Guardian. Great work all round. Fianna Fáil and the Greens, sadly, will pretend they do not know about it, thus maintaining this government's shameful alliance with the good offices of George W. Bush at no cost of embarrassment to themselves. Sometimes the manner and frequency with which our government ignores the Irish people is beyond belief. Perhaps we are living in a dictatorship and we haven't woken up to it. At any rate, this is a wonderful letter, all credit is due to its organisers, and one can only hope that it will be followed by more and similar letters until the government of Ireland listens to the people who elected it.
Stafford Smith, who is also the defence lawyer for three detainees in Guantánamo, added that many prisoners were transported aboard ships which made port calls in Portugal, when conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Barroso was prime minister, from 2002 to 2004. Mr. Barroso is now the president of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union.
On Thursday afternoon Stafford Smith was received by Attorney-General Antonio Pinto Monteiro, to whom he handed a list of names of the prisoners transferred to Guantánamo and information on dates when ships docked in Portugal with illegally detained suspected terrorists on board.So far, transport by sea had been excluded from investigations of the secret CIA renditions programme, widely used by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41868
Amnesty International also called on the Irish Government to heed the Commissioner’s remarks about Ireland potentially aiding and abetting rendition flights. Mr O’Gorman said:
“The Government’s response to the Commissioner’s recommendations is simply outrageous. They continue to maintain that assurances from the US administration are a sufficient guarantee that illegal kidnapping and torture is not being facilitated through Irish airspace.
“On inspections they argue that as no other state in Europe has instigated a rigorous inspection regime Ireland does not need to either. It is not enough for the Irish Government on behalf of its people to abdicate its responsibility in this way merely because other governments may be doing so. Given the horrors people have endured at the hands of the US administration, this is simply not acceptable.
Dan Boyle:Senator Hannigan mentioned rendition flights. There is a provision in the programme for Government, which has yet to be implemented, that would require the training of gardaí to inspect aircraft as and when a fear exists that a plane might be being used for rendition purposes. There is a precedent for the Irish authorities to inspect planes of foreign nations. It is hoped that this provision of the programme for Government can be implemented soon on the basis of the existing precedent. The Senator’s views will be made known to the relevant Departments.
The Green party happy to wait.
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=SEN20080501...age=1
COE Commissioner Hammarberg presents human rights report on Ireland
The Commissioner welcomes the call for a review of the Chicago Convention and appreciates the efforts of the Irish Police to investigate alleged renditions. However, recalling Resolution 1507 (2006) of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the Commissioner calls on the Irish Government to take effective measures to prevent renditions taking place through Irish territory and airspace, and to review the current inspection and monitoring arrangements with a view to ensuring that effective and independent investigations are carried out into any serious allegation of extraordinary renditions.
https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=CommDH(2008)9&Language=lanEnglish&Ver=original&BackColorInternet=DBDCF2&BackColorIntranet=FDC864&BackColorLogged=FDC864#P474_123578
The labour party say yes for EU human rights... but
RIGHTS: Renditions Ruin the EU Case
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42218
by bypassing all its own checkpoint to colluded in rendition.
BRUSSELS, May 2 (IPS) - Collusion between European Union governments and a secret U.S. torture and kidnapping programme has damaged the EU's efforts to promote human rights throughout the world, an internal paper drawn up by Brussels officials has admitted.
Harry Browne on Cowen and the GWOT
http://www.counterpunch.org/browne05032008.html
What training do they need to notice a shackled prisoner? What training do they need to know what munitions look like? Sounds to me like the Green Party are sleepwalking and Dan Boyle is in denial. They don't need training to start the inspections, just get on board those planes and if in doubt don't let them use our airspace or airports.
This photo was taken in August, 2007. Sorry for the delay in getting it online.
Fags! - Being Smoked by Halliburton Contractors
It's hard not to see the timing of this letter as mainstream media driven.
There's a weakness in an anti-war movement having it's agenda set by the mainstream media, which in Ireland seem to embrace the issue of rendition flights over the more significant issue of U.S. troops passing through Shannon. It is becomng obvious that the violence is going both ways with an increasing number of U.S. vetearns involved in domestic homicide, suicide and the predictable consequences of post traumatic stress. See http://www.counterpunch.org/
Are rendition flights still occuring?
Are there new prisoners still arriving at Guantanamo?
(Sincere questions I don't know!)
Given that whichever Presidential candidate is elected -Obama, Clinton, McCann - Guantanomo will be closed in the new year. The issue will be trying to stop the executions of the 80 set for military trial (sic)
Also a little odd that those who took significant direct action at Shannon Mary Kelly and the five who were acquitted seem not to have been approached to sign this letter. Does this indicate a distaste for NVDA by those who intiated this letter or the usual self defeating sectarian behavior associated with the anti-war movement in Ireland?
As far back as 2005, investigators from the European Union were able to report that, among other numbers and countries, 147 CIA flights had landed in Shannon, and the CIA are involved in 'extraordinary renditions.' None of these flights was inspected or questioned by the Irish government or security forces. The use of Shannon by the US military (a presence which announced itself as 'permanent,' if anyone had been reading the careful words of a US military officer there, as reported in The Irish Times a couple of Christmasses back) is a disgrace and makes the Irish people complicit in the illegal invasion of Iraq; the rendition flights pose a problem of a different degree for the government, and probably this is why they dare not investigate them.
If a prisoner were to be found on any of these flights, then it is possible that the government or some brave representative thereof could be prosecuted for complicity in the illegal imprisonment and kidnapping, as well as torturing, of the prisoner. No wonder there is no governmental desire to peek into these interesting unmarked aircraft. It is up to the public to offer their services as ad hoc inspectors, as has been called for.
We should all demand answers from the governement.
It is possible to rally 1000's of protesters in Dublin so why not que up for this cause?
The poor farmers that were taken off their land, sold by locals to the Americans as prisoners of war.
And what do we do? We stand around and spend our monies shopping and drinking.
Indeed we are guilty same as the german crowd who stood by and closed the windows as the smoke of the burning corpses drifted by.
We will go down in history as the fools that would not care.
If you are ever in Kildare street throw some rose petals (or confetti or any flowers) on the pavement in protest and write letters to the governement. Demand an inquiery!
Let's Stop War from Europe
We call for a European day of nonviolent direct action against war on 14-15 November 2008. This day of action is not being organised by any one organisation - the idea is that anti-militarists across Europe can adapt the action day to their local context. This call originated in discussions amongst anti-militarist activists from across Europe at the "NATO: Game Over" action in March 2008.
http://www.just-international.org/article.cfm?newsid=20...02698
http://europeanpeaceaction.org
Another new multimedia installation on rendition journeys across europe
explained here http://wi.hexagram.ca/?p=30
site here http://www.passageoublie.net/
Its strange since people started posting the current flight tracks of planes associated with rendition the planes records seem to be taken down off the public trackers like
http://www.appliedautonomy.com/terminalair/index.html and flightaware.com, a result of North Carolina stop torture ( http://www.ncstoptorturenow.org/ )and Irish activist coordinating to highlight the path to hell through Ireland?
Its strange how much attention was giving to the recent crossing of Bush and/or Cheney in the press with talk of extra Gardai and army and US secret service being brought in and the cost for that visit alone, bush and travelled through on numerous occasions and they've never reported it like that, a training opportunity I guess.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shannon-put-on-....html
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/state-spent-836....html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0406/shannon.html?rss
Sure Condi came through this week no news
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/05/104393.htm may 5th
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKO6E2Vs5MktD_-DXHsb...CFCG3 condi apr 19th
it bit distasteful to so often see these statements made from Shannon Ireland as the pass through with press dictating their every word as some sort of truth.
Blackwater and their air transport subsidaries get renewed contracts
According to Blackwater's own website, both Presidential Airways (PAW) and its sister company Aviation Worldwide Services (AWS) "share a common parent with Blackwater U.S.A.".
http://primarysources.newsvine.com/_news/2008/04/14/143...tract