Neutrality at Shannon still being abused

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Friday June 13, 2008 23:19

by Edward Horgan

CIA jet N54PA, Tajik Airline, General Dynamics jet, and OMNI air plane load of troops

Shannon was very quiet this morning with very few "civilian" passengers. Just a few Ryanair jets and even less Aer Lingus, now that they decamped to Belfast.
Much of the business at Shannon was breaching Irish neutrality.
More importantly, the CIA and military use of Shannon this morning was directly complicit in breaches of the UN Convention against Torture and international laws including the Geneva Conventions on War.

Conor and I arrived at Shannon at about 7.15 am. The plane we were expecting from the USA via Newfoundland was a Learjet, N54PA, operated by or on behalf of the CIA. It made a trip to Guantanamo as recently as the 3 June 08, that we know of.
This morning it was delayed so we had time to have a look around.

In the secure are in the centre of the airfield there were two aircraft. The first was an executive jet, Gulfstream V, reg no. N855G owned by General Dynamics (GE).
GE is probably the largest munitions and defence equipment manufacturer in the world.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics,
Among other products it produced the F 16 fighter aircraft, and the M1 Abrams tank.
Parked in front of it was a Boeing 737, as far as I could establish owned by Tajik Air. Now what was an aircraft from a virtually bankrupt airline from Tajikistan doing at Shannon airport? This is one of the countries where torture is commonplace. Amnesty International report 2007 records:
"Widespread and routine torture or other ill-treatment by law enforcement officers continued to be reported. At least one opposition party activist died in custody in suspicious circumstances. Increasing numbers of women were detained for membership of banned Islamic movements or parties."

We drove up to the terminal building and had coffee, and then made our way to the area of Car Park 4, which is near Gate 40 where the troop carrying planes are normally parked. We took some photos and observed an OMNI air troop-carrier landing and eventually parking at Gate 40. By now airport security became aware of our presence, and we had three Airport police cars on our case, one inside the wire and two in the car park. We were asked to leave the area by AP Richard Moloney. I informed AP Moloney that we were checking if CIA plane N54PA was at the airport and that as we were collecting evidence, that I, Edward Horgan was not prepared to leave until I was satisfied I had all the evidence I required. AP Moloney indicated that the Gardai were informed and that I would be arrested unless I complied with Airport Police instructions. At this point Learjet N54PA appeared in our view as it was preparing for take-off. I informed AP Moloney that I intended to take photos of this plane, regardless of the threat to arrest me. The airport police officers in teh area then made half-hearted efforts to prevent me taking photos but made no attempt to arrest me. We eventually left the area when we were satisfied that we had positively identified the aircraft.
While this was occurring, Conor Cregan requested that the Airport Police take steps to search this aircraft in case it was carrying prisoners. AP Moloney informed us that they would not be searching this aircraft, that it was simply here for refuelling and that they never search such aircraft. We informed him that this aircraft has a history of being involved with the CIA rendition programme in the past, and that we believed it was still being operated by or on behalf of the CIA.

Conor Cregan also phone the Gardai at Shannon Garda Station and requested that the Gardai take immediate steps to prevent this aircraft from taking off, and to search the plane in case it was carrying prisoners who might be tortured. There was a Garda minibus within the airport at this time that was in a position to undertake the necessary searching operation.
Neither the Gardai, nor the airport took any steps to search the aircraft. We observed the aircraft N54PA taking off and head in an Easterly direction, before turning South.
We then left the airport, as I wished to attend the referendum counting in Limerick.
At least in Limerick we had some good news, with the resounding rejection of the Lisbon treaty. Very many people voted NO because of real fears concerning Irish neutrality and the militarization of Europe

Please note, photos will follow later