Green Party in Co. Clare Firmly Behind US Military in Shannon

clare | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Wednesday December 16, 2009 20:38

by Fred Johnston

The US Military can save Shannon, says Green Councillor

The Green Party have managed to lose even more credibility, if that were possible, by reiterating their belief that the US military presence in Shannon - which is PERMANENT, lest we forget - is good for the region

Last June Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe's said he did not believe that Shannon airport was being used by US extraordinary rendition flights. At the same time, Co. Clare's own little Green man, Councillor Brian Meaney, mouthed off against protestors: “It is no longer acceptable that the conspiracy theorists and malcontents scaremongering over the use of Shannon by the US military continue to be a drain of Garda and Army resources”, he said in The Irish Times. Ed Horgan was misguided.

Councillor Meaney is at it again, digging a deeper hole for the Greens, if that were possible. In the current issue of the admirable 'The Clare People,' he tells Gordon Deegan that; "The US military business is a good foundation base for the Shannon Airport Authority to maintain (sic) and ensure that the airport can stay open and has services."

No doubt with pending invasions of Iran in mind and massive supplies of murder equipment passing through on the way to Israel for, eh, defence purposes, Cllr Meaney added: "I would hope that the management would increase their efforts to try to attract more military uses of the airport from all sides." No, not a trace of irony.

Clearly he's leaving the way open for negotiations for Russian, Chinese, UK and other military to establish bases at Shannon. For Cllr Meaney and the Greens, it's only business. In three years from '05 to '08, Shannon Airport made a profit of roughly €30 million from what is now called 'the troop business.' How many of these big spenders killed innocent civilians or razed wedding-parties in the wilds of Afghanistan is not recorded. How much bigger those profits might have been had blindfolded and chained prisoners been allowed off their 'planes and into the Duty Free for half an hour. And the Americans could be a tad more grateful: in November 2008, Delta Air Lines confirmed it would no longer be operating the non-stop Shannon-Atlanta service through this past Summer. Then they went and suspended their Shannon-New York (JFK) route in October 2009, clearly oblivious to the great cheer-leading work Cllr Meaney was doing for Uncle Sam. He didn't deserve that. {Let's forget that embarrassing 2005 governmental guff about the use of Shannon Airport as a stopover for US military being phased out by April 2008. Ireland doesn't own Shannon any more and didn't even then.}

Shannon is an economic mess. And a sad one. 'The Clare People' report adds that the only area of growth at Shannon is through US troop traffic. Ryanair won't be there next year. It is sad too to see a local Councillor praising the movement of foreign soldiers for keeping the local economy going - as if Shannon were a tiny French village in the 1940s where, if it weren't for the occupying German soldiers buying wine and ciggies, the local economy would fall apart.

Cllr Meaney hasn't quite grasped the openly-admitted fact that the Americans are in Shannon as an occupying force and are not leaving. The government, to which his Green Party is like a pilot fish around a shark, doesn't care.

"Ireland (can) play its part in relation to stabilizing a very unstable part of the world," added Cllr Meaney. Alas, he didn't indicate which part of the world he meant.

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Comments (3 of 3)

The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests ...

by John

Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:31

Brian Meaney should read his party principles (available at http://www.greenparty.ie/en/about/party_principles in case he doesn't know where to find them). Sixth in the short list of seven principles is: "The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests". Increasing efforts to attract more military uses of his local airport doesn't seem very consistent with that shallow rhetoric ...

Interestingly, the same page of the Green Party's website says that they are for (not against) "non-violent direct action". But not in Councillor Meaney's part of the world it seems.

And in case you weren't sure, they are against (not for) "the exploitation of the third world".

There is a clear agenda to hide and/or silence opposition to the military use of Shannon. Gardai no longer respect the law or exercise discretion when it comes to peaceful protest there. Their employer - our government - is not only inept at managing the economy; it has also lost all moral conscience, to the point that it will assist in the killing of thousands of men, women and children in order to safeguard a few jobs. But they must be worried that the public will soon exercise its own moral authority and demand an end to this sad phase of Irish history.

greens

by sam

Thu Dec 17, 2009 20:01

If the Greens had either conscience or credibility left, they would publicly censor Mealy.
The fact is they have neither, they know it, and are a morally paralysed party.
Their total betrayal of the Shell to Sea campaign for the measly 30 pieces of silver thrown by the Gombeens of Fianna Fáil was the beginning of the end for them.
Eamonn Ryan almost seems ashamed to show his face in public these days - just another politico growing fat on swallowed pride.

All for One . . . .

by Mé Fhéin

Mon Dec 21, 2009 19:59

The Greens, sadly, are about power and its maintenance. They could change, but in order to do so they would have to renounce their allegiance to Fianna Fáil. This they will not do, though it's pretty certain that the careers of both parties are over at the next election.

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Green Party in Co. Clare Firmly Behind US Military in Shannon

Comments (3 of 3)