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The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland |
Ploughshares action at Shannon Airport national |
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news report
 Monday February 03, 2003 14:25 by IMC Ireland
 Another 5 go airside and damage plane In the early hours of Monday 3 February, five members of the pacifist Catholic Worker movement cut their way into Shannon Airport. The peace activists poured human blood on the runway that has been servicing U.S. military flights, troop and munition deployments to U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Qatar. They constructed a shrine on the runway to Iraqi children killed and threatened by U.S./British bombardment and sanctions. The shrine consisted of copies of the Bible and Quran, rosary and muslim prayer beads, flowers, photographs of Iraqi children and Brigid's crosses. They then began to take up the runway, working on its edge with a mallet. |
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Comments (48 of 48)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48If interested, please go to:-
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=26082&start=80&sid=28034
What do the Iraqi people really want?? Much more information is badly needed.
My God! Catholics prepared to act on their beliefs and take Jesus' example seriously? What would Cardinal O'Connell say?
see the unfolding story in UK too.
very busy day today.
my email account is stolen.
get that. email shite spreading.
direct action spreading
on violence spreading
ghandi rash ville.
The action at Shannon today brings back the issue.
Ireland is being used to prepare for war.
Keep informed but don't be distracted. Don't wear a newspaper like a blindfold, keep your eye on the ball. Propaganda and debates on Irish neutrality, the role of the UN etc... often lose sight of that core fact.
But the clock (bomb) is ticking. The Irish Gov. is helping to push the hands forward. Others (choose to) lose track of time. The arguments and excuses for Irelands part in Bush's war system all have to contend with the potential of the consequences - Are you willing to be implicated in killing for oil ?
If not what can be done ?
Direct action is working at Shannon not only to smash a part of the war system, (not only to inspire me to write !)but to spark more action...
If not stopped, at least the war can definitely be hampered and it can be continued to be shown that Ireland does not offer the path of least resistance for war.
You lot are a disgrace - peace my arse. These flights have been taken place over the last 20 years - where were you then. What a bunch of prats in the photograph - loose the dreads - that smells. I really hoped that AWACS on Saturday pissed you lot off. Why don't you do something constructive like pick up the litter at the end of 24 as it is quite dirty - the council would be grateful - Hippies like that doing that sort of thing. I hope the US Dept of Defense send you lot the bill ofr the damage. As for one I quite like seeing thee aircraft passing through. The more the better and maybe throw in a few F-15's just to keep you guys awake at night in your wig wams. How many tress did you damage for those bits of wood,also you caused the death of quite a large number of trees around the airport - all those birds nest's and little animals homes - I hope you are proud of that and can sleep at night.
As for that religous shit on the runway who are you kidding. there is no god - wake up a smell the roses. Who was the lucky hippie you lot sacrificed for the human blood? - we did not see any photos of that person. one less any how.
Just go home from whence you came a leave the aircaft spotting for the people who really like these things. What a bunch of arseholes. AHHHHH you make me mad......bring in the army
See you in Iraq
Chuck.
Hello Hippies,
Since when can you disarm a boeing 737. The last time I looked they did not carry weapons or are they the secret invisable ones you have in your head.
Mary - buy a book of Aircraft indentification It may help a bit. F- fighters C- Cargo
Hercules only carry Budweiser and burgers - everyone knows that.
I hope it is cold in those tents -
Ps when I am in shannon looking at the Air force planes can I use the Loo - Oh you have not got one....
also If any thing interesting comes in please put it up on the site as I would love to come along to have a look at it.
Hello dropouts.
Attack imperial American Mcdonalds at Shannon. they are selling MacMilitary Burgers. 2 Euros each. Get the clown
Free Red sauce to simulate Human Blood.
Wankers!!!
its good to see that it annoyed you enough to post such puerile crap.
B737s carry military personnel & munitions. But even if they only carried food, they would still be an essential part of the US warmachine. An Army marchs on its stomach.
At least I can say I am glad to see right winged people enter the debate on the war on this website as unfortunately it is too one sided on the left-wing/humanitarian/anti-war side.
However, I can hardly call what ye said a "debate". All ye've got to say for yourselves is a torrid of fowl, ugly abuse, and little jokes which are supposed to be funny.
Have ye any coherent arguements to make as to why this is a just war? Why the US should be allowed refuel when we are "supposed" to be a neutral nation". Why the US is not attacking Iraq for self interests such as for oil and to have a stronger presense in the Middle East to protect its interests there, especially in Saudi Arabia and Israel? - but rather, as I assume you claim, it is attacking Iraq to save the people there and to protect all western lives from terrorist attackes.
Have you any coherent, intelligent, argumnets to make at all?????
Best Regards to you all,
Anonymous.
do some back ground work before you act!! Boeing 737's dont carry weapons, thos things under the wings are called E N G I N E S DOH!!
maybe next time i see one of you lot i'll take an axe to your car!
That Humanitarian Left Wing title you bestowed on yourself gets my hackles up.
Christ what are you ghandi? Care to elaborate on your politics or stop posting your simplistic child like pleas for info, or online petitions or contribute something.
Oh and best regards to all coming from someone called anonymous is simple hilarious
I fail to understand the logic!!
A B737/C-40 is a standard passenger-carrrying machine, flown by almost every airline.
It is NOT a machine of war! Your action endangers PASSENGERS and does NOTHING to stop fighting machines
You deserve any punishment handed out by the law!!
Dear 'Peace-activists',
Thank you so much for damaging American cargoplane. I can tell you are on my side! If this happened to one of my planes I would cut off your legs and burn you alive! Normal people in Ireland donot call you 'traitor' do they? Tell me where they live! Oh, its all off Ireland except you five? Then you really must be traitors I guess. Thanks for helping me!
Saddam the babykiller
Hey sad lot,
Get a job and keep your hands off things that don't belong to you!!!!!!
You have done more harm than good.
A hard-working familyman
Thanks so much(from an ugly american) to all those willing to put their freedom on the line to stop the US government from murdering the rest of the world. You're all real inspirational!
Good job. Everyone should be doing more of these kinds of things. The politicians don't care what we think - the only way this war can be stopped is by direct action.
Keep up the good work!
American soldiers knew what to do when the scum in government thought they could use the world as their little toy in Vietnam-
We threw wrenches in the engines of aircraft carriers and fragged our own officers with grenades.
It's the same game, this time though the pretenders in the government didn't even bother to get elected. There still are those Americans who don't give two shits about dropping explosives on foreigners with different color skin, but their time is running short.
It takes a while, but folks are waking up.Today they're burning the recruiting stations in the streets of America, tomorrow it'll be the war factories.
Freedom for all people,
no compromise with the oppressors-
C.J.
I know a few people who've asked this -
Where did they get the blood?
While I support the rest of their action, I think they should really have used animal blood (or even just red paint) rather than wasted human blood.
Althought your suggestions are better it doesn't really seem to be a useful question to ask.
Although it may seem a relatively trivial thing (and its not even something I noticed at first), I know a few people who weren't impressed by this element of the protest, though they were quite relaxed about everything else. Human blood is better donated to someone who could use it than spilled on a runway, and red paint has the same symbolic value. Its something to bear in mind for the next time.
But it seems like an irrelevance in the larger scheme of things right now. It also seems like another piece of food for the trolls. I can see tomorrows Irish Times piece by uber-troll Kevin Myers "Protestors display callous disregard for babies in need of blood".
Personally I think it was ill-advised and I hope they'd use the paint/animal-blood/dye that you suggest the next time.
Just seems like a funny thing to focus on given that so much of the rest of their action is so important and useful.
Perhaps these "Catholic" idiots should be reminded of the loss of life in France last year when a small item on a runway burst a fuel tank on a departing Concorde causing massive loss of life. Its these do-gooders that cause many of lifes tragedies by their actions. Whether or not one supports the use of Shannon for the refuelling of these aircraft or not, protesters have no business engaging in sabotage. If they want to be peace activests, let them act peacefully. Alternatively, if they want to be criminals, let them be treated as such. To me, and many of my hard working friends, they are nothing but a professional band of spongers and wasters. They are an embarrassment to the country, (just as much as the Government is). I hold no bias.
Ciaran, met you on the banks of the Shannon last summer. Good stuff out of you and the folks.
Most folks with arguments against what you did only see the economic side of the debate. And just to piss them off, here's a hippy song lyric or two which I feel are more than appropriate
"I look at the world and I see that it is turning, While my guitar gently weeps.
FROM ALL OUR MISTAKES WE MUST SURELY BE LEARNING,
Still my guitar gently weeps."
Or more simply,
"WAR
WHAT IS I GOOD FOR?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
SAY IT AGAIN"
Power to the people.
"In God we trust." These words seem more appropriate to you guys than any american soldier. I don't believe myself. But any god would know that war is never right and that you guys did the right thing.
Salutations,
peace,
Mark.
Keep up the important work! We all draw strength from your courage.
All the spam on here is because this is an excellent action that scares the right wing and those who are more interested in murdering people many miles away than working things out.
And often, they are the same person over and over.
I live in Oakland CA and I check your site regularly now for info.
HA HA - DIRTY SMELLY CRUSTY CUNTS HAVE TO GO HOME - NO MORE DOLE !
by Sideshow Bob Wed, Feb 5 2003, 12:41am
[email protected]
HA HA CRUSTY's GO HOME HA HA HA
You useless crusty smelly dole scrounging english cunts make me puke.
The US is Ireland's only international ally, and the only country that would step forward to help Ireland in a time of need
The US has fed and clothed this country for 200 years.
The US employs 90,000 Irish people in Ireland
The US has 500+ firms in Ireland
Why dont you protest at the suppression of the Iraqi people by Sadam Hussain ?
Why should I, a hard working taxpayer pay for you smelly crusty cunts, who are mostly english, to protest and collect dole which I pay for ?
Why should the Irish taxpayer now pay millions for your criminal acts of vandalism.
You smelly crusty dole cheating sumbags make me want to puke, your pathietic
Why don’t you get a job, and campaign for the many Irish homeless on the streets of Dublin, if your such do-gooders ?
REMMEBER 9-11 YOU SMELLY CRUSTY CUNTS ?
Remember 9-11 crusty's ?
Remeber all those innocent people ?
I hope the US wipes those mudering muslim bastards off the face the planet.
Maybe then I can get some cheap petrol.
LET'S ROLL . . . . . . . .
America is fighting muslim terrorism that threatens every westener, including Ireland. Just remember how you felt on 9-11, never mind how the yanks feel now.
Of course there are many problems with US foreign policy, and its very easy to pick out only the USA's faults, but we cannot forget the constant genorisity the USA has showed and will continue to show Ireland.
All the USA is asking, is to refuel some troop planes on this convienient little green snot they fly over, planes that could otherwise easily refuel in the UK anyway.
Yet some here turn it into a national debate and get their little rocks off telling the US to get stuffed because we drive 02 cars now ?????
Ireland has not been a stricly neutral country sinced it joined the EEC in 1973, so the neutrality debate is bullshit. Ireland is however a non-aligned county who has chosen rightly to assist in a very small way in the war on terror.
to be perfectly honest, we dont need army people to protect us here in iraq. remember that we elected our president with 100 percent of the vote. but you didnt get the message did you?
sure maybe i have less rights than you, but did you consider that my life wasnt at risk until a few months ago?
the problem with you americans and european army types is that you fail to look into the message. remember 9/11? well you said you would forget. well maybe you should have figured out by now that this wasnt a bunch of crazy people killing you for ne reason, but a group of really pissed off people who are mad becasue for years you brought war and death to them. they didnt want you guys to miss out in the action.
arrogance is rewarded.
and to whomever is doing things lke disarming warplanes, no matter how small a purpose it may seem to serve. thank you. while these aircrafts may play a role in overfeeding american troops. because of those aircrafts there is a huge blockade in iraq making for no trading outside the lines of our country. so people are starving because of western ideals of blocked trade. im sure you military folk dont care because you dont see us as human anyways, or how would you call it....
...expendable casualties?
so thank you for trying to protect us against ourselves, we dont need it. stop your aircrafts, well take care of ourselves. and as for me not having the freedom of speech, well here it is.
Stop those planes,
Don't depend on the new imperialist Romans. Stop this Republican admin. from taking over the petroleum and going on polluting, running the industrial machine like their dead conscience says it's okay to do so.
Get those planes out of there! Why can't they spend the money on sustainable development (instead of military-industrial complex and aerospace reasearch and Star Wars) and give the people their potato and show them how to plant their garden instead of running a system of dependence in a ever so vicious circle of greed.
Disregard the comments by Chuck Yeager. He would not write this bullshit in a local paper in California. He is just an old time veteran who has been living off of a military pension for a long, long time. As they say here, the "Definition of Welfare is the U.S. Military." In addition, he has no doubt been receiving grants from the federal government for many years to fund his research. The good news is that he is old and he will soon be joining his old military buddies in the sky. He is one of those types--remember--that told us that we had to kill over two million people in Vietnam or else we the domino theory would apply. Shit, all of them were wrong--most were dumbshits. But, in the end, it cost us over one trillion dollars in debt, 60,000 lives of U.S. Soldiers. The good news from all of this: We thankfully lost the war! And shit, nothing happened but we are now buddy, buddy with Vietnam. Oh! He says there is not a god. I bet he does not tell his buddy, Pat Robertson, that. Further, isn't it more likely that God got tired of Bush, since the space shuttle--with an Israeli as well--was shredded over Texas, The "Bush" country. The danger for all of us, is the "Bush" people are screaming idiots, god dam idiots with a Nazi twist. We will continue our protests and hopefully put some of these assholes in jail. Sincerely--and keep the faith!
I cannot believe they closed the Shannon Peace Camp.
I feel the war & oil crusaders have won.
Does anyone know exactly why they closed it?
The attention the direct action was bringing is debateable I suppose. But even if these actions were bringing some negative attention I still believe by having the camp there it kept what the peace campers were saying on the agenda. I have never seen such media coverage on any left wing / humanitarian cause ever in Ireland. Could be hard to get it again.
In any case I feel the direct action was probably bringing more positive attention than negative. It really brought the public's mind to the issue - made them think about it - and what is it they say about media coverage, all media coverage is good coverage etc. etc.
Closed the peace camp to quote Ed Hourgan as a tactical withdrawl. The camp hasn't gone it's moved.
Also if they had stayed they would have been barred and peace monitoring work would have been compromised.
Also threats againist the camp, have been ignored by Gardaí
As Tracy pointed out the camp was in danger of becoming the story and not the war build up.
Finally I swear to fucking god if you use the words "left wing/humanitarian" again I swear I will hunt you down and staple your mouth shut. You pompous muppet you.
That way Saddam doesn't haven't to kidnap little blond boys and display them on TV.
(By the way, just how is it that Iraq, which supposedly has suffered hundreds of thousands of children dead of starvation, can afford dozens of presidential palaces and three mosques [2 still under construction] which will surpass St. Peter's in size?)
As I've told you before please learn to talk civilized, and I'm sure and hope I talk for everyone who visits this website.
We live in a democracy and this is very much a democratic site where people express different views no matter what they may be.
Foul and vile language, and abuse, and vicious treats by you on other people who express a view that is different than yours is not what democracy is about. That is simply barbaric and vicious.
I hope you can discuss this civilized in future.
If you bring an educated and intelligent opinion to the table you'll see me polite and civilised.
But instead you pounce around like a magnificent poof annoucning that you're an "anonymous humantarian".
Stupidity breeds contempt.
most people are unable or as yet unprepered to strike, I suggest phoning in sick "sorry boss, i turned on the radio, heard about all the death and felt physically sick, it's just got worse all day"
It free's you up for a day of civil disobedience, they can't sack you, and the economic system takes a small hit.
spread the word people-
it can't be that hard to convince people to take the day off!
Chuck Yeager was more of a man than any of us will ever be. He was one of the greatest figher pilots, and test pilots in history. He is braver than you, has accomplished more than any of us will, and probably much more intelligent than you. You sir, are an asshat.
They can build Palaces, as they do not intend building a Sadam Bowl, and they can build Mosques because their clergy do not have to spend the money on court payouts for abuse.
You query how Iraq can spend money on Mosques and Palaces, despite sanctions? Iraq is not poor, they are deprived of the means of spending the money on items that are unavailable to them due to disgraceful sanctions.
I would more query you and your ilk. Do you have a supportive employer, or as you just having a ball making a nuisance of yourselves worldwide at my expense?
Ciaron O'Reilly, one of the Catholic Worker activists.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am sick to my teeth of this man being described as above in various newspaper reports, and in Indymedia. Worker my arse. He would'nt know work if it bit him in the behind. As for Catholic? He is a waster who wipes his arse in his own dreadlocks. A sponger, a nuisance, and a leech.
To those who protest that the blood they poured could have been used to help people in hospital, et al, recall the following story:
"When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head. There were some who were indignant. "Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? It could have been sold for more than three hundred days' wages and the money given to the poor." They were infuriated with her. Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me.The poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial." Mark 14:3-8
In Plowshares actions, the participants donate their own blood to the action. We will always need people to donate blood to the sick and injured, and we should do so regularly. But that is not the point.
Whether or not you agree with this particular action, the powerful symbol of blood poured out reminds those folks concerned about the price of military planes that the true cost of this coming war is not in dollars or euros or dinars, it is in human lives. The blood that will be spilled in this war, like all the other wars, is the blood of the poor. Are there really enough poor that governments can spill their blood like oil and still have them with us always? Unfortunately, as long as there are tyrants like Bush and company in control, the answer will be yes.
The Catholic Workers who engaged in this action know that.
I am the wife of one of the crew members of the Navy plane that your so-called "peace" protestors attacked. I doubt much that you will read further, nor allow this piece, unedited, to reach your visitors, but I feel compelled to ATTEMPT to reach out to your sense of human dignity, if such a thing is compatible with the behavior you condone.
My husband is a Catholic man of compassion beyond that which most people practice. I have seen him take food and provisions to a family on the other end of town merely because a priest asked for help for them. And then, not even leave his name, because credit was not what he wanted. He is vehemently opposed to the death penalty, abortion, or destruction for its own sake.
And he was one of the men on board that plane. I asked him why this confrontation with Iraq was important. He told me this: "God tells us that we must not allow the evil needless destruction of human life nor of human freedom. Hitler. Stalin. These sorts of men are not placated by talk of peace. They don't want peace. They want destruction of God's creation and of all good men and women and children. They want subjugation. Not peace."
And so I ask you, because I do not understand how people who cry "peace" can allow "peace" to take the place of righteousness or truth, if perhaps, you are not attacking this plane, because you are more afraid of war than of evil tyranny.
I was sad to read that a Catholic and his wife would accept that murdering the innocents in Iraq was a way to achieve peace. I was sad to hear that the wife of a man with so much good in him that he would share food with the needy believes that this goodness offsets the terrible evil of the willing and deliberate killing of another of God's children. You should know that this is not what our church, or indeed any church teaches.
I ask you, as the wife of this good man, to remind him that he is committing the worst of the sins which we are clearly told not to commit. It does not say in the Bible that "God tells us that we must allow the evil needful destruction of human life nor of human freedom." It does not tell us "Go forth and murder little children", nor does it tell us "Go forth and give weapons and chemicals to dictators in Iraq so that they shall give us cheap oil", nor yet does it tell us "Go forth and give more weapons to the Turks and the Indonesians so that they may slaughter their ethnic minorities." Your husband and your good self are plunging their souls into mortal peril by undertaking and defending these murders. Christ will redeem you if you honestly open your soul and ask for forgiveness. He can see that you and your husband are weak, committing venal sins of pride, concupisence and fear and He will forgive you if you ask Him. It is not necessary that you and your husband actively resist the murders being carried out by the forces of evil that call themselves the United States of America, merely that you acknowledge this sin in your hearts and beg forgiveness of Him for your human folly.
Hitler. Stalin. Bush. These sorts of men are not placated by talk of peace. They don't want peace. They want control of God's creation and of all good men and women and children. They want subjugation. They want oil. They want power. They want worldly riches. Not peace.
And so I ask you, because I do not understand how people who cry "peace" can allow "peace" to take the place of righteousness or truth, if perhaps, you are not attacking this plane, because you are more afraid of peace than of evil tyranny.
US Navy wife says:
>>"God tells us that we must not allow the evil needless destruction of human life nor of human freedom. Hitler. Stalin. These sorts of men are not placated by talk of peace. They don't want peace. They want destruction of God's creation and of all good men and women and children. They want subjugation. Not peace."
And so I ask you, because I do not understand how people who cry "peace" can allow "peace" to take the place of righteousness or truth, if perhaps, you are not attacking this plane, because you are more afraid of war than of evil tyranny.>Among the people instrumental in tilting U.S. policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with Hussein as a special presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of U.S.-Iraqi relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily" basis in defiance of international conventions.
The story of U.S. involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend>A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001.
The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'
The report describes American armed forces abroad as 'the cavalry on the new American frontier'. The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document written by Wolfowitz and Libby that said the US must 'discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role'.>The revelation that great chunks of this dossier were simply lifted from a Californian's post graduate thesis won't do much to build up confidence in the government at a time when it desperately needs to build up trust.
And it probably won't do much to build up trust when people discover that some of those working on this report were not the Iraqi experts at the Foreign office or MI6 but Downing street staffers, including those that work in Alastair Campbell's department of communications in No.12 Downing street.
Among the four names credited with working on the document is Alastair Campbell's own personal assistant Alison Blackshaw, a junior No.10 press officer Murtarza Khan, one other No.10 official and a foreign office official.
Unaware that it was a straight lift from a PHD thesis both Tony Blair and US Secretary of State Colin Powell this week paraded the dossier as quality research and a searing indictment of Saddam's regime.>For instance, the second section of the three-part report, which is described on the Downing Street Web site as providing "up-to-date details of Iraq's network of intelligence and security," was drawn in large part from "Iraq's Security and Intelligence Network: a Guide," an article about the activities of Iraqi intelligence in Kuwait in 1990 and 1991, which appeared in the Middle East Review of International Affairs last September. Its author was Ibrahim al-Marashi, a postgraduate student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.<<
That this war is to liberate Iraq is a joke. The country will be bitterly divided between the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis fighting for their own interests and for as big a share of the profits from resource development and they will need another strongman of Saddam's ilk to keep the peace, unless they plan to station occupying US troops in the area on a prolonged or permament basis, which, coincidentally, would fit in quite nicely with the PNAC report's plans as well.
I understand the frustration that catholic mom has in this situation. Her husband is trying to reconcile his Catholic faith with unjust orders to prepare to engage in an unjust war. I admire this couple for attempting to live within a life ethic that they believe is consistent. And I believe that it is not enough to oppose war, we must also actively work FOR justice: justice for the innocent civilians of Iraq and to address the criminal conduct of national leaders, both in Iraq and elsewhere.
But I ask you to consider the following: if you and your husband believe in the Just War theory, which many Catholics (including my parents) do, then it is imperative that you consider the claims of the U.S. government in support of a pre-emptive war against Iraq and decide whether (1) there is a just cause (last resort, all peaceful options have been exhausted,legitimate authority, self-defense or redress, proportional, likely to make the situation better than before the war, etc.), and (2) whether the current plan for that war can be conducted with distinction and proportionality, meaning whether civilians will be protected. You may want to utilize the "even if" test:
"even if Saddam Hussein still possesses weapons of mass destruction, and even if he would like to develop nuclear weapons, and even if he is as big an obstruction to getting food, clean water and medicines to his people as the sanctions have been, does that mean that we have met the criteria for a "just war"?
Pope John Paul II says no. I don't claim to agree with him on everything, but I come to the same conclusion. So did the 5 Catholic workers who attempted to disarm the military plane at Shannon.
I am sorry that your husband is in this situation. If he comes to realize that this is an unjust war, there are places he can turn for information on conscientious objection. You might start with the fellowship of reconciliation.
God bless you and your family. I pray that you will take the time to discern for yourself whether this is a war your husband and our country should wage.
Peace be with you
Sorry my first post screwed up because I used some characters which were apparently mistaken for html tags. Wasn't aware that html was on.
US Navy wife says:
"God tells us that we must not allow the evil needless destruction of human life nor of human freedom. Hitler. Stalin. These sorts of men are not placated by talk of peace. They don't want peace. They want destruction of God's creation and of all good men and women and children. They want subjugation. Not peace."
And so I ask you, because I do not understand how people who cry "peace" can allow "peace" to take the place of righteousness or truth, if perhaps, you are not attacking this plane, because you are more afraid of war than of evil tyranny. end quote.
Spare me the hypocrisy. The US doesn't give a rat's ass about tyrants as long as they are kissing Uncle Sam's ass and follwoing orders to make the world safe for US corporate welfare. Rumsfeld was happy to have US businesses making money from supplying the Butcher of Baghdad with the means to produce chemical weapons even as he knew they were being used on civilians.
From the Washington Post:
Among the people instrumental in tilting U.S. policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with Hussein as a special presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of U.S.-Iraqi relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily" basis in defiance of international conventions.
The story of U.S. involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Story at:
U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup>
We also know the real reason for the war on Iraq. It fits in exactly with the goals of the warhawksin the Bush administration to impose a Pax Americana on the world using the economic and military might of the US.
From the Glasgow Sunday Herald:
A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001.
The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'
{snip}
The report describes American armed forces abroad as 'the cavalry on the new American frontier'. The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document written by Wolfowitz and Libby that said the US must 'discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role'.
Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President>
It is evident that in their eagerness to get the war going in Iraq, Bush and his pet poodle have had to resort to telling lies and mistruths about their evidence against Iraq. For example, they claimed, on national Television in the US, recent IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) reports warned that Saddam had the material and resources to make nuclear weapons within the space of several months. The IAEA disavowed any knowledge of what they were talking about and said they had no such reports.
They tried their best to link Saddam with Al Quaida, but their own intelligence agencies refused to back them on this.
The recent speech by Colin Powel at the UN, which was proclaimed to be based on the most recent intelligence gathering by security agencies like the CIA and MI6, turns out to be based largely on a plaigarised British report which in turn was based on a graduate students thesis drawing on public information and material from several years ago, including material captured from the Iraqis in Gulf War 1 (i.e from 12 years ago). They lie through their teeth and expect us to believe them anyway.
From Britain's Channel 4:
The revelation that great chunks of this dossier were simply lifted from a Californian's post graduate thesis won't do much to build up confidence in the government at a time when it desperately needs to build up trust.
And it probably won't do much to build up trust when people discover that some of those working on this report were not the Iraqi experts at the Foreign office or MI6 but Downing street staffers, including those that work in Alastair Campbell's department of communications in No.12 Downing street.
Among the four names credited with working on the document is Alastair Campbell's own personal assistant Alison Blackshaw, a junior No.10 press officer Murtarza Khan, one other No.10 official and a foreign office official.
Downing St dossier plagiarised>
From the NY Times:
Unaware that it was a straight lift from a PHD thesis both Tony Blair and US Secretary of State Colin Powell this week paraded the dossier as quality research and a searing indictment of Saddam's regime.>For instance, the second section of the three-part report, which is described on the Downing Street Web site as providing "up-to-date details of Iraq's network of intelligence and security," was drawn in large part from "Iraq's Security and Intelligence Network: a Guide," an article about the activities of Iraqi intelligence in Kuwait in 1990 and 1991, which appeared in the Middle East Review of International Affairs last September. Its author was Ibrahim al-Marashi, a postgraduate student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.
Britain Admits That Much of Its Report on Iraq Came From Magazines">
Remember people, they had to tell several lies to get the population stirred up to go to war with Iraq in Gulf War 1. For example, they wideley promoted the story of Iraqi soldiers stealing hospital incuabtors and leaving Kuwaiti babies to die on the floor. This has since been thoroughly discredited. They told the Saudis and the world that they had satellite photos showing Iraqi troops and equipment were massing on the Kuwait/Saudi border in preparation to invade Saudi Arabia. They never released the photos to the public and satellite photos purchased from commercial sattelites at the time showed absolutely no buildup as the Pentagon had claimed. However the lie had the intended effect of making Saddam appear even worse than he was and galvanizing the reluctant Saudis and other nations to support the US led invasion of Kuwait to throw Saddam out.
When Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, the first President Bush likened it to Nazi Germany's occupation of the Rhineland. "If history teaches us anything, it is that we must resist aggression or it will destroy our freedoms," he declared. The administration leaked reports that tens of thousands of Iraqi troops were massing on the border of Saudi Arabia in preparation for an invasion of the world's major oil fields. The globe's industrial economies would be held hostage if Iraq succeeded.
The reality was different. Two Soviet satellite photos obtained by the St. Petersburg Times raised questions about such a buildup of Iraqi troops. Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency viewed an Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia as probable. The administration's estimate of Iraqi troop strength was also grossly exaggerated. After the war, Newsday's Susan Sachs called Iraq the "phantom enemy": "The bulk of the mighty Iraqi army, said to number more than 500,000 in Kuwait and southern Iraq, couldn't be found."
Students of the Gulf War largely agree that Hussein's invasion of Kuwait was primarily motivated by specific historical grievances, not by Hitler-style ambitions. Like most Iraqi rulers before him, Hussein refused to accept borders drawn by Britain after World War I that virtually cut Iraq off from the Gulf. Iraq also chafed at Kuwait's demand that Iraq repay loans made to it during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
{snip}
The article, "Public doesn't get picture with Gulf satellite photos," said when president George Bush began his massive deployment of American troops to the Gulf in August 1990, he claimed that Iraq, which had just entered Kuwait, had set its sights on Saudi Arabia. On september 11, 1990, Bush addressed a joint session of Congress, saying, "We gather tonight witness to events in the Gulf as significant as they are tragic. 120.000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia".
On January 6, 1991, however, Jean Heller reported in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times that satellite photos taken the same day the president Bush addressed Congress failed to back up his claim of an imminent Iraqi threat. In fact, there was no sign of a massive Iraqi troops buildup in Kuwait.
Heller told "In These Times," The troops that were said to be massing on the Saudi border and that constituted the possible threat to Saudi Arabia that justified the US sending of troops do not show up in these photographs. And when the Department of Defense was asked to provide evidence that would contradict our satellite evidence, it refused to do it".
But the national media has chosen to ignore Heller's story. St. Petersburg Times editors approached the Associated Press twice about running her story on the wire, but to no avail. Likewise, the Scripps-Howard news service, of which-the St. Petersburg Times is a member, chose not to distribute the story.
"I think part of the reason the story was ignored was that it was published too close to the start of the war," says Heller. "Second, and more importantly, I do not think people wanted to hear that we might have been deceived.
We know that in the past the US (and other countries) have relied heavly on lies and propaganda to stir up war fever and make people ready to justify and accept killing and
"collateral damage." Each time a war comes along however. there is a tendency among the faitful to say,"even if they lied to us last time, they are being truthful to us now." However there is no excuse not to know they are damn well lying to us through their teeth. Go and fight your war if you want. That is if you are not a ChickenHawk like most of the Washington warmongers and "war is the only answer" promoters who made sure they did their damndest to avoid putting their sorry asses in the line of fire during the Viet Nam war, but were happy to let others go to die in their place.
That this war is to liberate Iraq is a joke. The country will be bitterly divided between the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis fighting for their own interests and for as big a share of the profits from resource development and they will need another strongman of Saddam's ilk to keep the peace, unless they plan to station occupying US troops in the area on a prolonged or permament basis, which, coincidentally, would fit in quite nicely with the PNAC report's plans as well.
Here are the links used in my post "Spare me the Hypcorisy. *#!@&%%! html
Washington Post: U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup. Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html
Glasgow Sunday Herald, re. the PNAC report
http://www.sundayherald.com/27735
Channel 4, Re the out dated plaigarised report Powel used for his UN speech.
href=http://www.channel4.com/news/home/z/stories/20030206/dossier.html
NY Times on the plaigarised report.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/08/international/europe/08BRIT.html?ex=1045717449&ei=1&en=9164210aa44bb7a1
Lies about Iraq in Gulf War 1 href=http://www.representativepress.org/LiesAboutIraq.html
A Dutch woman armed with a sledgehammer smashes three satellite dishes at a NATO airbase in Vokel in the southern Netherlands, in protest against the looming war against Iraq on February 9, 2003.
The Dutch arm of activist group Peace Action Camp said that the woman, Barbara Smedema, was acting for it in protest against the alleged existence of nuclear weapons housed by NATO at the airbase. She was arrested only after half an hour, and is being detained by Dutch military police.
The expected damage is about 500.000 Euro
http://indymedia.nl/nl/2003/02/9121.shtml
Ciaron's second letter from jail
"From Protest to Resistance"
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=29551
Ciaron's first letter from jail
"The Action was Beautiful"
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=28489
Statement of the action with more info
http://www.geocities.com/londoncatholicworker
email: [email protected]
Send individual letters of support to:
Ciaron O'Reilly
Deirdre Clancy
Karen Fallon
Damien Moran
Nuin Dunlop
c/- Shannon Peace House
19 Inis Ealga, Shannon, County Clare, Ireland.
(jails only accept letters to individual prisoners)
More info at the Pitstop Ploughshares web page