Peace campaigners vindicated in highlihgting role of Shannon

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday February 06, 2003 16:33 by Flanagan head_office at labour dot ie Ely Place, Dublin 2 6784700

Labour Youth comments on the role of the peace camp in the anti-war campaign.

The Peace Camp at Shannon Airport played a significant role in the anti-war campaign, highlighting the illegal refuelling at the airport and uncovering the governments mistruths regarding the transporting of military weapons said Mr Manus Bree, a member of Labour Youth National Executive and activist at the Shannon Peace camp

He claimed the decision by World Airlines to redirect its planes carrying military personnel and arms to be a direct result of the pressure from and facts uncovered by the camp. 'I believe the government criticism of the peace camp was used to distract from its own inability to secure the airport and to redirect attention from the real issues concerning the war', he said.

"We feel the decision by the government to deploy the Army to protect US military aircraft is reactionary and misjudged. 24-hour Garda surveillance and the use of a civilian security firm should be sufficient, as is the situation in other civilian airports in Europe."

Mr. Bree said 'the truth of the matter is that the government and Aer Rianta have been unwilling to spend the extra money needed to improve security. Labour Youth activists from the Shannon area said that little if any increase in security was implemented at the airport following the first non-violent direct action on Wednesday last, indeed it would appear that on that occasion members of the airport police who were guarding the US navy plane were in fact asleep."

Labour Youth say that a more reasonable action for the government to take would be to withdraw the facilities from the US military, thus eliminating any possible terrorist threat, the financial burden to the state and compliance in a morally unjust war in Iraq.

Speaking from Shannon, Labour Youth member Katherine Harford said "we condemn and deplore any pre-emptive and/or unilateral action by the US against Iraq, and further demand that arms inspectors be given sufficient time to complete their work.

"There is nothing in the preliminary report of the UN arms inspectors that would possibly justify launching a war that could lead to half a million casualties, the outbreak of disease and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians."