sightings of US fighter jets off Cork.

by In stitches Fri Apr 02, 2004 02:53

TG 4 had an excellent spoof on the news.
The U.S.S. Kathleen Bawn was sighted off the Cliffs of Moher!!!!!!!
Great laugh. I wonder how many clowns will be out on the cliffs at Ballybunion and at the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow "throwing daffodils at the F16's."
Go on ya good thing.

by Not So Funny :( Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:36

In a few short weeks (June 25/26) there will be more than just F16/F15 and Aircraft carriers over the skys of West Ireland.
G W Bushes visit will bring enough firepower for a forceful military takeover. Never before will so much weaponry be on Irish shores. The Equipment for this military adventure will be arriving in Ireland shortly so keep your eyes open, and Indymedia informed. Battlefield weaponry is being shipped in for use against the protesters.
Arsenal is expected to include
F15/F16
Airforce One
Marine One
Stagecoach One
Aircraft carrier / or land base in UK
F-10 tankbuster Airoplane
Mini Gun
Apachi Helecopters or Blackhalks
Air to Ground missile batteries etc
And more...

They must all be in place long before G.W. touches down, keep your eyes open

by John - Cork Fri Apr 02, 2004 13:01

OK. It was an April Fools Joke - a similar line was tried yesterday by Cork 96FM with a story that NASA were setting up a testing base for Scramjets in Cork Harbour and had acquired offices at Blackrock Castle. The Lord Mayor had supposedly signed the deal onboard a US military plane at Shannon!

But behind the jokes, there is the real evidence of US military aircraft - on the ground at Shannon and Baldonnell and in the air in around Ireland.

Last Saturday (March 27th) two low-flying military jets doing manouevres were sighted by hillwalkers in the Knockmealdown mountain range on the Waterford / Tipperary border. It's possible they could have been Irish Air Corps planes as they do have a number of Marchetti planes which might look like fighters to an untrained eye. However the photos shown here should indicate its unlikely anyone could mistake a Marchetti for a F-16.

Irish Aer Corps Marchetti SF-260WE Warrior

Air Corps Marchetti on the ground

General Dynamics F-16, a very different animal!

by John - Cork Fri Apr 02, 2004 15:46

The Marchetti isn't a jet! A fact I forgot to mention and which is obvious in the photos!

by So what Fri Apr 02, 2004 16:59

F 16s flying off the coast, who cares. USA is a friendly nation. Once its not from the former Iraqi regieme, North Korea, Afghanistan, or any other of those dodgy dictatorships where the people get no chance to choose their leaders then we have nothing to worry about.

The Marchetti is no longer in service.

by cryptofascist Fri Apr 02, 2004 17:34

...as opposed to what? dictatorships of the 'non' dodgy sort? and any air traffic originating from Afghanistan these days...but now Im confused, which category are they in? are they one of the nations who get to pick their own leaders, or?
what?
so

by Ray McInerney Fri Apr 02, 2004 17:49

Fear not so what. The Iranians are taken good care of them.

by Drbinoche Fri Apr 02, 2004 20:33

'Arsenal is expected to include
F15/F16
Airforce One
Marine One
Stagecoach One
Aircraft carrier / or land base in UK
F-10 tankbuster Airoplane
Mini Gun
Apachi Helecopters or Blackhalks
Air to Ground missile batteries etc
And more...'

Interesting how you could possibly know all of this. You see, alot of the ordnance you mention here cpould notpossibly be in Ireland for when he comes over. F15/F16 cannot fly from an aircraft carrier, if you mean they will be in Irish airspace, they won't. They can't be in Irish airpsace unless invited in under an act of aggression status from the Government. The government can only enact that if there is an open act of aggression towards the State.

Marine/Air Force/ Stage Coach one, travel everywhere with the pres and so there is really nothing fascinating about that revelation.

They have land bases in England anyway so its notlike they are bing establishedjust for his visit to Ireland, hell the government could request fly overs now if they so wished.

Aircraft carrier will probably be about 100 miles off Irish coast, providing CAP if it is needed and intercept capability from another direction off our countries coast.

A10 once again, they are stationed in England anyway, they cannot take off from an aircraft carrier and are really too slow to be used against anything other than tanks and the like, hence why they are called TANKBUSTERS!!!

Mini Gun, the US have these put on most of their protection units. The Carriers use the Phalanx minigun to protect from incoming aircraft and missiles. Blackhawks have em as troop protection and providing fire suppretion, the planes use as they are very good at destroying hard targets quickly.

Blackhawks are fundamental to the US armed forces, so they will definitely be here, the apaches will probably be deployed to England and maybe, one unti will be stationed in Ireland but highly unlikely. You see we are not likely to need Apaches or anything like that. They are used for heavier targets and are not useful against planes.

SAM missiles batteries being brought here is just common sense. Air protection is essential as our air coprs cannot do the job.

But honestly what is your alternative. Right you don't want Bush here, well Bertie didn't listen and Bush is coming, so do you think he shouldnot be protected and as a prime target now and as aprime target that we have been since Januray 1st, we should just NOT properly protect ourselves and hope that Terrorists don't do anything.

If we get hit, it won't be because Bush is here, it won't be because we are the EU president country at the mo, it will because we are a very prime target with our limited resoursces.

by Lone Gunman Fri Apr 02, 2004 23:43

That explanation of yours proably went over 50% of the board,and proably disappointed the other 50%,that none of the nasty things will be stationed here so they cant claim that they are being oppressed.But then what would we know? We are just two right wing warmongering facists,etc etc.
Ah well maybe we need a Madrid situation,unfortuneatly to wake them up that it isnt the West that is the problem.Hmmm that is a possibility,Mayday would be an ideal Al quieda terrorist target.Plenty of infidels celebrating an evil communist festival.

by Pamela Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:02

you are not two right wing, warmongering fascists. nothing nearly so frightening (dont flatter yourselves).

just two poor individuals, (to use your own vernacular), hell, buying wholesale into the fear and consumption of the age. ate-up with the one and not half-fed with the other. having listened to one too many conservative talk-show rants you feel not merely compelled, but positively vindicated in spilling a spew on whatever the source of the particular bilous rage which grips you at any given moment. like the puce faced bully boy, fulminating at his own exposed weakness, we get from you the intellectual equivalent of the 'stomping-of-feet', the petulant intolerance for any point of view which does not fit with your vision of 'how things are'.

but I do bow to your superior knowledge with regard to toy planes. ok. big toy planes.

god loves you

by Jim Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:05

The "West" which is basically the United States, Europe and a few other (Eastern) states which control the majority of the world's wealth is causing its own problems.

If you try to wipe out other people's cultures, their means of survival and their hope then what else do you expect. Even a dog, devoid of the malice that afflicts humanity, will eventually snap if you keep kicking it long enough.

The US is too well guarded for most terrorists so they will naturally go for the Achilles Heel, namely countries acting as agents of US hegemony.

by Lone Gunman Sat Apr 03, 2004 14:09

Is being bitchy!!!Must be rag week is it ?No dear,I have been there ,seen it done all this left wing anti war crap,when you were proably a dirty glint in your mothers eye,when she spied the postman arriving. it is fun to see that nothing changes except the naiveity has gotten worse,proably because of the internet,than my generation,and the facile arguements are still as facile as ever on the left as they were on the right,and no one can come up with ,as in your case a reasoned arguement without going down to the gutter.But then I suppose you know no better.

by pamela Sat Apr 03, 2004 15:19

notwithstanding your sexist sneer.

but I do better understand your affinity with Dubya now. he, the born-again recovering alcoholic, and you the reformed (hardly 'recovered'?)leftie!

both clawing for the redemptive surety that only a seamless reactionary myopia can provide.

Dubya, it must be said, would do the world a favour if he went back on the sauce. but I do admire your broadmindedness in being completely non-discriminatory, as exemplified by your willingness to adopt just about any idiot ideology that may happen along

good on you girl (you'll be a woman soon)

by Drbinoche Sat Apr 03, 2004 15:49

I dont know if I would considermyself Right wing, I don't think I would consider myself Left wing either. I suppose I don't really affiliate with any of the groups. Why do I support the War on Terror to a certain extent, because I know that the terrorists will always be there and nothing you guys do will change that.

Someone here states that it is the Wests fault that this is happening. Well maybe that is so, but if that is true then why are the Islamic terrorists intent on overthrowing governments in the Middle East, of totally destroying a nation and of taking control over vast tracts of Oil in which they can then command respect from Economical perspectives. They attacked Spain for many reasons, at a time when they KNEW that the majority of Spanish people were against the war, so they were willing to murder hundreds of innocent people just to punish the leaders of that country. An these are the people who are being destroyed.

I enjoy knowing about the military technology because the truth is that without the military sponsoring companies and providing the money to build new machines, there would be a lot less of the technological advantages we have now.

by Pamela Sat Apr 03, 2004 18:47

Though I dont agree with many of your conclusions I can certainly see the validity of the reasoning employed.

Far from finding and apportioning 'fault' for the world's ills, however, I find that its more useful to study the circumstances and try to discover the underlaying causes of conflict. In this way I think we are better equipped to resolve problems between nations, between peoples, by addressing such root causes. In stating this I make no apology for the fact that it may seem so self-evident as to appear trite - in the context of what passes for 'commentary' on some of these pages I think certain basic premises may need to be reiterated from time to time.

You approve of what is often referred to as the 'war on terror'. On this we differ. I am highly sceptical of both the 'war' and the 'terror'. In the United States' legitimate concern to fulfill its obligations in terms of civil security in its own country, I think the stated means by which their government has set about doing this has been recklessly miscalculated, if not also disasterously counterproductive. As a United States citizen I feel particularly let-down in this - George, I fear, has made the world more, not less dangerous.

In any endeavour one should expect that responsible authority must at least choose means adequate to achieve their stated aims - if the goal is to rid the world of terror, I honestly can not see how anyone feels that current US policy will have any effect other than the opposite one to that stated. The effect being so far divorced from the stated aim I doubt very much whether the actual goal is the one which authority is telling us. We may complain that politicians (in any country) may be dim, but I cannot be made to believe that they are that stupid.

In your approval for the 'war on terror' I must, at the very least, concede the common ground which we share - 'acts of violence and terror against society must be brought to an end' - without trying to be presumptious, I think we may both agree on that much. We may differ on the sources from which we consider this 'terror' may be emanating (you might emphasise Islamic fundamentalist groups, where I might turn the light more toward the violence of nation states), and how to set-about ending it. But if we are coming from the same primary motivation, and the source of what compels us to take an interest in society and in the events of our world is broadly similar, our discourse on these matters need not be reduced to a braying and a slagging match (though that can be fun too).

I thank you for your earlier measured and reasoned contribution.

by Centre Stage Sat Apr 03, 2004 18:52

He's a decisive leader who has taken the rotten Middle East by the scruff of the neck. The whole lousy system in that region needed shaking up and Dubya is in the process of doing that.

He's also liberated 22 million people from tyranny in the process.

Bush-Cheney! Another four years!

by jeff Sat Apr 03, 2004 21:20

"Is being bitchy!!!Must be rag week is it ?No dear,I have been there ,seen it done all this left wing anti war crap,when you were proably a dirty glint in your mothers eye,when she spied the postman arriving. "


That is filthy mouthed, vulgar, urghh...

I think you fell and hit your head very hard on the ground some time back-all that Pamela girl said was that she disliked your style of arguing.

You give her filth and spew, if you were here in person I'D BE COMPELLED TO HIT YOU, IT IS NO WAY TO TALK TO A WOMAN

by Lone Gunman Sun Apr 04, 2004 20:55

Ooohhh you would be compelled to hit me ........Sissy...[sounds of Jeff ,going boing boing boing richcoeting around the room]Well if you read the insults the little princess posted,you would see I would be entitled to strike back.....If you cant stand the heat get out of the sauna! Keep it civilised and i will keep it civilised,go to the gutter and I'll meet you there.I would love to be whereever you are in person.I always found mouthy lads to be the biggest chickenshits.

by Northern Eye Sun Apr 04, 2004 21:10

Lone Drbinoche, you are the greatest free entertainment a net nerd could wish for! Keep it up Insane Computer Warrior!

by Daren Carroll Thu Apr 08, 2004 15:27

The way Europe has made its armies into a future police wing for the Eu... the USA could take take you over in a minute. AS for allthat military hardware, anti aircraft and stuff, that's to protect airforce one from socialist freaks who want W dead. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the Blackhawks made an accidental drop on any crowds that got too rowdy. Spain buckled, and I'd bet money that most of Europe doesn't have the nuts to do anything but send UN Beurocrats and EU agents when the USA summons its allies for help.

by Daren Carroll Thu Apr 08, 2004 15:29

I missed Pamela's commentary, so I'd like to put my reaction in. All I can say is "What a windbag!" Yer a little too much in love with words, lay off.

by Pamela Thu Apr 08, 2004 21:42

its 'bureaucrats' (if what you were thinking about is what I think it appears you were trying to write about, at the time you wrote it, of course)

sorry, there I go again getting all-wordy