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Anti-Empire
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland |
Good? Friday at Shannon airport? international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report
 Tuesday March 29, 2005 13:05 by Edward Horgan
 US troops and warplanes at Shannon Good Friday at Shannon saw an encounter between Airport authorities and a peace activist that resulted in the shedding of a small amount of blood, and the passing of possibly hundreds of US troops and an unknown quantity of weapons and munitions on their way to the war and occupation of Iraq. There was not confrontation between the airport or Irish authorities and the US troops, who should have been arrested and interned under the Hague Convention V on neutrality. Good? Friday at Shannon airport? I arrived at Shannon airport at about 06.45 am to get an Aer Lingus flight to London Heathrow. As I approached the airport I noticed one Hercules military aircraft parked in a special security zone, in the centre of the airfield, protected by Irish army personnel, and a World Airways chartered aircraft, used to ferry troops to and from Iraq, was at Gate 42, protected by Gardai, in another special security zone, also created specifically for US military forces. Before checking in I went to the viewing gallery and took photos of these aircraft. I then checked in at the Aer Lingus desk and proceeded through the security checkpoint where I was eventually recognised by an airport police officer, named Benn. As I went into the duty free area, Mr Benn followed me. At least twenty US troops in desert camouflage uniforms were in the duty free shop, and the lounge and bar area beyond this contained over 100 US troops. As I went to buy some chocolates I greeted some of the US troops, and wished them a safe journey to Iraq. I was immediately interrupted by APO Benn, who informed the US soldiers near me to be careful, and not to talk to me. I responded by informing these soldiers that I was a peace activist and intended no harm to them. I informed the US troops near me that they should not be in a neutral country and that by doing so they were in breach of the Hague Convention. I was told by APO Benn to leave the area unless I had legitimate business there. I informed him that I had lawful business in this area and intended to make some purchases. After I had completed my purchases I went to the lounge or waiting area. As I attempted to take photographs of the US troops, APO Benn attempted to stop me by blocking my camera with his hand. He told me that taking photographs was in breach of airport regulations. I managed to get some photos nonetheless, and informed him that I was not aware of any regulations preventing the taking of photos in this area. I also noticed several other people with cameras in the area, particularly the US troops themselves, and no attempt was made by airport security to prevent them from taking photos, and there were no signs prohibiting the taking of photos. I also informed APO Benn that I needed these photographs because I was collecting evidence to bring a case against the Irish Government to the European Court of Human Rights for being in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights by facilitating the illegal transport of prisoners for torture, and for being in breach of the Hague convention on Neutrality. At this point I formally requested APO Benn to arrest these US troops under the Hague Convention V, for being in breach of international law on neutrality. When I asked him to record my request for the arrest of the US troops he acknowledged my request but took no action to arrest any of the US troops. I then went to the bar area to get a cup of coffee. There were several US soldiers in the queue for coffee, and I greeted them and asked them if they were going to Iraq. They informed me that they were. When I asked them what unit they were with APO Benn interrupted me, and forcefully removed me from the queue at the bar. I again told them these US troops that I was a peace activist and intended no harm to anyone and I again wished them a sage journey to Iraq. At this point APO Benn informed me that I would be removed from the airport if I persisted in talking to the US soldiers. He pushed me against the bar area, and something on his uniform or person caused a minor cut to my finger. He informed me that I was to go immediately to the departure area and remain there or I would be removed from the airport. He was accompanied during all this time by a person who appeared to a manager in civilian clothes. I asked this person what his name was, but he refused to tell me. Both of them accompanied me to Departure Gate 3 and remained there until I boarded the plane. At this point I realised that my left index finger was bleeding, and was creating a bit of a mess. I applied a tissue to it but it continued to bleed, so I went back to APO Benn and informed him that I needed a sticking plaster to attend to the injury. He produced sticking plaster and an antiseptic wipe from his kit, and I applied these to the injury. When I tried to take some photographs from the departure gate area I was prevented from doing so by APO Benn. While APO Benn’s behaviour towards me may have been technically within the remit of his authority, his refusals and the persistent refusal of the Airport authorities, the Gardai, and the Irish Government to arrest and intern the US soldiers who pass through Shannon airport almost on a daily basis, is a blatantly breach of the terms of the Hague Convention V on Neutrality, by Ireland and by all the relevant Irish authorities. |
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Comments (13 of 13)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13US soldiers at Shannon avail of duty free, and queue up for coffee and refreshments, take photos at will but peace activist hindered prevented from taking photos and prevented from buying a coffee.
Just resting before entering the killing fields of Iraq
The Irish army are no longer neutral and certainly do not stand idly by. They are seen here guarding the US airforce Hercules, in case some peace activist might paint it or whack it with an axe.
Waiting for Godot on Good Friday?
This World airways flight is on a tour of death duties. Could we in Ireland not even take a break from supplying the killing fields on Good Friday? Our neutrality, sense of impartiality, and sense of what is right and wrong, and our sense of morality have all been crucified at Shannon airport.
See the world, and kill our neighbours?
I wonder how many of those boys will be going home in one piece?
say bye bye to your mental health and your right leg from the knee...
fffffffreeedom, more like feifdom.
Thank you Ed for your endurance in the face of APO and Aer Rianta thuggery at Shannon Airport. Still don't forget to make written complaints to both these organisations for the assault which resulted in your injury and the harassment generally at the hands of Mr Benn.
Well I don't see any thing cool about these lads going to their deaths.
Remeber a huge proportion of the "grunts" join to get an education or just through lack of any other prospects. As the US national guard recruiters put it: "good pay while you learn importatnt job skills, gain critical life experiences and acquire the kind of leadership training thta future employers look for"
I think Ed is doing absolutely the right thing hereand fair play to him.
In fact we should be encouraging them to go AWOL big time as aproximately 5,500 American soldiers have.
Most empires survive external attack but rot from the inside and the ordinary Americans are OUR ALLIES in this fight.
Conor
Fair play for holding your ground, for going about it in a completely fair way and for your continued brave activism. That photo of those US soldiers sitting down in fatigues really highlights the levels of soldiers going through Shannon in a way words can't describe.
Suit by Detainee on Transfer to Syria Finds Support in Jet's Log
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/international/americas/30plane.html?ex=1269838800&en=eb4d0162f9624686&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States, saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 as he changed planes in New York and transported him to Syria where, he says, he was held for 10 months in a dank, tiny cell and brutally beaten with a metal cable.
Now federal aviation records examined by The New York Times appear to corroborate Mr. Arar's account of his flight, during which, he says, he sat chained on the leather seats of a luxury executive jet as his American guards watched movies and ignored his protests.
[....]
The discovery of the aircraft, in a database compiled from Federal Aviation Agency records, appears to corroborate part of the story Mr. Arar has told many times since his release in 2003. The records show that a Gulfstream III jet, tail number N829MG, followed a flight path matching the route he described. The flight, hopscotching from New Jersey to an airport near Washington to Maine to Rome and beyond, took place on Oct. 8, 2002, the day after Mr. Arar's deportation order was signed.
After seeing a photograph of the plane and hearing its path, Mr. Arar, 35, of Ottawa, said in a telephone interview: "I think that's it. I think you've found the plane that took me."
[....]
Records show that the plane was owned in 2002 by MJG Aviation, a Florida company that lists its manager as Mark J. Gordon, an entrepreneur who also owned Presidential at the time. Mr. Gordon could not be reached. The plane has since been sold and the tail number has been changed to N259SK, records show.
As for Mr. Arar, he said he felt the identification of the plane helped establish his credibility. "I don't know for sure but probably people had some doubts about what I said," he said. "This goes to prove and corroborate at least part of my story. I hope even more information will come forward."
-- -- -- -- --
The Plane's Path
http://nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/03/29/international/20050330_plane_graphic.html
Gulfstream N259SK, flying under an earlier registration, N829MG, traveled to three American airports and on to Rome on Oct. 8, 2002, the day after a Canadian engineer was ordered deported to Syria.
Nonviolent direct action against the militarisation of Shannon takes all forms. Just takes some imagination, creativity and courage.....you prove that you don't need thousands assembled and stewarded to make an intervention.
These interventions are significant and point to a strategy beyond the 6 monthly marches.
Also reveals how how uptight Irish institutions are at every level about their dirty little secret (well covered up by a compliant mainstream media) at Shannon. Don't want us to see or count the Iraqi dead. Don't want to see the cannon fodder passing through.
U.S. Barred From Sending 13 Detainees Abroad
Washington Post
Wednesday, March 30, 2005; Page A11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10997-2005Mar29.html
A federal judge yesterday barred the Bush administration from transferring a group of detainees from the U.S. military prison in Cuba to the custody of foreign governments without first giving the prisoners a chance to challenge the move in court.
U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. said he was preventing transfers without advance notice to bar the government from "unilaterally and silently taking actions" to move detainees outside the reach of U.S. courts. The government must give detainees' lawyers 30 days' notice of any proposed transfer, the judge ruled, so their lawyers have time to object.
Big rise in US troops using Shannon
ADVERTISEMENT
ALMOST 100,000 US troops have passed through Shannon Airport so far this year, three times the number for the corresponding period last year.
The record for annual troop traffic through Shannon - set last year when 158,549 stopped over - will be broken by the end of May if the current rate of troop movement continues.
Figures released yesterday showed that 95,984 US troops passed through the airport on 690 flights in the first quarter of this year.
The 34,647 that stopped in January alone is just short of the 35,405 troops that used Shannon in the first quarter of 2004, and not far off the 39,585 that passed through in the first three months of 2003 - during the build-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The military traffic is estimated to have generated €12m for Shannon so far this year, bringing to about €55m in total the income received in respect of the 453,388 US troops who have stopped en route to Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of 2002.
Clare Fianna Fail Senator Timmy Dooley said the increased movement was largely due to shorter terms of duty for US troops, but peace activist Ed Horgan yesterday called for Shannon to be "closed to the US military".
The C-130 Hercules has 4 engines
the aircraft in the picture is a Casa Cn-235 on the Irish Air Corps
to all the concerned peace activists,
What did you expect! you were warned several times, After the first time I would have placed you under arrest, You opinion about the war is just that, an opinion, your real power to make change is your ability to vote out any leaders that you feel are not doing their job,not to make issues in an air port, in front of outsiders that just gives the impression that Great Ireland is a country full of people with little more to do than whine and make scenes, had you been in an american airport you may have had to be saved from a mob bent on your demise by the very same guard