Anti-War Vigil on the Eve of U.S. Joint Chief of Staff Visit to Dublin

by Damien - DCW Wed Jul 20, 2005 02:31

A protest vigil will be held at the main gates of the Phoenix Park from 3.30pm tomorrow as US Joint Chief of Staff Richard B Myers meets Defence Minister Willie O’Dea at the Dept of Defence on Infirmary Rd.

As Myers inspects Irish troops and discusses with his Irish counterpart chief of staff General Jim Sreenan ways to combat terrorism, members of the Catholic Worker and other anti-war activists will demand Myers be arrested for overseeing acts of US state terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They will also demand the Irish government apply the same ritual of troop and weaponry inspection at Shannon Airport, a key ally in the illegal and immoral invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over 150,000 US troops have passed through Shannon in the first 6 months of this year. The Irish taxpayer continues to pay €10,000 a day to subsidise US military overflight fees.

For more information contact Ciaron at 087 9184552

See link for map: http://www.visitdublin.com/maps/map4.asp

Photos available: Contact Elaine at 087 6969799

http://www.peaceontrial.com

by Baghdad Tue Jul 19, 2005 18:31

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/iraq

by Justin Morahan - Peace People Tue Jul 19, 2005 13:48

To co-incide with the meeting of the BBC Governors AGM this evening a variety of media activists and film-makers in London are joining peace campaigners in holding a rally protesting the BBC's coverage of the war against Iraq.

The organizors, "A Call for Light", have issued a powerful statement charging the station with "continuing failure to report on the events that matter; especially the ongoing occupation of Iraq."

They describe the BBC coverage from the run-up to the war till now as "lamentable".

They say that genuine antiwar voices have been absent from broadcasts, knowledgeable experts, including former arms inspectors ignored and true costs in terms of innocent lives unmentioned.

"The orgy of killing by our forces has been glossed over and sanitized, while essential services such as water, power and hospitals have been, and continue to be, targeted," they say.

They say the BBC largely ignored the fact that whole cities had been collectively punished, and there had been virtually no mention on the use of illegal weapons such as napalm and cluster bombs.
"Filmmakers against War" and "Cat's Dream" are supporting the protest which will include a series of mock TV news reports to "show the BBC how they should be doing it."

Last December the campaign held a rally outside BBC offices criticizing the way that language was deliberately twisted. stretched, and degraded.
Euphemisms such as "precision air strikes", "collateral damage" and "friendly fire" they described as "phrases thrown over a tragedy like a blanket over a corpse; to blur uncomfortably sharp edges and make tolerable the ugly truth beneath,"

by For the Record Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:33

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050719/ap_on_re_us/obit_westmoreland

by Ciaron - Pit Stop Ploughshares/DCW (personalcapacity) Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:16 087 918 4552

Lots of interesting American elites in town at the moment. An NBC crew have been investigating Ireland as the soft entry point for fundamentalist Islamic warriors into Europe, a senior member of the FBI golfed and met with senior Garda this past weekend.

On Wednesday the man Monday's Evening Herald credits with masterminding the wholesale terrorism of the U.S. B-52 bomnbardments and carpet bombing that spearheaded the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, is in town! The Herald also celebrates that relationships between Irish and U.S. militaries are presently at an all time high due to the central roleplayed by Shannon Airport in the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The special relationship Ireland has with the U.S. can be described as faking orgasm while being raped.


These hi profile visits of major cheer leaders and functionaries of the illegal U.S. war on Iraq contrasts starkly with the near evaporation of anti-war activism in Ireland. The authoritarian and moderate left pick up and drop the war in opportunist fashion for reasons of media profile & recruitment, the libertarian left are largely stuck in a rhythym of responding to state initiated set pieces (G8, May Day '04, Bush Visit '04) in terms of confronting power, the churches are largely in retreat from public life, youth culture doesn't seem to connect/empathise with the young U.S. cannon fodder passing through Shannon Airport Irish (28,000 a month presently) to kill, be killed, maimed, or fucked up) in the war, nationalists seem to be compromised by dependency on the U.S. to push agendas in the north to be too pissed of with a foreign base at Shannon....so where is resistance going to come from to Ireland's escalated role in U.S. wars. I truly dunno.

We return to trial October 24th. We will have a series of events leading up to trial and welcome many international anti-war resisters to Dublin for the weeks of trial.

We continue to vigil outside the GPO on Mondays 4pm-6pm and managed to run into amazing people by standing still. "Don't just do something, stand there!" Drop by if you're in town.

by Damien (DCW/PSP) Tue Jul 19, 2005 03:43

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70964