Irish Government's (non) response to US Election Results

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Wednesday November 08, 2006 19:26 by Dáil observer

Today in the Dáil, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen was questioned by Joe Higgins T.D. on the significance of the results of the US Midterm Elections and the Irish Governments continued facilitation of the US Military at Shannon Airport.

Dáil Éireann, Leaders’ Questions, 8/11/2006

Joe Higgins (The Socialist Party): Will the Government draw meaningful conclusions from the drubbing received by American President George Bush and his party in the mid-term elections, which was, above all, a rejection by swelling numbers of ordinary Americans of the unspeakable barbarities unleashed on the Iraqi people by the imperialist invasion of their country? Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, men, women and children, have been slaughtered and maimed and millions have been terrified as a result of the actions of the forces that went there allegedly to liberate them. Let us not forget the thousands of American soldiers, working class youths in uniform, who have also been slaughtered.
In January 2003, two months before the invasion, the Independent Deputies and this Socialist Party Deputy moved a Private Members' motion pointing to the catastrophe that would result from the then imminent invasion of Iraq. The then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, answered our motion on behalf of the Government. The Taoiseach and the Government gave credence at all times to the monstrous lies of Bush and Blair that their invasion was about removing weapons of mass destruction and peace when we said it was to remove oil resources and secure imperialist domination of the Middle East.
The Minister made crucial facilities available to the US war machine at Shannon Airport and continues to do so. On an annual basis, 250,000 American soldiers are facilitated at Shannon in pursuance of the occupation of Iraq. He dismissed with contempt 100,000 people who marched in Dublin on 15 February 2003 and defied with contempt the views of the majority of the Irish people who opposed the invasion and the use of Shannon Airport by the US military. He allowed the commander-in-chief, President Bush, to parade in Shannon with his troops. Now that the American people have rejected the bloody carnage that Mr. Bush and his neo-conservative cabal have inflicted on the people of Iraq, will the Irish Government implement the wish of the Irish people and withdraw forthwith its facilitation of, and de facto support for, the Bush war machine at Shannon Airport?

Brian Cowen (Minister for Finance): The only conclusion I can draw at the moment is that they only elected one socialist Deputy. A Government motion was debated in this Chamber and passed, defeating Deputy Joe Higgins's motion. The decisions made and explained by Government at the time, which were consistent with our foreign policy traditions, were approved of in this House. It is not the work of a cabal but a democratic decision of this assembly.

J. Higgins: That is a contemptible response from an Irish Government when the entire world is today talking about the profound meaning of the outcome of the mid-term elections in the United States. The Democratic Party is not a radical, revolutionary or socialist alternative to the Republican Party but that is not the point. The point is that the vote amounts to a massive rejection of the atrocities that the Bush regime has inflicted on the people of Iraq facilitated by the Government of which Mr. Cowen is a Minister. If he was convinced that the support he continues to give to American troops was right he would speak for more than ten seconds to explain to the Irish people why he defies their wishes. This morning innocent Palestinian people were massacred in the village of Beit Hanoun by the Israeli defence forces, carrying all the hallmarks of the Rumsfeld-Bush shock and awe tactics. It was a further devastation of the peoples of the Middle East as a result of their interference, which has been supported at all stages by the Minister.
Does the Minister agree with the majority of the American people now that the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq are a disaster? Does he regret the role the Irish Government has played and is playing in facilitating the ongoing occupation? Does he apologise for his role? Will he continue with the same subservient policy to the Bush and Blair regimes in support of their agenda, which has nothing to do with world peace or the welfare of the peoples of the Middle East? We should not be surprised he supports them when the Government follows their neo-liberal capitalist policies such as privatising our public industries. The Minister must do better and show respect to the Irish people by answering the crucial questions raised by the outcome of this election in the United States.

B. Cowen: I have no respect for the Deputy's anti-Americanism. I never have and never will.

J. Higgins: That is another easy diversion. What does he mean by anti-Americanism? Do I hate the Rocky Mountains? Do I hate the Great Lakes?

B. Cowen: I refer to the Deputy's vituperative approach, which is entirely predictable.

J. Higgins: The Minister shows the Irish people contempt.

An Ceann Comhairle: I ask Deputy Joe Higgins to resume his seat.

B. Cowen: The Irish Government continues to support UN resolutions on these matters, which were unanimously adopted. In the debate to which the Deputy referred, the Irish Government set out its position and I stand over every word of it because it was consistent with our foreign policy traditions, despite Deputy Joe Higgins's assertions to the contrary. I do not agree with anything else the Deputy has to say on the subject and never will. We will just have to disagree.

J. Higgins: What is the Minister's interpretation of the American election result?