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GAAW and US Homeland Security to search Aircraft at Shannon airport
 international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report
 Friday June 27, 2008 18:08 by Edward Horgan
Irish Government and Gardai still refusing to search US military and CIA rendition planes
While the Irish Government are still accepting worthless assurances that nothing untoward is being transported on US military and CIA planes being refuelled at Shannon airport, and has instructed Gardai not to search any such aircraft, a fascinating situation is now developing.
Two separate aircraft searching schemes are now being planned for Shannon airport. One is being organised by the Galway Alliance against War, to search US aircraft travelling to and from the US in case they may be carrying prisoners for torture or munitions of war that may be used in crimes against humanity.
The second searches will be carried out by the US Dept of Homeland Security to ensure that "UNLAWFUL COMBATANTS" or explosives or nuclear devices are not being transported on US bound planes.
The combined resources of Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW), in cooperation with Amnesty International Ireland, and the US Department of Homeland Security, are now being activated to counter the failure by the Irish Government and Shannon airport authorities to search aircraft at Shannon airport. These very diverse organisations announced their separate plans to search aircraft at Shannon airport on the same day, 25 June 2008, on the eve of the United Nations Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
The GAAW initiative was first proposed in a letter in the Irish Times
The following is the text of a letter published in the Irish Times on Friday 9th May 2008.
A chance to end 'rendition' flights
Madam, - Last month the Republic of Ireland witnessed the resignation of Bertie Ahern as the leader of Fianna Fáil. He has been succeeded by a new party leader and Taoiseach, Brian Cowen.
We believe this transfer of political power presents the Government with a significant opportunity to review its policy on the use of Irish airports by US aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal kidnappings, the so-called "extraordinary renditions".
Aircraft landing at Irish airports, such as Shannon, are suspected of regularly travelling to and from countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, where torture is used. Such aircraft, usually owned by commercial companies but actually operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), are also suspected of heading for countries in Eastern Europe, where secret internment camps exist.
However, since the inception of the seemingly endless and calamitous "war on terror", the Government has merely accepted "diplomatic assurances" from the US administration that Irish airports are not being used as stop-over points for aircraft carrying kidnapped individuals. Thus, requests by peace activists for the Garda Síochána to search suspected aircraft have been refused. We believe this situation is no longer politically or morally tolerable.
For example, in April the Council of Europe's rapporteur on secret detentions, Dick Marty, castigated what he referred to as the "hypocrisy" of European governments in continuing to deny their involvement in secret detentions or illegal renditions.
Speaking at a Brussels conference about reporting on torture, Mr Marty asserted: "The United States made a choice to fight the war on terror using illegal means, but they at least made it openly and defend it. European governments, on the other hand, have been entirely hypocritical since their complicity has been clandestine. Even now, they do not have the courage to declare their involvement, unless forced to do so."
Furthermore, we agree with Mr Marty that governments "must also stop hiding behind the hypocrisy of diplomatic assurances. They are not worth the paper they are written on, and it is to be complicit in torture to accept them."
We, the undersigned - comprising diverse groups and individuals living and working in the west of Ireland, elsewhere in the State, and in other jurisdictions - have now decided to form a People's Inspection Team.
From today we are, therefore, beginning to recruit active lay inspectors to aid the Irish Government and the Garda in undertaking thorough and meaningful inspections of all aircraft suspected of involvement in "extraordinary renditions" landing at Shannon. - Yours, etc,
RHUHEL AHMED (Former detainee, Guantanamo prison facility); JOHN ARDEN (Playwright fellow of the World Society of Literature, Galway); TONY BENN (Former Labour MP, London); RONAN BENNETT (Author, London); RICHARD BOYD BARRETT (Chairperson of Irish Anti-War Movement); Prof NOAM CHOMSKY (Academic and author, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA); SARAH CLANCY (Galway One World Centre); Rev Canon PATRICK COMERFORD (President of Irish CND); CATHERINE CONNOLLY (City councillor, Galway); Dr JOHN CUNNINGHAM, (Historian, National University of Ireland, Galway); MARGARETTA D'ARCY (Member of Aosdána, Galway); MARY DEMPSEY (Artist, Galway); Dr SABER ELSAFTY (Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Ireland); NIALL FARRELL (Galway Alliance against War); DENNIS J. HALLIDAY (Former UN Assistant Secretary-General); BRIAN HANNEY (Teacher, Galway) EDWARD HORGAN (Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance); PAUL MICHAEL GARRETT (Siptu Shop Steward, National University of Ireland, Galway); JIMMY KELLY (Regional Secretary, Unite); FRANK KEOGHAN (People's Movement); MARILYN LAROSA (Galway); KEN LOACH (Film director, London); DONAL LUNNY (Musician, Okinawa, Japan); PATRICIA McKENNA (Green Party); DETTE McLOUGHLIN (Social Workers' Party, Galway); PHELIM MURNION (Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology); JOE MURRAY (Afri: Action from Ireland); Mgr RAYMOND MURRAY (Armagh); TREASA NÍ CHEANNABHÁIN (Palestinian Solidarity Campaign); SEOSAMH Ó CUAIG (County Councillor, Galway); LAURENT PARDON (Galway); Prof WILLIAM A. SCHABAS (Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights, Galway).
This situation is surely quite unique, an Irish/American solution to an American/Irish problem.
The GAAW search teams were formally launched in Galway on Wednesday 25 June 2008, at a meeting in the Galway City Museum, which was addressed by Amnesty International Ireland chief executive Colm O'Gorman, and peace activist Edward Horgan.
The first of these aircraft inspections should have already been carried out one week ago on Wed 18 June when Edward Horgan requested the Gardai to search CIA associated plane Learjet N54PA which was being refuelled under the watchful but inactive eyes of Shannon airport security. Edward went to the security lodge near the fire station, and requested first that Shannon airport security search this aircraft for evidence of torture rendition, and when they refused, he then requested the Gardai who arrived at the scene to search this aircraft. They also refused. In the stand-off that ensued, Edward then announced his intention to search the aircraft, but was forcefully prevented from doing so by Gardai and Shannon airport police. See indymedia report.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/88036,
There will of necessity be some uncertainty surrounding the nature and timing of these inspections. This is necessary for security reasons. It would be inappropriate if the CIA or the US military were aware in advance of when any such inspections were planned, because they could simply over-fly Shannon if they had prisoners on board, or if they contained officials who were wanted by the International Criminal Courts for crimes against humanity, including torture. A list of US suspects who may have been involved in crimes against humanity is being prepared, which includes Mr Donald Rumsfeld. The authority for these searches comes from the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the Geneva Conventions on War, and the Genocide Convention, as instruments of international law, and the Criminal Justice (UN Convention Against Torture) Act 2000, as the enabling Irish legislation on this matter.
We look forward to the cooperation of all concerned in these important matters, especially the Gardai, and the Irish judicial system, including the courts, who will be formally asked to prepare arrest warrants in some specific cases.
The legality of any aircraft searches carried out by US Homeland Security at Shannon may also need to be challenged in the Irish courts.
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Comments (17 of 17)
Jump To Comment: 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1However feasible, it might be useful to determine what other sorts of groups are organising or thinking to organise similar resistance to US militarism; in the rest of Ireland and, perhaps, in Scotland and England. Perhaps someone has thought about this already - some co-ordination of effort might be possible?
Thank you for pressing on to uphold neutrality. We really have tried to stop them from beating the war drum since the very week of 9/11- we aren't giving up even though the us government goes very harshly against those exercising freedom of speech here in the land of the free. There are just jail cells full of free speakers.
Be careful, and God Bless. the cia and the new "fatherland security" don't take kindly to being reminded of a nation's sovereignty. Just look at the Homeland Security wall going through Indigenous Territory in arizona-- Tohono O'otham territory. The US says they can violate International treaties because they have big guns. Look at america, the brand new england, it would seem.
Watch each other's back, that all get home safely.
The dress-sense of Homeland Security employees, if your photo is accurate, is enough of itself to have them banned from any decent country. Slob Lite? More seriously - there are NO circumstances in which Homeland Security shoud be allowed next or near an Irish airfield, or permitted to operate at all on Irish soil; whereas we as Irish people have a duty to demand the inspection of questionable US aircraft at Irish airports. Assurances from George W. Bush are like invitations to tea from Hannibal Lecter. Our government, especially Fianna Fáil and their Green poodles, have been disgustingly craven over this.
To whom it may concern,
Substantial evidence concerning CIA rendition flights at Shannon, including detailed flight logs have been submitted by me to the following organisations and individuals:
1. The TDIP Committee of the European parliament investigating Rendition. This included a written and oral submission by me to this committee in an open public session at the parliament in Brussels.
2. Copies of this submission were also sent to the Council of Europe investigation committee and to Mr Dick Marty, Council of Europe Special Raporteur.
3. Two separate submissions were made to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, in 2005 and in 2007, by peace activists Edward Horgan, Mary Kelly, Tim Hourigan, Deirdre Morgan, and Conor Cregan.
4. Separate report sent to Irish Human Rights Commission.
5. Detailed reports on rendition related issues, including abuse by Gardai of the powers at Shannon airport and failures by Gardai to carry out their duties were sent by me to the following individuals.
5.1. Minister for Justice Michael McDowell,
5.2. Inspector of Prisons, Mr Justice Kinlen.
5.3. Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy
5.4. Ms Kathleen O'Toole, Garda Inspectorate.
Further detailed submissions are being prepared at present. including updating the evidence already submitted, and these will be submitted to the appropriate organisations and individuals in the near future.
This is an ongoing programme in support of individuals who have suffered torture, and other abuses of human rights, and also in support of the rule of law, and to hold to account those who have committed or been complicit in crimes against humanity.
I wish to repeat my request here for volunteers to monitor the continuing abuse of Shannon airport by US military, US mercenaries and contractors for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and CIA torture rendition and other activities at Shannon airport.
Edward Horgan
"You DO NOT have any conclusive evidence that any rendition flights are occuring."
If the police insisted on having conclusive evidence beforehand, they would never search anybody or anything at all. So this is a nonsense criterion, coming from somebody with misguided loyalties.
It is the duty of the Garda Síochána to search for conclusive evidence in this case as in any case when a crime of violence is reported to them. The duty of the _citizen_ is to hold the Garda Síochána to its duty to investigate crimes of torture and to search for conclusive evidence. Otherwise, their mistaken loyalties to misguided American "authorities" will lead them to neglect their duties and to collude in these crimes of torture.
The evidence that already exists, e.g. flight logs showing that aircraft N54PA has recently landed at the illegal concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay and soon afterwards at Shannon, constitute sufficient grounds for suspicion to place a duty on the Garda to search such aircraft. Just as customs officials in Iceland now search ALL international flights for evidence of crimes of torture, so ought the Irish authorities comply with the Torture Act and take _effective_ measures to prevent crimes of torture. They ought to search for conclusive evidence.
Bizarrely enough, all of us have to go through security checks as we fly out through Irish airports, even when there is NO evidence AT ALL of any wrongdoing by any of us. A10, if you gave the security man at Dublin Airport your assurances and reassurances that you were not carrying a bomb or a gun, and refused to take your shoes and belt off, he would probably take you away to his office for a private interview.
So enough nonsense, please!
Best,
Coilín.
Seems to me Ciaron, the Catholic Workers have already inspected a plane at Shannon, as have Eoin Dubsky, and Mary Kelly. Consider yourself already signed up
other link on executive jet dirty nuke threat.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-03-03-chertoff...N.htm
This page from USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-06-18-nuke...N.htm
mentionde that USHS agents at Andrews base are trying to determine if the detectors now in use are up to the task of finding depleted uranium, cesium-137, cobalt-57 or barium-133 hidden on a plane. Tests are also being done on other detectors to help officials decide whether to invest in more of the detectors the government already has or to buy a different brand. After the radioactive material is hidden on the planes, two-person teams scan them inch-by-inch and the information they collect is reviewed by a team of analysts working in one of the base's empty hangars.
USHS spokesperson then said scanning the planes overseas — or at least off the U.S. mainland — is the best approach. He says Homeland Security is working towards that, setting up test programs in Shannon, Ireland; Anchorage and the Caribbean.
That means of course Shannon Garda will lend their stocks of depleted uranium, cesium-137, cobalt-57 or barium-133 to the private aircraft types which we know are CIA rendition planes to hide.
i hope Shannon Garda have enough depleted uranium, cesium-137, cobalt-57 or barium-133 to do the job. I' d hate to think our government had to import that type of shite. But one thing is certain, since Spring USHS Chertoff has been pressurised to get the executive jet dirty bomb threat potentiality out of the way.
Homeland security consultant Randall Larsen told USA Today - Chertoff's plan has holes. "Bono and Bill Gates would be prevented from smuggling a nuke into the U.S., but a terrorist with a nuke in a Gulfstream who takes off from a remote airfield in Africa or Latin America … would have no problem getting it to D.C.," he said. "Let's just hope the terrorists fly out of (London's) Heathrow."
As you can see - Ireland must do her duty. It has nothing to do with rendition.
US Homeland Security want to test geiger counters in Shannon.
Ciaron, I'd say you are perfectly welcome to join the PIT and those of us on the list would be delighted to have you join in - at least speaking for myself I'd be delighted.
I don't buy lotto tickets (not sure about the rest of the Catholic Worker 5?) but I'm sure some of us would be willing to sign these types of letters if we were asked. Not sure why we're not? Would have thought the acquittal would have mainstreamed us enough and the distancing by the anti-war movement when we acted in 03 ("warm friends cooling" as Phil Berrigan use to say!), would have thawed by now?
Solidarity with all the anti-war activism that continues at Shannon the daily movement of cannon fodder to Iraq is maybe more significant than the CIA use of the airport (if not as mainstream media friendly).
We welcome those genuine peace activists who wish to join the aircraft inspections team at Shannon airport.
Please contact gaaw1@eircom.net, or edward_horgan@hotmail.com
I would emphasise that the most immediate requirement is for teams of monitors to come to Shannon on a regular basis, or even occasionally to monitor and help create an updated database of the US military, CIA, and chartered troop-carrying aircraft that are being refuelled daily at Shannon airport. Assistance will be provided by local peace activists, but we urgently need your assistance also.
You don’t need anyone's permission to come to Shannon and monitor what is going on. Ideally you should plan to spend at lease one overnight at Shannon, so you may need a tent. However, even a few hours monitoring would be appreciate. A camera, binoculars and notebook are all that you need.
We do not expect or want anyone to break the law. The purpose of all our activities is to uphold the law, not break it.
It is also important that each individual should take responsibility for their own actions, and do only what they consider appropriate at any particular time.
You are entitled to go to Shannon airport terminal buildings area for any lawful business which includes, as an air passenger, meeting air passengers, going the shops at the airport to have a meal, buy an newspaper, visiting the Park Inn hotel for a meal, or a drink, and for a whole range of other lawful business, including the monitoring of aircraft and the photographing of aircraft. You may be asked to leave the airport by Security or by Gardai, but they have to have a valid and lawful reason to do so.
For those who are not familiar with Shannon airport, it has a seven mile perimeter, and the aircraft at Shannon can be seen from very many points along this perimeter. About one third of this perimeter is along the Shannon estuary, and most of the area can be viewed along the approach road to the airport, which is a public road, although it is on Airport property.
Another stretch of the perimeter is on Shannon Development property that includes the industrial estate. This runs from the Westair roundabout, which is about 200 meters before the security checkpoint, and provides viewing points provided you have binoculars.
The remaining and longest stretch of the airport perimeter is on the Northern side of the airport, along the main runway. This can be accessed along the back road that runs behind the airport, and on the north side of the industrial estate also. About half way along this north side perimeter is the Shannon Aerospace aircraft maintenance facility. Just before this there is a public car park and viewing area that is used by aircraft enthusiasts and CIA plane spotters for monitoring aircraft. Gardai also spend some time here monitoring the monitors. This is a very good location to get photos of aircraft taking off and landing.
In the interests of peace and justice, we need your help now.
Edward
I presume the list of those willing to inspect aircraft is not a closed list. How do others join it or apply to join it?
Mark.
In response to A10's 'contribution', I would like to know on what basis he makes the claim that the majority of irish people are NOT concerned with indirectly aiding the suspected torture and illegal detention of foreign 'detainees'. If it's not occuring, then what is the problem with searches? Are we not entitled to investigate possible torture on OUR OWN SOIL?
I have no interest in personal attacks but can someone explain why any act seeking a more just and open world is invariably countered with a personal attack on 'hippies', 'reds' , anti-american...i would appreciate a definition of this from A10 as it sounds quite McCarthyesque, trouble makers...or as A10 states, a pain in the arse of the gardai. Well, if suspected torture victims don't elicit concern, at least the poor, downtrodden police force do.
However i am very happy to see a dissenting comment as voicing our opinions and listening to others is the only way towards solutions of any kind. Just next time, keep the hippy slights to yourself! It only makes you appear ill-informed and childish.
A10 claims to be a pilot and an ex German Special Forces operative who kicked the ass of a rish army ranger when he showed his girlfriend a good time. Walter indeed.
Doing nothing about crimes against humanity and torture is no longer acceptable
Please note, Padraig O'Connaire did not address the meeting, and remained silent in the background.
Silence is no longer acceptable
GAAW become a recognised law enforcement arm of the Irish Republic???
You DO NOT have any legal standing as a Govt body with statutory powers.
You DO NOT have,contray to your opinions,the support of the majority of the Irish public,for this campain or support for any searches of aircraft.
You DO NOT have any conclusive evidence that any rendition flights are occuring.IF you do why not present it in a European or Swiss court????
You DO NOT even concern the US govt or anyone else involved in this supposedly rendition affair.They can, do and will run rings around a bunch of washed up red anti American hippies jumping up and down outside Shannon.
You DO have the propensity to be major pain in the arses,to Gardai,and security in Shannon.
You DO have the ability to make complete clowns of yourselves,in the eyes of people living and trying to work in Shannon.
It is absolutely of necessity that the Irish government understands the seriousness of the human rights violations in which they have made Ireland complicit. I attended the excellent meeting yesterday, Friday, kindly facilitated here in Galway by the staff and management of Galway City Museum. Let it be understood plain: Gardai at Shannon ARE UNDER ORDERS from the Dept. of Justice and the government through the department NOT to search suspicious aircraft at Shannon. Thus can government lap-dogs continue to slobber out the usual diversions about there being lack of evidence to instigate searches - it is IMPERATIVE in government eyes that no substantial evidence is ever produced. Yet anyone with a computer can discover, as I and others have done, that certain aircarft used in rendition flights have flown in and out of Shannon airport to refuel. The government's cowardice, which makes the rest of us as Irish citizens complicit in war crimes, is one of the hallmarks of a bought-and-sold 'democracy.' The US trades democracies like a child trades marbles. More honest politicians have now and then hinted that US investment might be hampered if we looked too closely at their aircraft. But the US doesn't care about Ireland as an investment platform and never has; economic factors alone determine where they invest. Irishmen and women should show that they will not have it said to them or their children that they stood idly by while their airspace and airports were used to enable the US to torture and murder. How many upright and God-fearing Germans said 65 years ago that they did not know what those ordinary-looking vans were for, the ones with the strange fittings on their exhaust-pipes, and didn't know what was happening when their Jewish neighbours began to disappear? How easy it is to 'not know.' But how much worse and unforgivable to know and still do nothing.