Sixth Anniversary of Shock And Awe.....

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis

Friday March 20, 2009 12:37

by Paul O'Toole

Pauljotoole at eircom dot net

0863512469

Six years to forget?

On this day and arround this time in 2003, Taoiseach Bertie Aherne rose to his feet in Dail Eireann to deliver a most devistating and devisive speech. A speech which would forever change the course of Irish Forigen Policy and Irelands role in the world as a force for good, and would leave us tainted beyond recognition as a supporter of the new world order agenda of 'pre-emptive strike'. With his colleagues in Fianna Fail along with their partners in government the Progressive Democrats voted to allow the facilities at Shannon Civilian Airport to remain available to the US government to this end.

This most disgraceful act of utter disregard for the law of the land, International Law, and the innocent lives of those to whomb this act would hurt the most has continnued to this day unchallenged, unchanged and unabated.

The undermining of the UN and acting unilateraly without any legal cover for what has become the most unforgivable chapter in Irish history any government has oversaw is without doubt a sin future generations will have to bear.

Haifa Zangana, an Iraqi woman, spoke in Liberty Hall Dublin last year of her experience of 'Operation Iraqi Liberation' , I almost lost the contents of my stomach. She described how a batallion of US marines - the best trained soldiers in the world- decended on her house outside Baghdad and raped her repeatedly, they raped her twin 7 year old daughters repeatedly while her husband was made to watch and then shot all her family and left them for dead, burnig the house down to destroy any evidence as they left. Miraculously, you might well think, she survived.

She described life in Baghdad before and after the invasion. She described how there are now 1,000,000 widows in Baghdad and across the country, 5,000,000 orphans and 1,474,000 innocent men, women and children murdered since the beginning of Shock And Awe. An opperation that GW Bush and almost all western media outlets described as a success.

There are no words available to describe the horrors which the Irish Government have assisted to bring to bear upon the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and now Palestine. I, for one, am appalled and will remain apalled at the level of manovelance this little Island has shown itself to becapable of. When once opposition politicians, now in power, sell their voices to attain that coveted position on the other side of the house you would wonder if they had any integrity to begin with when they shouted from platforms and the backs of trucks at Anti-War rallies.

As the Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who worked for Al-Baghdadiya television, at disgust for unleashing unimaginable military devistation on innocent people, gets three years in prison for throwing his shoe (and missing) --All the leaders of the Western World swan arround like peacocks who just found another golden egg. Un challenged in the media, in the courts, in public opinion, on the doorsteps, in the UN.

Bertie Aherne (F.F.) Taoiseach said that... 'It would be a hostile act to remove facilities at Shannon to the US'.
Willy O'Dea(F.F.) Minister for Defense.... profited 410% in Petrel Resources....an Irish Oil exploration company granted licences by the Interim Iraqi Government -the US-to explore vast tracts west of Baghdad as they announced on their website....'No Point Crying Over Spilt Blood'.
Mary O'Rourke(F.F.)....Housespeaker in the Seannad (Dubbed the Granny of the house) signed the overflight and landing papers to allow Irelands participation in this genocide.

Bertie promised a copy of the Attorney Generals submission into the legal right that the government has claimed to continnue with participation in 'War of Agression' and allow Shannon Airport to become part of what Scott Ritter described as 'Part of the Conveyorbelt Of Death to the middle East' without a mandate from the UN.....

...........No one has yet seen a copy....

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Comments (6 of 6)

Iraq: Occupation Year 7

by pat c

Sun Apr 05, 2009 18:36

Dr. Omar Al – Kubaisy recently addressed the European Parliament on the horrendous consequences of the illegal, war criminal and genocidal US, UK and Australian invasion and occupation of Iraq. The transcript of his “Occupation year 7” speech is at the link below.

http://www.countercurrents.org/kubaisy050409.htm

dont forget

by Fianna Failing miserably

Sun Mar 22, 2009 21:28

You can add in the greens now and the 'independents' who all voted to have bertie back as taoiseach for a few promises....or should i say lies.

TDs with blood on their hands

by Eoin

Sun Mar 22, 2009 18:05

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/28244

Full list of TDs who voted back in Jan 2003 to participate in the impending invasion of Iraq:

Ahern, Dermot.
Ahern, Noel.
Andrews, Barry.
Brady, Johnny.
Brady, Martin.
Breen, James.
Brennan, Seamus.
Browne, John.
Callanan, Joe.
Callely, Ivor.
Carey, Pat.
Carty, John.
Cassidy, Donie.
Collins, Michael.
Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.
Coughlan, Mary.
Cowen, Brian.
Cregan, John.
Cullen, Martin.
de Valera, Sile.
Dempsey, Noel.
Dempsey, Tony.
Dennehy, John.
Devins, Jimmy.
Ellis, John.
Fahey, Frank.
Finneran, Michael.
Fitzpatrick, Dermot.
Fleming, Sean.
Gallagher, Pat The Cope.
Glennon, Jim.
Grealish, Noel.
Hanafin, Mary.
Haughey, Sean.
Hoctor, Maire.
Jacob, Joe.
Keaveney, Cecilia.
Kelleher, Billy.
Kelly, Peter.
Killeen, Tony.
Kirk, Seamus.
Kitt, Tom.
Lenihan, Conor.
McCreevy, Charlie.
McDaid, James.
McDowell, Michael.
McEllistrim, Thomas.
McGuinness, John.
Moloney, John.
Moynihan, Donal.
Moynihan, Michael.
Mulcahy, Michael.
Nolan, M.J.
Fearghal, Sean.
O'Connor, Charlie.
O'Dea, Willie.
O'Donnell, Liz.
O'Donoghue, John.
O'Donovan, Denis.
O'Flynn, Noel.
O'Keeffe, Ned.
O'Malley, Tim.
Parlon, Tom.
Power, Peter.
Power, Sean.
Ryan, Eoin.
Sexton, Mae.
Smith, Brendan.
Smith, Michael.
Wallace, Dan.
Walsh, Joe.
Wilkinson, Ollie.
Woods, Michael.

Democratically sanctioned Genocide

by paul o toole

Sat Mar 21, 2009 18:43

pauljotoole at eircom dot net

Theres a mouthful. Iraq is now in charge of its own affairs?.
15 US military Airbases built in proximity to the major oilfields to protect the flow and price of oil for the Western Market.
90% of the 'reconstruction' that has gone on in Iraq over the last three years has been in US Permanent Military Bases.
Other 'reconstruction' is carried out by US appionted 'contractors' and granted as Open-Ended contracts....which means that there are no figures or costs, a tactic which will keep Iraq in debt to US corporations and government for the forseeable future.
The UN published a document called 'Iraq on the Edge' stating that invading Iraq will in the longterm, destabilise the reigon for years to come.
All communication networks in Iraq are licensed to Western Companies. All power networks are being built and run by overseas companies. All repairs to oil rigs and refineries are being paid for on open ended no fee contract. All public services are up for tender to private investors.
Any repairs that local Iraqi's have attempted to get done, again, after their country had been destroyed for the second time, on any part of their infrastructure, to bring some sort of 'normalcy' (as you describe) has been met with shootings, arrests and airstrikes and more devistation.
Refineries outside Basra, which had been attempted to be rebuilt on a volunteer basis by former employees, no wages and no conditions, were bombed to obliteration by their Liberators.

A first world soverign country blown back to the stone age which had a medical service hailed as the 'flagship of the Middle-East' was destroyed in 1991 and prevented form rebuilding until they bombed it to the floor again in 2003.

The most advanced militaries US/UK, bombed a country to pieces in three months, but not before they disarmed them...twice....and they call them 'The bravest of the Brave. Cowards I call them.
Depleted Uranium which has left Iraq radioactively poisoned for the next 4.5 billion years has ensured that Iraq and its people are to suffer outrageous levels of cancer for the future existence of this planet. 70% of the people of Safwan outside Basra now suffer cancer from DU poisoning-there had never been a case of cancer reported up to the invasion.
There are an estimated 450,000 unexploded cluster bombs which will most likley be discovered by Iraqs surviving children.
This is a holocaust called democracy.
Iraq was going to have Democratic elections within two years according to sources within the White House but the US and UK couldent have the threat of democracy realised.
450,000 murdered in 1991, 1,500,000 killed by sanctions throughout the 90's, 1,500,000 more killed to date since 2003, and millions more to die with the poison left in the ground from the US and UK warmongers and dont forget Irelands role in all this either

And with people like you Jim we can all sleep restfully safe in the knoweledge thinking we done a service to mankind....thanks for that.

Iraqi Holocaust : 2.3 Million Iraqi Excess Deaths

Sat Mar 21, 2009 18:08

Gideon Polya writes on the 6th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Full text at link

March 20, 2009 marks the 6th anniversary of the illegal, utterly unjustified, war criminal invasion of Iraq by US, UK and Australian forces. Post-invasion violent and non-violent excess deaths total 2.3 million and refugees total 6 million in a continuing Iraqi Holocaust and Genocide.

6 years later

by Jim

Sat Mar 21, 2009 16:28

Iraq has a democratic constitution and independent judiciary, a democratically elected system of local representatives and a democratically elected national parliament with broad popular support from millions of Iraqis for its multi-party system that represents the religious and ethnic communities in Iraq, an elected Prime Minister and an elected President. The Iraqi police and military are now in charge of most of the country as the hand over from US and Coalition forces continues. Violence caused by the disintegration of Iraqi society following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime has been dramatically reduced and the security situation in most of the country has enabled normalcy to return.
There remain huge economic, social, ethnic, sectarian and political problem in Iraq but whereas prior to 2003 Iraq was run for the benefit of a tyrannical ruler, his sons and henchmen, it now has a blossuming democracy and a bright future ahead for its people who can now run their own affairs as they see fit.

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Sixth Anniversary of Shock And Awe.....

Comments (6 of 6)