IAWM PRESS RELEASE – 13 February 2013
– Former US diplomat and highest ranking member of US Military to resign over Iraq war visits Ireland this week
– A joint IAWM / PANA Press Conference will be held at 11.00am in Buswell’s Hotel tomorrow Thursday February 14. Attendees: Col. Ann Wright, Richard Boyd Barrett TD and Roger Cole, PANA
– Col. Ann Wright will speak at a Public Meeting this Thursday 14 February, 8.00pm, Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square, Dublin, chaired by former MEP Patricia Mc Kenna
The Irish Anti-war Movement (IAWM) announced today that renowned American Peace Activist, former diplomat and soldier, Col. Ann Wright has arrived in Ireland and will be speaking at a Press Conference in Buswell’s Hotel, Marlborough Street in Dublin at 11.00am on Thursday 14 February.
After the Press Conference, at 12.00pm, she will visit Dáil Eireann and meet with TDs and Senators who are opposed to the US and British wars and the use of Shannon as a military warport.
She will later speak at a public meeting in the Teachers’ Club, Parnell Sq, Dublin at 8.00pm.
The visit by Ann Wright is jointly organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and the Irish anti-War Movement (IAWM).
The statement noted that Col. Ann Wright resigned from the US administration in March 2003 in protest against the invasion of Iraq. She has been an active peace activist ever since and helped Cindy Sheehan set up Camp Casey outside George Bush’s ranch. She was also on board the ship Challenger 1 as part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010 when Israel killed nine activists on board the Mavi Marmara.
IAWM PRESS RELEASE – 13 February 2013
– Former US diplomat and highest ranking member of US Military to resign over Iraq war visits Ireland this week
– A joint IAWM / PANA Press Conference will be held at 11.00am in Buswell’s Hotel tomorrow Thursday February 14. Attendees: Col. Ann Wright, Richard Boyd Barrett TD and Roger Cole, PANA
– Col. Ann Wright will speak at a Public Meeting this Thursday 14 February, 8.00pm, Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square, Dublin, chaired by former MEP Patricia Mc Kenna
The Irish Anti-war Movement (IAWM) announced today that renowned American Peace Activist, former diplomat and soldier, Col. Ann Wright has arrived in Ireland and will be speaking at a Press Conference in Buswell’s Hotel, Marlborough Street in Dublin at 11.00am on Thursday 14 February.
After the Press Conference, at 12.00pm, she will visit Dáil Eireann and meet with TDs and Senators who are opposed to the US and British wars and the use of Shannon as a military warport.
She will later speak at a public meeting in the Teachers’ Club, Parnell Sq, Dublin at 8.00pm.
The visit by Ann Wright is jointly organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and the Irish anti-War Movement (IAWM).
The statement noted that Col. Ann Wright resigned from the US administration in March 2003 in protest against the invasion of Iraq. She has been an active peace activist ever since and helped Cindy Sheehan set up Camp Casey outside George Bush’s ranch. She was also on board the ship Challenger 1 as part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010 when Israel killed nine activists on board the Mavi Marmara.
Last week she was one of eight women peace activists who were removed and arrested at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing into John Brennan’s appointment as the new CIA chief. At the Senate Committee protest she wore a placard with the name of Tariq Asiz, a 16 year old boy killed by Drone strike in 2011 that also read ‘Brennan = Drone Killing’.
Luckily she was released from prison on time to visit Ireland.
More info on Ann Wright here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Wright
Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM said:
“The IAWM is delighted to co-host the visit to Ireland of the courageous US peace activist Ann Wright, on the week of the 10th anniversary of the largest ever worldwide anti-war demonstrations that occurred on 15 February 2003. We are over ten years on from the mis-named ‘war on terror’, wars that have only caused much death and destruction to the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Successive Irish Governments have played a disgraceful role in facilitating these US and British wars as was confirmed again in the last week by the report from the Open Society Justice Initiative titled “Globalising Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition” which exposed the role that Shannon Airport played in the CIA’s illegal and controversial rendition programme. And of course US troops keep on rolling through Shannon.”
He noted further:
“This week also saw two other worrying developments: the statement by Anders Fogh Rasmussen noting that; “NATO would welcome any application by Ireland to join the organization”, and the announcement by Alan Shatter yesterday that Ireland is sending Irish troops to Mali as part of a joint Irish English venture. NATO is a Neanderthal organization that should have been disbanded years ago, certainly at the end of the Cold War. The western interventions in Mali have almost nothing to do with Islamic extremism, and almost everything to do with the acquisition of resources, notably minerals, and an accelerating rivalry with China. Irish troops should not be going there.”
He concluded by noting:
“It is truly shocking that the best that Ministers Shatter and Gilmore can do is bleat the mantra of perpetual war emanating from Washington, London and Paris. It is timely to have such a committed peace activist as Ann Wright here in Ireland to help us reflect on how resistance can be formed against such a depressing and nihilist outlook.”
END
For more information:
Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 6472737
Michael Youlton, Co Chair, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 086 8159487
Daryl Southern, Coordinator, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 085 277 6505
Website – www.irishantiwar.org
@IrishAntiWarMvt <https://twitter.com/#!/IrishAntiWarMvt>
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