From GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR
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 leader of the party, Brian Cowen, who will now go on to become Taoiseach.
From GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR
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 leader of the party, Brian Cowen, who will now go on to become Taoiseach.
We believe that this transfer of political power presents the Irish government with a significant opportunity to review its policy on the use Irish airports by US aircrafts suspected of involvement in illegal kidnappings, the so-called ‘extraordinary renditions’.
Aircrafts landing at Irish airports, such as Shannon in the west of Ireland, are suspected of regularly travelling to and from countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco where torture is used. Such aircrafts, 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 Irish government has merely accepted ‘diplomatic assurances’ from the US administration that Irish airports are not being used as stop-over points for aircrafts carrying kidnapped individuals. Thus, requests by peace activists for the Garda Síochána to search suspected airplanes have been refused. We believe that 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…European governments are not merely involved in violating human rights’, they are even embroiled in the ‘process of trying to sabotage efforts to find out the truth’.
We, the undersigned – comprised of 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 Gardai, in undertaking thorough and meaningful inspections of all aircrafts suspected of involvement in ‘extraordinary renditions’ landing at Shannon.
We also want to have others join the People’s Inspection Teams who are no longer willing to accept shallow ‘diplomatic assurances’ and are keen to act and inspect. Yours sincerely,
Rhuhel Ahmed (Former detainee, Guantanamo prison facility)
John Arden (Playwright & fellow of the World Society of Literature, Galway, Ireland)
Tony Benn (Former Labour MP, London, England)
Ronan Bennett (Author, London, England)
Richard Boyd Barrett (Chairperson of Irish Anti-War Movement)
Prof. Noam Chomsky (Academic and author, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
Sarah Clancy (Galway One World Centre, Ireland)
Rev. Canon Patrick Comerford (President of Irish CND)
Catherine Connolly (City councillor, Galway, Ireland)
Dr. John Cunningham, (Historian, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland)
Margaretta D’Arcy (Member of Aosdana, Galway, Ireland)
Mary Dempsey (Artist, Galway, Ireland)
Dr. Saber Elsafty (Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Ireland)
Niall Farrell (Galway Alliance against War, Ireland)
Dennis J. Halliday (Former UN Assistant Secretary-General)
Brian Hanney (Teacher, Galway, Ireland)
Edward Horgan (Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance)
Paul Michael Garrett (SIPTU Shop Steward, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland)
Jimmy Kelly (Regional Secretary, UNITE, Ireland)
Frank Keoghan (People’s Movement, Ireland)
Marilyn LaRosa (Galway, Ireland)
Ken Loach (Film director, London, England)
Donal Lunny (Musician, Okinawa, Japan)
Patricia McKenna (Green Party, Ireland)
Dette McLoughlin (Social Workers’ Party, Galway, Ireland)
Phelim Murnion (Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology)
Joe Murray (Afri: Action from Ireland)
Monsignor Raymond Murray (Armagh, Ireland)
Treasa Ni Cheannabhain (Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Ireland)
Seosamh O Cuaig (County councillor, Galway, Ireland)
Laurent Pardon (Galway, Republic of Ireland)
Prof. William A. Schabas (Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway)
