What of neutrality?

by Margaret McKearney

George Bush is determined to have his war. It was not enough for George W. to order the levelling of underdeveloped Afghanistan, he is now baying for the total obliteration of the entire muslin world, starting point Iraq.  Moreover the Irish government is apparently willing to accommodate and encourage the American war machine by allowing the US military the free run of Irish airspace and the use of Shannon airport.

Commenting recently on the American use of the Irish airport, Minister for Defence Mr. Michael Smith TD confirmed what most already suspected. Irish neutrality appears to be an extremely flexible concept and is no longer  moulded  by the wishes of her citizens but bows and indeed scrapes to the gung-ho dictates of the Western Super-Powers in general and the US of A in particular.  Fudging the question, Minister Smith stated that as far as he knew there were no transgressions committed by the Super-power. This less than emphatic statement regarding the behaviour of a government and a military machine whose ethos is a breath-taking disregard for the rights of other nations and states will re-assure no-one.

The issue is being glossed over with the claim that the soldiers are carrying personal weapons only. Even should this spin prove to be true, all guns kill. What else is a personal weapon for?.  As the American military has appeared in Shannon in battle fatigues and clearly “battle ready,” only the most naïve amongst us would take at face value their claims of not transporting arsenals, especially as neither the Gardaí nor the army have conducted a search operation on the planes.  The lack of a stop and search operation by the appropriate bodies is particularly indicative of governmental collusion and selectivity as the presence of any uniformed foreign army is expressly forbidden by our constitution, (just ask the Belfast teenagers deported last August for staging a hoax road-block in Gweeedore).  But then again this is typical of the pandering to the powerful. Bush and his side-kick in Britain are using as September 11 as a catch-all excuse and declare their relentless hunt to weed out terrorism. They continue to define terrorism as not so much the actions of others as any action or viewpoint that their administration disagrees with.  For example an American government openly supported in every possible way the Nicaraguan based Contra terrorists.

While the Irish government turns a blind eye to American military activity on Irish soil and in the process violates our constitution and ignores the wishes of the Irish people, a group of activists have gathered at a peace camp in Shannon to high-light the on-going criminal activity of the American government. In an act that is reminiscent of the heroines of Greenham Common. These efforts by such groups deserve our help in stemming the acquiesce of the Irish government to what s surely the best-armed terror group in the World, the US of A.

Margaret McKearney...26 January 2003