NATO Troops at Shannon

by Edward Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:08

Dear Army Wife
I hope your husband come back to you and his family safely. I hope also that all the families he encounters in Iraq or Afghanistan, and all their sons and fathers, some of whom may be soldiers resisting the US occupations, do not suffer any harm because of your husband's presence in their country.
The people of America fought a war of resistance and a freedom fight against British imperial forces, as did the people of Ireland.
It takes courage to say no to unlawful orders. The US war against the people of Iraq is unlawful, therefore any orders issued in the course of this war and occupation are also unlawful. Just being present in a foreign country as an armed soldier without the the genuine authority of the people of that country, is also an unlawful act.
The US Government now claims that they are in Iraq lawfully because the UN has "approved" the US occupation of Iraq. Since 1970 it has been a "Principle of the United Nations" that any occupation of territory resulting from an unlawful war, cannot be legitimised after the event. Therefore the UN itself was acting unlawfully and in contravention of its own UN Charter by purporting to legitimise the US occupation of Iraq in May 2003.

It is also important to recall that no Iraqi person was in any way connected with the attacks on the US on 9/11, and that Al Qaeda only became involved in Iraq because of the unlawful US invasion of Iraq.

US soldiers going to Iraq through Shannon airport should head for immigration desk and the Arrivals area rathere than the Duty Free Shop area, and demand political asylum in Ireland if they are stopped at immigration.
They would then be real honourable heroes.
I still wish your husband a safe return to you and his family

by Mary Kelly Wed Jun 11, 2008 17:13

Dear Army wife,

please consider supporting your husband so that he does not follow orders. At the moment he is actively choosing to be part of the US squadrons of trained killers transitting Shannon.

Victor Frankl who was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps wrote that freedom is about choosing how to respond to your circumstances. In that brutal dehumanising environment, he was not broken, nor did not sell his soul.

Your husband can choose. If he transits again he could decide not to get back on board after the refuelling stop at Shannon?

by army wife Wed Jun 11, 2008 15:13

My husband was one of those two hundred troops passing through the airport on Sunday, Do you think that is what he wanted to be doing he would love to be at home with his family instead of fighting an inhumain war that will never make a difference. You staging a peace walk where a bunch of soldiers are makes no difference they dont make the rules they just follow them. Those are honorable, heroes that should be respected no put down

by Lara Hill Tue Jun 10, 2008 18:32

Thanks to all who organised the walk and vigil at Shannon on Sunday and thanks for that poem, Justin. The walk was a fun time filled with grace and laughter. I found the vigil sad and sacred in equal parts. I got a lift back to Dublin Sunday evening. I'm thinking for future vigil and possible walks of getting a return train ticket from Heuston. There's a train from Heuston at 10:00 arriving into Limerick at 12:11 and the last train departs 19:50 from Limerick arriving into Heuston 22:20. The good thing about organising it on a Sunday is that office workers like myself can participate. I really wanted to go to Raytheon trial in Belfast, but vacillated over annual leave.... Anyhow I'll keep an eye on Indymedia events for details of the next one.

by Justin Morahan Tue Jun 10, 2008 00:54

It's great that the Shannon anti-war group is so steadfast and committed. Even though we are not able to be with you, know that many people thank you for keeping the issue of our Government's sell-out on Shannon alive on Shannon's own doorstep.

Tara from New York it is great also to hear from you. Many of us know of the sacrifices being made weekly throughout the US by many brave people who continue to challenge the inhumanity of war and the lies that recent wars are about the atrocity of the Twin Towers or American defence.

To Weary: Apart from the utter note of defeatism in your comments, I'm not certain about you. On the one hand, from your comment, I could get the sense that you like war, love violent conflict, read war history for entertainment, and would not like a different world. But I may well be wrong.

Because one part of your second e-mail interests me, You say:
"Kids bully each other from the age of toddlers and adults walk over each other to get ahead. Countries are simply the playground writ large"

Those two sentences immediately brought to mind the brilliant poem of Adrian Mitchell "Back in the Playground Blues". The point is that bullying and killing are not far apart. Both are evil. Whether or not I am successful as a puny human being in eradicating or fighting evil in a non-violent way, I believe it is important to keep trying. Something tells me that deep down you may feel the same and that your criticism is not really such but a kind of questioning of those who are committed. Again I may be completely wrong in this.

Any way, as your comment has prompted a recollection of it, here is Mitchell's poem about bullying "Back in the Playground Blues":

I dreamed I was back in the playground, I was about four feet high
Yes dreamed I was back in the playground, standing about four feet high
The playground was three miles long and the playground was five miles wide

It was broken black tarmac with a high wire fence all around
Broken black dusty tarmac with a high wire fence running all around
And it had a special name to it, they called it The Killing Ground

Got a mother and a father, they're a thousand miles away
The rulers of The Killing Ground are coming out to play
Everybody thinking: 'Who they going to play with today?'

You get it for being Jewish
You get it for being black
Get it for being chicken
And you get it for fighting back
You get it for being big and fat
You get it for being small
Oh those who get it get it and get it
For any damn thing at all

Sometimes they take a beetle, tear off its six legs one by one
Beetle on its black back, rocking in the lunchtime sun
But a beetle can't beg for mercy, a beetle's not half the fun

I heard a deep voice talking, it had that iceberg sound
'It prepares them for Life' - but I have never found
Any place in my life worse than The Killing Ground."

It's not a coincidence that Adrian Mitchell is also anti-war.

by John Lannon Mon Jun 09, 2008 23:14

Full report on the walk and vigil (with photos) at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87896.

Next vigil will take place on second Sunday of July (13th) from 5pm to 6pm. Meet as usual at the small roundabout just before the airport.

by Fintan Lane Mon Jun 09, 2008 00:23

Well done Ed and all those who participated! It is important that a presence be maintained and it is great to see that regular local protests continue.

Solidarity from Dublin.

by Edward Horgan Sun Jun 08, 2008 22:22

We had a very good 15 mile walk from the historic Limerick Treaty Stone, to Shannon airport. Eleven people participated, varying in age accross the generations from 6 months old, being pushed in a buggy, to a few over 60s. We were joined by a further 10 peace activists at the airport, where we held our monthly vigil. We plan to increase these peace vigils at Shannon to weekly events from early September. Many politicians in Ireland had hoped that we would simply have given up by now and accept US military and CIA use of Shannon airport has become a historical fact, and that there is nothing we can do about it. They are wrong.
One million Iraqi dead and the torture of hundreds, even thousands, of prisoners amounts to crimes against humanity that are far too serious to be accepted or ignored.
It is our view that justice may be delayed, but it will not be denied.

For all those who participated in todays peace protest walk, and the peace vigil at Shannon, it was a meaningful event in our ongoing campaign for justice and peace in Iraq and Afghanistan.

by paul o toole Sun Jun 08, 2008 18:01 pauljotoole at eircom dot net

If every person I met who expressed the same opinion as weary actually done something, no matter how small, rather than slight those who do, the present situation could be different-vastly different.
Most people I know are not 'weary'. How could they be if they've done nothing except sit back and moan about how useless and pointless the work others have done is, weary moaning is more like it.
The people I know who share 'weary's' point of view are not actually weary, they are either lazy, selfcentred and un concerned with the political establishments wilful participation in genocidal un provolked warsof aggression against the innocent, or feeling guilty for doing nothing, or ignorant of the facts of the situation we now are in, or ignorant of the successes which have been achieved by a small band of activists.

They are the 'i couldent be bothered' set, or 'i could give a f**k' kind of people. A lot of people I once considered to be friends have the view of 'im all right jack'. I cannot listen to them anymore. They will spend hours being entertained by soccer, big brother, coronation street or any other form of dumbing down necessary to keep them desensitised to the suffering of others.

It is the shirking of collective responsibility to say 'Im weary' and go on to condem others who continnue to struggle.
Obviously 'weary' took time to write here which gives me a sneaking suspicion that he is a member of Fianna Fail or the New Green Party.

Well done to all who attended the vigil, and keep the ongoing attrocity in Iraq alive. Im sure that the people in Iraq and Afghanistan would thank you wholeheartedly, even if people like 'weary' dont.
In the words of Daniel Ellesberg 'weary' fits in well, he says.....'we are all sleepwalking into the abyss.'

by t - imc nyc Sun Jun 08, 2008 17:02

So how is the vigil going? We'd like to hear about it here in nyc. Thanks!

by anon Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:48

That meeting was the ultimate introduction to embassy operations and concerns facing U.S.-Irish bilateral relations. Some of the main topics of discussion were the pending Lisbon Treaty referendum, the use of Shannon Airport by the Dept. of Defense for the transport of terrorism suspects between the Middle East and Gitmo Bay in Cuba, U.S. commercial interests and the ubiquitous U.S. presidential election.

Well I think she was just naming the topic rather then affirming herself that this was the case but she should more careful about talking so casually about kidnapping, torture and cluster bombs by her government etc.
http://milkonotes. blogspot.com/

by Shannon Peace supporter Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:41

Weary, if you are so weary, why do you take the time and make the effort to write such drivil and depressing rubbish? It seems to me you may need help and medical counselling.
There are strong messages of hope comming from the United States and elsewhere.
The democratic success so far of Barack Obama has undone some of the damage done to democracy by the Bush administration.
The Irish people may be about to deliver a rebuff to Irish politicians in the Referendum next Thursday. If they do that will be a substantial victory for democracy in Ireland and in Europe.
There is still much hope and many positive developments and the protest movements are part of that hope.

by Weary Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:26

The truth is that young men like to kill.
All you have to do is got to England and watch the hatred spewed by football supporters.
All you have do is see boozed up guys smashing each other after night out.
Kids bully eachother from the age of toddlers and adults walk over each other to get ahead.
Countries are simply the playground writ large.
Big business call the shots of course.
But ordinary people enjoy a scrap.
Kids like to shoot toy guns and big bad ass war, watch boxing fights and adventure and action movies always thrill the cinema going audience.

People who turn up at peace vigils and demonstrations are wasting their time.

by Edward Horgan Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:20

Dear Tara,
Thank you for your encouraging and sad words. I regret that your brother suffered so severely in the Iraq war. So also have tens of thousands of other US troops, along with over 4000 US troops who have died. The vast majority of these US soldiers were good people led astray by evil and self-serving politicians.
We protest at Shannon not only on their behalf, but also of course on behalf of over one million Iraqi people who have died as a result of this war.
Dealing with these US political leaders is mainly the task of the citizens of the US. Dealing with our Irish politicians who have dragged Ireland into complicity with these crimes against humanity is the resposnibility of the Irish people, and that is partly what we are aiming to do in the longer-term.
Please tell your brother to have courage in his adversity, and if he wished to visit Ireland at any time, we will do our best to make feel welcome.

by tara - nyc imc Sun Jun 08, 2008 08:51

Dear Weary:
What the vigils outside of Shannon airport do is to lift the spirits of those downtrodden in the US. We protested this war before it began. We have been beaten and jailed, harassed, libeled, the usual for working to keep our "democratic" government from waging an oppressors war. To read of the Shannon protests reminds us we are not alone in opposing this occupation.
My Grandfather came here from Cork, and the only time he made it back to Ireland was on a war plane stopping through Shannon, on his way to a much different war. My young cousin also returned to Ireland only on the flight through Shannon. He received two purple hearts at 21, in exchange for an eye and a leg, he learned the hard way that this war is not about freedom, it is simply unending war. He had that pride of fighting for country, the irish warrior spirit. whoops, no one told him the truth about this war before he left. He heard the recruiters propaganda and was gone before we could stop him. If he had known earlier of Irish protesting in Shannon, he might have gone awol. Now he wants to be done with the war and see what is outside the Shannon airport windows.
If signs are held high for the troops from the plane to read, that encourage them to not fight, who knows what kind of change could be fostered by that little action. Most of the troops are poor and lied to by this government that preys on financial insecurities. Many are recruited from Native reservations or border towns, enticed by false promises. They think they fight for freedom. Young kids here are fed propaganda in social studies class. For the past 6 years there have been constant images of falling towers, in an effort to numb americans into thinking that this is a just war. Remember Tom Barry got his political education in Iraq in 1917.

by John Sat Jun 07, 2008 23:19

Dear Weary,

If we do nothing, then there is certainly little hope.

GW Bush or Barak Obama may not loose sleep over a walk and vigil at Shannon tomorrow. But our local government TDs may begin to loose it someday soon, and that is a good start.

One day our elected representatives will realise that they do not have a mandate to make us complicit in an illegal war. They will also realise that the Irish people do not want covert flights taking prisoners to torture chambers through Shannon. Things will change - Ireland's government will not always support the systematic torture and disappearance of adults AND children. And then the president of the US will begin to take notice.

So yes, we can do a damn thing about it. And we will.

Keep the hope!

by Weary Sat Jun 07, 2008 20:14

I oppose the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as much as you do.
But to be honest is President George W. Bush going to lose sleep over a vigil at Shannon?
Only the American people can change the course of American foreign policy.
They are going to vote for either Obama or McCain.
Obama says he will withdraw the combat troops but you can be sure he with either make a cynical u-turn or he will simply withdraw the troops to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia or Turkey within easy reach if the "wrong" government take power so he flatten them with cruise missiles and laser guided bombs just like Bill Clinton did before.
McCain of course is even more right-wing than Bush, if you can even believe that, and he will blow the hell of Iraq and Iran and Syria and Pakistan.
Either way the US will be competing with China and Russia for global supremacy.

Little neutral Ireland with our pathetic little army can't do a damn thing about it.

It's utterly hopeless.

I've admitted that and it is about time you admitted that too.

Best of Luck.

Hope it doesn't rain.

by Edward Sat Jun 07, 2008 16:20

Please note there will be a peace vigil at Shannon tomorrow Sunday 8 June from 5 to 6 PM. This is the monthly Amnesty organised peace vigil.

Also, a groups of peace activists will be walking the 15 miles from Limerick to Shannon beginning at the Treaty Stone, Thomond Bridge, Limerick, due to arrive at Shannon at for the vigil at 5 pm.

Crimes against humanity are being facilitated on a daily basis at Shannon airport.