Seán Ryan reports on a frank and open discussion with the Mainstream Media with regard to how they report the war. Organised by Miriam Cotton and David Manning of MediaBite, and hosted by DIT, the discussion featured both working journalists and anti-war activists.

Panel:
Pepe Escobar - Asia Times / Real News Network
Dahr Jamail - Independent Journalist
Patrick Smyth - Irish Times Foreign Editor
Joe Zefran - RTE.ie News Editor
Harry Browne - DIT lecturer and journalist
Ciaron O'Reilly - Anti-war Activist
Fergal Keane - RTE Journalist

Related Links:
View the debate streamed at RTÉ.ie
Download the MP3 at archive.org

Fergal Keane 0.05 Mb Patrick Smyth 0.05 Mb Joe Zefran 0.05 Mb

Some weeks ago, with last weekend's Winter Soldier event on the horizon, I talked to David Zeiger, through the freebie magic of Skype. He's the directer of the documentary Sir, No Sir. It's a Displaced Films and BBC production that came out about two years ago, and focused on the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam.

It consists in part, of interviews with veterans explaining why they resisted the war, and in some cases went as far as to defect. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile, by 1971 it was a movement that in the words of one colonel had “infested the entire armed services” - yet few people today are aware of this soldiers movement against the war in Vietnam.

Related Links: Winter Solider on indy.ie WinterSoldier.com Articles by James R

Amnesty International says it has evidence that Shannon Airport has been used for so-called "rendition" flights by the CIA.

The human rights organisation says it has obtained flight records which show a jet operated by the US intelligence agency refuelled at the Co Clare airport in January 2004.


Amnesty's Irish branch says the evidence is unquestionable and it is no longer tenable for the Irish Government to accept US assurances that Shannon has not been used for illegal activity.

Related Links: Amnesty Homepage Press Release Full Report
RTE coverage Previous Indymedia stories on Rendition

As many as 100 veterans of the recent U.S. army involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan will give public accounts of their experiences on the ground, at an event organised by Iraqi Veterans Against the War from the 13th to the 16th of March, in the U.S. federal capital Washington D.C. The hearing will coincide with the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and will precede a series of actions and protests taking place accross the U.S. on March 19th [1].

Liam Madden, a sergeant in the Marine Corps from January 2003 to January 2007 who was deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, Thailand, Japan, and Korea and during his last year co-founded the Appeal for Redress [2], a campaign of service members demanding that congress halt the war in Iraq, said that veterans and civilian survivors of both conflicts will give public testimony and share eyewitness stories that have been censored from the American public about the true cost of these wars.

The hearing is called Winter Soldier and is the second such event to take place in the U.S., the first having been in Detroit in 1971 where Vietnam veterans publicly recounted their own negative experiences. Many Vietnam and WW2 veterans who are involved in the Veterans for Peace Campaign are endorsing and actively supporting Winter Soldier 2.

Related Links: Review of the Winter Soldier Movie | Winter Soldier Site

wags and activists may be unseen and silent in modern ireland
but na filid gather crowds to hear their message even in 2008 Shannon

“O come all ye travellers & give ear to what I say:
Where do you go and why, upon this St Bridget’s Day?
… Let me carry my tale
To the horrors that lie here,
Here, here, behind the veil.
How many planes
Full of captives in chains?
Where will they go?
To the cages of Guantánamo?
Will government try
To discover where and why?
… What would Bridget have said, had it entered her head
That this would be the destiny of the land where she lies dead?”

The Shannon Rhyming Subversives

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