Aherne vindicated by support of IAWM, GNAW, GG

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Friday December 12, 2003 07:42

by Phuq Hedd

Loss of contracts seen as success. Black is White.

Welcome to the Big Lie. Bertie Aherne is quoted in this morning's rag of unrecord (The Irish Independent Fri 12th Dec) as saying that the exclusion of Ireland from eligibility to bid for "Iraqi reconstruction contracts" is a sign that his "anti-war" policy has worked well. Yes, you heard him right: An Taoiseach is gloating over the fact that Irish companies are excluded. Let's do him a favour and assume that this is a cynical attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear rather than genunine idiocy on his part.

The piece (jointly authored by Conor Sweeney and Gene McKenna) quotes the Taoiseach as recalling that the "100,000 marching in opposition to the war 'were supporting me' "!

"They were supporting my position and this vindicates that I was right when I was saying that," said Mr Ahern.

Fine Gael [*] apparently issued a strongly worded whine which appeals to Brian Cowen to convey The Irish Nation's Gravest Displeasure to our American cousins.

In this frenzy to support "Ireland" (which really means companies at least nominally based in Ireland) it's interesting that the Irish Independent didn't see fit to introduce the problem of war profiteering into the picture. Any companies getting involved are going to be implementing the infrastructure of an anti-democratic regime (the American administration of Iraq). We can already see the gulf between the rhetoric and reality in the area of education: http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=9248

What other cash-grab schemes will be implemented by companies in countries that did little-or-nothing to defend the Iraqi people from the cavalier, inhumane and criminal assault they have just suffered.

* - for our overseas visitors, there are two elderly parties in existence since the birth of The Irish Nation: FF and FG (the effers and the feggers).