An Open Letter to The Limerick Leader

national | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Wednesday November 10, 2004 00:50 by Elaine O'Sullivan marie-elena at iolfree dot ie

We held a vigil for the dead at Shannon Airport on 31st October 04. This was promptly ignored or ridiculed by the mainstream media. We expected as much, water off a duck's back etc. However, I have taken exception to the misrepresentation of the purpose of our vigil by one periodical, The Limerick Leader. Below is the offending section of Editorial and my open letter in reply.

Banshees

THE banshees are back at Shannon. Whether they will be here next Halloween remains to be seen but this week's American election certainly seems to have increased the wailing among the admittedly shrinking coven of protesters imported to the airport to oppose US military flights. Meanwhile, however, back on the tarmac it's business as usual thank God.

So persistent and so widespread has been the misrepresentation of the situation at Shannon that it is useful re-tell a few home truths.
ONE: Military flights at Shannon are nothing new. They have been going on for decades. For years even Soviet planes regularly touched down here en route to and from communist Cuba.
TWO: Military flights do not breach Irish neutrality. Ireland is neutral only in the sense of not belonging to NATO. Ireland, unlike Switzerland, is not neutral between right and wrong.
THREE: Irrespective of the wisdom of ousting the genocidal Saddam Hussein, the fact remains that the purpose of the flights is to save innocent lives.
FOUR: The present traffic is unquestionably legitimate under international law. As Senator Martin Mansergh of Tipperary, hardly an apologist for Yankee imperialism, said at the weekend: "Much as we might prefer not to be starting from here, the UN approved in June a plan for establishing democracy in Iraq, and endorsed the multi-national force to help its achievement."

US Ambassador James Kenny, who knows the lie of the land at Shannon at first hand, has written to members of the Oireachtas highlighting the positive effects of the American military traffic. Predictably his message has been dismissed in the Dublin 4 media as propaganda. Despite that - or because of it - his letter is worth reading.

He tells how the airport has enabled the transit of humanitarian supplies and aid workers, as well as peace-keepers working in many countries. Referring to Iraq and Afghanistan, he details advances in education, humanitarian assistance, the development of democratic institutions and the status of women.

The silent majority on Shannonside, while horrified at some American actions such as the torture of prisoners, support the airport traffic as part of a process of nation-building in Iraq. The steadfast workers who service the flights deserve commendation for their devotion to duty in difficult circumstances. The banshees might be back giving succour to terrorists in Iraq but they don't scare the natives at Shannon.

http://www.limerick-leader.ie/issues/20041106/editorial.html


An open letter in reply to: Limerick Leader’s Editorial

We came to Shannon on 31st October, not to scare the natives of Shannon but to mourn for the dead in this illegal war. We mourned the dead of both Iraq and the Coalition forces. To suggest that it was otherwise is to misrepresent our intention. If that misrepresentation was accidental it amounts to bad journalism, if intentional suggestive of a private agenda which in turn leads to bad journalism or at the very least, bias in reporting the facts. However, I do believe the people of Shannon should be afraid, but not of us. The level of security was appallingly lax. We were within the perimeter of Shannon Airport for five hours. Luckily for the residents and workers, our mission was peaceful. Had it not been, then no doubt the consequences would have made headline news and your Editorial would have had more substance than it did. At 6.50am, having been beside the runway since 2am, our vigil done, we approached the security team. They were searching the opposite corner of the airfield and were leaving the area when we signalled them with a flashlight. We gave ourselves up! Had we chosen not to do so, they would still be looking for us. Do you understand what I am telling you? Shannon is a justifiable target for terrorists due to the complicity of our corrupt government in this illegal war on and occupation of Iraq. The people who work at Shannon and live nearby should be very concerned that a civilian airport is being used as a military base and anybody can gain access to it.

Now, in your Editorial you bandied about a few ‘facts’, let me respond in kind.

Your first ‘home-truth’ that military flights at Shannon are nothing new. Indeed, in light of our history of occupation and oppression we have much to be ashamed of. How easily we have sided with the oppressors of this world, forgetting our own past as if we were ashamed of it. Ignoring our present actions is simply storing up shame for future generations of Irish citizens who hopefully will have a less ‘monetary based’ view of the situation.

Your second ‘home truth’ is that Ireland, unlike Switzerland, is not neutral between right and wrong. How telling, how shameful and how very sad it should make us all. That a country with such a potential, one that has known ‘both days’ should fail to take it’s place among the countries of the world and instead become complicit with the oppressors. To do so for financial gain above moral loss is a slur on the integrity of our people. At least Judas had the decency to hang himself!

Your third ‘home truth’ is that the purpose of the flights is to save innocent lives. Perhaps they have forgotten that? Latest reports tell us that over 100,000 citizen’s of Iraq have been killed with over 50% of them being women and children. “Irrespective of the wisdom of ousting the genocidal Saddam Hussein”, the wisdom of America’s selling him weapons in the first place has not been fully examined.

Your fourth and final ‘home truth’ contained a quote from a politician: As Senator Martin Mansergh of Tipperary, hardly an apologist for Yankee imperialism, said at the weekend: "Much as we might prefer not to be starting from here, the UN approved in June a plan for establishing democracy in Iraq, and endorsed the multi-national force to help its achievement."

So that’s all right then, if a politician says it then it must be true. I fear you are operating under a faulty premise. But I will join you in your word play. Kofi Annan declared this war ‘illegal’

"I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal."
"I hope we do not see another Iraq-type operation for a long time - without UN approval and much broader support from the international community," he added.
– Kofi Annan speaking to the BBC in September.

My U.N. Secretary General tops your Senator from Tipperary. But if you are in any doubt, then perhaps the two gentlemen can sort it out between them in the ‘Lidl’ car park.

That said, it matters not a whit to me what view any politician holds. I, like many Irish people, know in my heart that this war is wrong. I know that occupying another country in order to steal their oil is obscene. I know that the Iraqi people are not our enemy. I know that they have done nothing to us to justify our collusion with the U.S./ U.K. And I know that the sense of shame we will feel when we come to our senses will last long after this ‘war’ has been lost. The American’s are fighting for the oil; the Iraqi’s are fighting for their land. Surely of all nations we can understand their position and if nothing else, empathise?


Shannon Airport makes approximately 15 million euro per year in fees from the use of its facilities by the U.S. military. Divided by the approximate 4 million people resident in Ireland, that comes out at 3.75 per head of population. Less than the price of a pint! Minister Cullen announced that the use of Shannon was “good for business”. I announce that it is bad for the Integrity of our nation to inform the world that our conscience can be bought for the price of a pint. What does that say about us as a nation, if it is true?

My Father, a Kerry-man born in 1920 knew a different Ireland. Saw civil war through the eyes of a child. Survived the Blitz in England and was jailed and eventually deported from there for refusing to join the British Army. He said you could never go home in a foreign uniform. Not with the history and the memories still fresh of how those uniforms had treated us in our own land. Now time has come between those days and these, the old hatreds have thankfully died away. But the principal remains. Having known suffering at the hands of a foreign army in our land, do we not have a moral duty to protect others from a similar fate, at the very least, to raise our voices in their defence? Instead we pocket a profit from their suffering. My Father gave me an invaluable piece of advice. He told me never to look up to anyone and never to look down on anyone, but to look a person straight in the eye. I wonder how the like of Minister Cullen can keep his gaze straight when shaving in the morning. Does Bertie Ahern pray that the bathroom mirror will fog over quickly when he remembers that only last week he declared Ireland to be “a firm friend of the Arab nation”, while he stood beside Margaret Hassan’s sisters. A friend, for Bertie’s information, doesn’t stab you in the back. But hanging around with the like of George W. might cloud the issue for him.

I don’t doubt that the workers of Shannon do a commendable job but I do question how they must feel afterwards. Ordinary men and women trying to earn a living have been put in the position of being complicit in an illegal war by politicians who lack the backbone and integrity to stand up to George W. and say 'No, we want no part of your illegal war for oil'. It’s not just 'romantic Ireland' that’s dead and gone, the conscience of our nation lies curled up ‘with O’Leary in the grave'.

It is in no doubt that the present incumbent in the White House is not held in high esteem by the majority of Irish people. So why the chumminess of Bertie and Co. with a man most of us despise? Are they glory-hounding again? Hoping to raise their profile on the world stage while ignoring the wishes of those of us at home for whom they work and who pay their wages! Because of the actions, or rather lack of action on the part of our elected representatives, we have become what we once despised. We have sold out. Our Conscience! Our Integrity! Our Past! Our ancestors who knew oppression and occupation first hand, gave their lives so we future generations of Irish men and women could know a semblance of democracy! All pissed away by Bertie and Co. ex-accountants and money grabbers who would sit down with Old Nick himself if there were a profit in it for them. Indeed, the old-timers have it right when they say, “it’s far from this we were reared.”