US Military may leave Shannon (Best Irish Airport 2006 Winner) - Good Riddance!
national |
anti-war / imperialism |
other press 
Tuesday May 23, 2006 12:07
by Pitstop Ploughshares - (DM/ Personal Capacity)
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US Military may leave Shannon
Today's issue of the Limerick Post reports that the largest U.S. military carrier, World Airways, is considering other European venues for it's military stopovers.
According to journalist Pamela Duncan, the Shannon Airport Authority has gained €14 million in profit from military flights in the first three months of 2006 alone. The news of a possible pullout has sent the SAA's greedy profiteers shaking in their boots. The bad news is they may use it as an excuse to enforce cutbacks, affecting the ordinary working classes' employment security at Shannon.
On February 7th 2003 World Airways temporarily suspended it's use of Shannon Airport as a stopover for U.S. military flights. The reported reason was that of the lack of work for their German staff at Frankfurt Airport. They denied it had anything to do with the 2 disarmament actions of a U.S. Navy aircraft at Shannon which occured 9 and 4 days previously. This story was covered by Indymedia at the following link: http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=27938 and by the corporate media at the following links:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0204/shannon.html
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2003/0205/170612....html
On February 8th 2003, the Irish Examiner reported that local TD Willie O'Dea, then Junior Justice Minister and since promoted to Minister of Defence, blamed the protest attacks as the reason for the loss of business. According to Aer Rianta the contract with Woirld Airlines was worth $9 million
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2003/02/08/story56...6.asp
The pullout by World Airlines could mean a substantial reduction in U.S. troops tansiting through Shannon Airport. Despite the fact that pro-U.S. military Irish politicians condemned anti-war protests as the reason why business would be affected at Shannon Airport, the anti-war postion that U.S. airlines' business connected to the U.S. military would abandon it's links to Ireland when their desire to extend the profit margin and become more efficient in warmaking emulated their craving for pints of guinness and O'Brien's over-inflated and over-rated sandwiches.
Full news story here:
http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynews.elive?id=7325&cate...y-Fri
In addition to this, Shannon Airport has been awarded the Best Airport in Ireland Award. See the news story below.
How to win the Best Airport Award in Ireland - Profit from War
The Limerick Post today reports that Shannon Airport has been awarded the Best Irish Airport of the Year Award 2006. This is the second year running they have been granted this merit by the Irish Chamber of Commerce.
What a great example this sets to other Irish airports. Shannon Airport has facilitated and profitted from the transportation of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, where unquantifiable bloodshed transpires on a daily basis.
According to another report in the Limerick Post today, Shannon Airport has economically gained €100 million from the U.S. gvt. since the invasion of Iraq in '2002' (God, even Irish journalists living in the proximity of Shannon Airport don't know when the official invasion occured)!
Full story here:
http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynews.elive?id=7302&cate...y-Fri
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2If they had to pay normal commercial rates for use of the airport like everyone else. Talk about adding insult to injury!!
No amount of money is worth our being a party to the carnage in iraq. Good riddance indeed
Unfortunately, I think this is just a smoke screen.
Nothing significant has happened with World Airways. If they are conducting a regular review then they are looking at their options as any sensible business does from time to time.
The story got plenty of space, and is entirely speculative. It's supposed to put the wind up people that there;s a threat to the cashflow... and of course, most of these people have mortgages to pay, kids to feed and clothe, and they're just gonna get more worried about keeping food on the table, etc. cos at the end of the day, most people think of their own families first and foremost.
World Airways is INCREASING it's business at Shannon, not decreasing it.
Look at this in the light of the US ambassador's lovefest interview in the "Limerick Leader". It's a Hearts and Minds exercise... it's not news, it's a mindgame designed to remind us of our wallets rather than our principles. Unfortunately the US military won't leave without sustained public pressure, no matter how much we wish this story had legs...
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