Ireland's dirty war continues

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Tuesday February 23, 2010 15:40 by MichaelY - Irish Anti War Movement

Support Women against Raytheon

Friday March 5th 2010
7.30 Wynns Hotel, Lr Abbey St m Dublin
Goretti Horgan, one of the nine, will speak at the meeting.

The use of Irish passports by an Israeli hit squad that killed a Hamas leader in Dubai is the latest incident in what has become Ireland’s dirty war.

The Department of Foreign Affairs’ response to the fake passport scandal was to deny that the passports numbers existed. Then they admitted that two out of the three passports used by the Mossad hit squad were in fact real passport numbers. Minister Martin has not commented on how Israeli intelligence were able to forge Irish so easily.

Why has Minister Martin not asked the Israeli ambassador to leave? Why has Ireland not decided to cut ties with Israel? The truth is that Ireland’s softly, softly response has become part of official Irish foreign policy, which unashamedly trails the US. It is part of a wider EU-US military cooperation which means for Ireland an ever deepening involvement in war.
If Iranian, not Israeli, intelligence had been involved, you can be sure that Ireland would have followed Britain in condemning state sponsored terrorism, calling for harsher sanctions against such a dangerous regime.

To Afghanistan via Shannon

ALMOST €10 million has been spent in just three years on protecting US troops passing through Shannon airport on their way to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest figures show more than 243,000 US troops passed through Shannon airport in 2009 – or 665 per day. This brings to more than one million the number of military who used the airport en route to US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of 2006.

It was revealed recently in the Dáil that the annual cost to the Irish people to have seven Irish soldiers taking part in the war and occupation of Afghanistan was €270,000.

Seven Irish military personnel are serving under the NATO-led occupation of Afghanistan, with the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). The latest military surge of western troops, the so-called operation Moshtarak (“together”), is meant to be a ISAF pacification offensive in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. It is here, at Marjah , that 12 civilians were killed just recently by a NATO missile strike explosion.

Counter-insurgency, the activity a under which Ireland participates in the occupation, includes targetted assassinations. In January, over the border in Pakistan, one such assassination raid killed at least 15 people, amongst which were three children.
The Irish Defence Forces and the Irish Government have made us part of this war carnage, without even asking us.

Ireland’s dirty arms trade:

In 2006 Derry Anti-war activists occupied the Raytheon Arms Manufacturing company as a protest against its supplying parts to the Israeli Defence Forces. At the time, the Israelis were involved in a full-scale bombing of Lebanon which flattened the country and killed over one and half thousand people. The protestors were brought to trial by the company.
Against all the odds, the court actually admitted that the Raytheon company was aiding and abbetting war crimes. The protesters were acquitted and in January this year, the company decided to pull out of Derry, showing just how effective targetted protests can be. A further nine women involved in protesting against the company during the assault by Israel on Gaza, have been charged and are up on trial in early May. The huge campaign of support for the first Ratheon protesters ensured they were vindicated. We must do the same for the nine Women against Raytheon.