Shannonwatch

Here's a selection of some of the speakers and what they had to say at Shannon airport.

- John Lannon, Shannonwatch

- Ed Horgan, Shannonwatch

- Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein

- Patricia McKenna, The People's Movement

- Kieran Allan,  SWP and co-editor of Voteno.ie

- Joe Higgins,  Socialist party MEP

- Jeremy Corbyn MP (UK)

Originally posted to Indymedia Ireland on 3 September 2009 by Paula Geraghty

On Saturday 5th Sept there were at least two containers marked as property of the RAF beside a chartered Omni Air International plane at Shannon. They sat amongst the other containers, most of which were marked as Omni Air cargo. But the labels were clear: they said Royal Air Force. In other words, it seems that British military cargo is being transported through Shannon.

One of the containers that sat near the Omni Air plane was marked "Property of RAF Brize Norton". RAF Brize Norton is the home of the RAF's strategic air transport (AT) and air-to-air refueling (AAR) forces. It is the most important British military base for maintaining the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and is the main transport base for sending troops and supplies in and out of these occupied countries.

Information provided by the Minister for Foreign Affairs sheds disturbing new light on US military use of Shannon Airport. According to the minister the troop and air force crews that pass through the airport are not the only US military there. There are also two US officers of military rank permanently based in the airport. Their official role is to assist with the transit of US Government and Government contracted flights.

Thirteen peace activists attended the monthly Shannon peace vigil on Sunday, 9th August. As usual we were outnumbered by uniformed and plainclothed Gardai. Peace activists travelled from Dublin, Cork, Mullingar, Galway, Ennis and Limerick to attend. The reaction of passing motorists is increasingly encouraging and positive. 

Since August 9 is the aniversary of the distruction of Hiroshima in 1945 by an Atomic bomb, a war crime committed by the US airforce, on the orders of the then US President, it was considered appropriate to commemorate this event. Within the airport about 200 armed US troops were passing through the airport on an Omni Air chartered troop-transporter.

The Following Day - Business as Usual at Shannon

On the following day, Monday 10 August 09, there were three warplanes at Shannon airport.

The abject disregard of the Irish political elite for Ireland's neutrality has been demonstrated by the routine transit of US military planes and troops through Shannon Airport for most of this decade. With the re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum we are now being asked to accept EU promises that it will not affect or prejudice Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality.

Every day more evidence comes to light in relation to Shannon's role in the illegal and immoral wars of the US. The latest information indicates that it may be part of a new weekly supply route for the US army in Afghanistan, using chartered planes.