Shannonwatch

Last week the chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), Rose Hynes revealed that Shannon Airport was not just willing to accommodate US military flights but that it was actively going after what she called ‘important’ and 'lucrative' US military traffic. Shannonwatch are dismayed by this admission that the Irish government, which owns the airport, has completely abandoned the notion of Irish neutrality and is planning continued participation in US wars of aggression.

Shannonwatch believe the SAA chairman’s statement also reflects an unacceptable level of greed for short term income regardless of the consequences. “Estimates indicate that over one million people have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the troops started coming through Shannon a decade ago. Like many others, Ms Hynes is clearly more than willing to profit from these deaths and to be part of an economy built on permanent global warfare” said John LAnnon, spokesperson for Shannonwatch.

In March 2011 Shannonwatch called on An Garda Síochána to review a large body of information which they presented in relation to suspect CIA and US military flights through Shannon Airport. They also called on them to provide a comprehensive report on the actions that will be taken to ensure Ireland complies with its international legal obligations. The information was delivered in two wheelbarrows to the Garda Station in Shannon on 18th March 2011.

On 14th August 2012, after seventeen months, Shannonwatch finally received a response from the Gardai. It was a brief half-page letter that simply said “No evidence has been uncovered by the Gardai which indicate [sic] any alleged breach of Irish & International laws resulting from the transit of armed U.S. troops & CIA associated aircraft in connection with wars and military aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and in connection with unlawful detention and torture of prisoners at Guantanamo prison and elsewhere".

The killing of at least 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, by a 38 year old US army Staff Sergeant near Kandahar in Afghanistan was an appalling act of brutality and will have inevitable repercussions. US military spokespersons described the perpetrator as deranged, but sadly his actions follow a pattern of murder and human rights abuse by US and NATO personnel and the people they train. In 2011 a group of American soldiers were found to have been part of a "kill team" that deliberately murdered Afghan civilians for sport. In January of this year a video surfaced showing US marines urinating on the corpses of three insurgents. And earlier this month the UN reported that NATO and Afghan security forces were between them responsible for 410 civilian deaths in 2011. This was about 14% of the total number of civilians killed in the country.

Not only was the killing of 16 innocent people on Sunday deranged, the entire war waged by the US and NATO against Afghanistan could also be described as deranged and inappropriate from the beginning.

Munitions of war were brought through Shannon Airport on almost 1200 planes in 2011 according to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar. The Minister also said that the number of US troops that passed through the airport during the year was "under 250,000" although he failed to say how much under. Nonetheless the figure indicates that an average of well over 600 foreign troops carrying dangerous weapons passed through Shannon every day in the 12 months up to 31st December.

The Department of Transport deals with requests to carry munitions of war or dangerous goods on civilian aircraft through Ireland or Irish airspace. This is in accordance with the Air Navigation, Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods Orders of 1973 and 1989. If weapons are being carried on board an aircraft the operator is obliged to seek an exemption from a long standing prohibition on their carriage. In 2011 the number of applications for such exemptions was 1393. A total of 1382 permits were issued, 86% of which were for planes landing at Shannon Airport.