Surging Past the Gates of Hell
By Tom Engelhardt
Sometimes, numbers can strip human beings of just about everything that makes us what we are. Numbers can silence pain, erase love, obliterate emotion, and blur individuality. But sometimes numbers can also tell a necessary story in ways nothing else can.
Number of American troops in Iraq, June 2007:Approximately 156,000.
Number of American troops in Iraq, May 1, 2003, the day President Bush declared “major combat operations” in that country “ended”: Approximately 130,000.
Number of Sunni insurgents in Iraq, May 2007: At least 100,000, according to Asia Times correspondent Pepe Escobar on his most recent visit to the country.
American military dead in the surge months, February 1-June 26, 2007: 481.
American military dead, February-June 2006: 292.
The Green Party has an honourable record on opposing the use of Shannon by US military on their way to and from Iraq.
John Gormley, Trevor Sargent and Patricia McKenna have spoken on anti-war demonstrations and hundreds of Green Party members have taken part in protests against the use of Shannon by US troops.
Section 13 of the Green Party election manifesto declares that the Green Party is committed to ending the “use of Shannon airport by US military forces involved in the war in Iraq and insist that any aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal movments of prisoners must be searched”
During a recent Dail debate on the Nordic Battle groups (5th April 2007) Trevor Sargent was trenchant in his condemnation of the military use of Shannon by U.S troops. ..’ ‘Most disgracefully we continue to facilitate more than 1million US troops that have passed through Shannon Airport on the way to what started as an illegal and immoral war. It remains immoral, whatever about the retrospective sanction from the United Nations. It was a war of invasion which we should not have supported.’
Such sentiments should be applauded as one of the most consistent opponents of the Iraqi invasion by the coalition forces.
Pledge
The Green Party position against the use of Shannon reflects a wider opposition to the war across Ireland. 58% of the population is against the use of Shannon by US troops, as the recent independent poll commissioned by PANA to Lansdowne Market Research Survey found.
Some Green candidates who stood in the election have signed a pledge drawn up the Irish Anti-War Movement, Peace and Neutrality Alliance and NGOPA demanding the withdrawal of permission for the US military to fly through Shannon.
The pledge stated that: “We the undersigned give a firm commitment that if elected, we will not participate in any government that allows Shannon airport or other Irish facilities to be used by the United States to conduct war in Iraq or in any other Imperialist war.”.
The six Green Party candidates who did sign were:
Patricia McKenna (Dublin Central) David Healy (Dublin North East) Bronwen Maher (Dublin North Central) Niall OBrolchain (Galway West) David Grey (Kerry North) John Hickey (Kerry South)Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent has not signed the pledge, claiming that the Green Party had “no pre-conditions” in negotiations for government, including the use of Shannon.
Ciaran Cuffe referred us to Section 13 of the Green Party 2007 Manifesto which commits the party to ending the use of Shannon Airport by US forces, but did not sign the pledge. Party Chairperson and chief negotiator for government, John Gormley did not sign and referred us to the party’s convention which “could not lay down any preconditions on any issue”. Notwithstanding, he had not hesitation in assuring us that the issue of Shannon would be “an absolute priority”.Credibility
What credibility would the Green Party have if they engaged in some sort of a trade off over the use of Shannon? Private hospitals, corruption, climate change are very important concerns. But they cannot be exchanged for participating in a war to which practically every Green supporter is opposed.Such terms of negotiation are simply unacceptable. Of course, Fianna Fail is only too keen to apply the pressure. It desperately needs the support of the Green Party but it is also deeply committed to allowing the US to continue to use Shannon.
Bertie Ahern has flatly rejected ending the United States military’s use of Shannon airport as one of the prices of putting together a coalition with Independents, or the Greens. On May 31st he said “I will not change my position on Shannon.” Dermot Ahern in a letter to the Irish Anti War movement justifies the use of Shannon declaring that Ireland has been making over-flight and landing facilities available to the US over a long period. However as Green Party member Ed Horgan’s case against the government proved, there are no examples of US troops being granted official permission to use Shannon during a war.Ahern also claimed to us that the UN resolutions approve what he calls “the multinational task force that is making progress in Iraq”. The fact is that it is a US led occupation, backed by the UK, and that it has led to the deaths of over 650,000 Iraqis.
Ireland has allowed no less than 500,000 US troops to pass through Shannon airport since March 2003 and therefore is a key player in Bush’s war. FF is prepared to do anything to keep the Empire sweet including relinquishing Irish neutrality.
Anything for a seat round the cabinet table?
The Greens could bring integrity and principle to the process of participation in government by insisting that the issue of Shannon is addressed. Too often, the left and independents have been too quick to trade in their principles for a seat in government.
Those that voted for the Greens deserve better. The Green Party needs to send out a message that Shannon will not be bargained away. The lives of Iraqis and the sort of world we want to see depend on it.John Gormley, Green Party Chairman, statement to the Irish Anti War Movement Press conference (Tuesday May 22nd 2007)
“The Green Party is totally committed to ending the use of Shannon For the illegal war in Iraq and to opposing the abuse of human rights through rendition flights. Our election manifesto states unequivocally:
*End the use of Shannon Airport by US military forces involved in the war in Iraq
*Insist that any aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal movements of prisoners must be searched
“Our Party Convention and our party council took a decision that the Party and its spokepersons cannot lay pre-conditions on any issue.[and] this has prevented our key party spokespersons from directly signing the pledge. But people can be assured that in any negotiation with other parties the issue of Shannon will be an absolute priority”.
Issued jointly by
Irish Anti War Movement, Peace and Neutrality Alliance and NGO Peace Alliance
6 Jun 2007
In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger quotes from a letter received from a British army officer serving in Iraq and sent to the BBC. The officer calls the war unwinnable and wrong, and appeals to the media not to swallow “the office/White House line”. For the first time, journalists are now being scrutinised by the soldiers whose war they report.
An experienced British officer serving in Iraq has written to the BBC describing the invasion as “illegal, immoral and unwinnable” which, he says, is “the overwhelming feeling of many of my peers”. In a letter to the BBC’s Newsnight and Medialens.org he accuses the media’s “embedded coverage with the US Army” of failing to question “the intentions and continuing effects of the US-led invasion and occupation”.
He says most British soldiers regard their tours as “loathsome”, during which they “reluctantly [provide] target practice for insurgents, senselessly haemorrhaging casualties and squandering soldiers’ lives, as part of Bush’s vain attempt to delay the inevitable Anglo-US rout until after the next US election.” He appeals to journalists not to swallow “the official line/ White House propaganda”.
In 1970, I made a film in Vietnam called The Quiet Mutiny in which GIs spoke out about their hatred of that war and its “official line/White House propaganda”. The experiences in Iraq and Vietnam are both very different and strikingly similar. There was much less “embedded coverage” in Vietnam, although there was censorship by omission, which is standard practice today.
What is different about Iraq is the willingness of usually obedient British soldiers to speak their minds, from General Richard Dannatt, Britain’s current military chief, who said that the presence of his troops in Iraq “exacerbates the security problem”, to General Michael Rose who has called for Tony Blair to be impeached for taking Britain to war “on false grounds” – remarks that are mild compared with the blogs of squaddies.
What is also different is the growing awareness in the British forces and the public of how “the official line” is played through the media. This can be quite crude: for example when a BBC defence correspondent in Iraq described the aim of the Anglo-American invasion as “bring[ing] democracy and human rights” to Iraq. The Director of BBC Television, Helen Boaden, backed him up with a sheaf of quotations from Blair that this was indeed the aim, implying that Blair’s notorious word was enough.
More often than not, censorship by omission is employed: for example, by omitting the fact that almost 80 per cent of attacks are directed against the occupation forces (source: the Pentagon) so as to give the impression that the occupiers are doing their best to separate “warring tribes” and are crisis managers rather than the cause of the crisis.
There is a last-ditch sense about this kind of propaganda. Seymour Hersh said recently, “[In April, the Bush administration] made a decision that because of the totally dwindling support for the war in Iraq, they would go back to the al-Qaeda card, although there’s no empirical basis. Most of the pros will tell you the foreign fighters are a couple of per cent and they’re sort of leaderless… there’s no attempt to suggest there’s any significant co-ordination of these groups, but the press keeps going ga-ga about al-Qaeda… it’s just amazing to me.”
Ga-ga day at the London Guardian was 22 May. “Iran’s secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq”, said the front-page banner headline. “Iran is secretly forging ties with al Qaeda elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq,” wrote Simon Tisdall from Washington, “in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition int- ended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say.” The entire tale was based on anonymous US official sources. No attempt was made to substantiate their “firm evidence” or explain the illogic of their claims. No journalistic scepticism was even hinted, which is amazing considering the web of proven lies spun from Washington over Iraq.
Moreover, it had a curious tone of something-must-be-done insistence, reminiscent of Judith Miller’s scandalous reports in the New York Times claiming that Saddam was about to launch his weapons of mass destruction and beckoning Bush to invade. Tisdall in effect offered the same invitation; I can remember few more irresponsible pieces of journalism. The British public and the people of Iran, deserve better.
Over the last few months the Cork Alliance Against War had been thinking of ways to help the case of the Raytheon 9, on trial for standing up to the Raytheon Arms Company who have a plant in Derry. Unfortunately we live in a strange world where a company that works on designs for better ways to kill people can expect more sympathy from the powers-that-be than those who try and stop the killing. And of course the supreme irony is that all this has arrived in Northern Ireland because the local killing has stopped. The world seems ever ready to criticise ordinary Germans for not doing more to prevent the Nazis from taking power all those years ago and thus stopping some of the worst carnage in history. Well, we may not have been around 80 years ago, but would we have acted so differently? There’s plenty of killing going on today and what are we doing to stop it?
The ‘Raytheon 9’ and people like them are the real heroes of today – ordinary people who’ve said “Enough!” and been willing to put their jobs, finances, peace of mind and freedom on the line to stand up for what they believe in
And whereas they should be feted by our so-called democratic governments for their contribution to world peace, they are instead rewarded with a trial and possible prison sentence.
So we decided to organise a fund-raising gig here in Cork on 19th April last in order to help them defray the legal costs of defending their case. There are of course the lawyers, but the Raytheon 9 also hope to fly witnesses in from places on the receiving end of Raytheon weaponry in their defence. The whole thing could be quite embarrassing for Raytheon yet along with those politicians who haven’t had the courage to stand up to them.
The night – at An Spailpin Fanach – was a resounding success in every sense – attendance, financially and musically! Three groups generously and freely gave their time, talent and energy (lots of energy!!) to the cause. First up were Ernesto with Burnen, who got the evening off to a lively start. They were followed by Cork singer-songwriter FionBarra who entertained us all with witty insights into local life as well as more international and time honoured themes. Definitely one to watch out for in the future! Then the sensational Sangre Latino took to the stage. What can I say? These guys ROCK!!! If you haven’t seen them, go and do so now before you have to pay hundreds of Euro on e-Bay for the chance of getting a ticket to one of their gigs! The name is in some ways deceptive, as I was expecting more of a salsa flavour. But these guys can play anything – we moved from cool Island Reggae to songs reminiscent of Buena Vista Social Club (and I am not exaggerating to say they’d give them a run for their money) to Italian, Spanish and French songs. The lead singer, Silvio (from beautiful Tuscany) is a one-man show in his own right. Between songs he kept us entertained and captivated by his humorous, passionate and sharp commentary on Ireland’s politicians and their so-called democracy. Think ‘Des Bishop’ on politics and society! One song in particular sticks out in my mind – about an anti-war demonstrator killed by a rubber bullet fired by the police and which they incredibly claimed ricocheted off another airborne missile (a bottle perhaps), came down and hit the unfortunate protester in the head (instead of breaking the other missile – though one wonders how they managed to follow its trajectory so easily). At least that’s the official version! Silvio had his own version and delivered it with gusto! He was ably backed by David on bass, Roberto on piano, Oliver on drums and the gorgeous Kathy on sax.
Everyone who came through the door was greeted with a picture tableau of all the local TDs and election candidates we had contacted regarding their stance on Ireland’s involvement in the so-called war on terror through the USA’s use of Shannon. Posted below each picture was their response – or more typically, complete lack of one. If this is how they ignore us now (despite finding time to fill our letterboxes with flyers) I can just imagine how they’ll be if they get elected.
By the end of the night we were able to take to the stage and announce that we had raised a total of €802 for the Raytheon 9.
Well done lads!
A big thank you to Maurizio for the Photos
A new report by the US state department has found that the number of so called Terrorist attacks has increased by 25%.
The annual “Country reports on terrorism” also found that the number of deaths as a result of these attacks to be up 40% to 20,000.
13,000 of the 20,000 terrorism deaths last year were in Iraq according to the report where attacks doubled in the past 12 months. Afghanistan also saw a rise in terror attacks from 491 to 749.
The report makes the usual claims that Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria are states sponsoring terrorism and said Venezuela was “not fully co-operating” with the war on terror.
More discerning readers may note the irony of this! It is after all the US government that has undertaken wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of it’s global “War on Terror” despite warnings from it’s own intelligence agencies that the these wars would ultimately increase the threat of terrorism.
These latest figures are a shocking admission by the authorities in the US that their war on terror has long since been lost.
It’s time for the Irish Government to disassociate the Irish people from this carnage and get the US military out of Shannon
US State Department Press release here
U.S Military Out Of Shannon! |
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