Military business booms at Shannon
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12/12/2005
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/1212/2825276889HMAG12CULLEN.html
A legitimate tool in the war on terror or just another abuse of human
rights?
Paul Cullen examines what is happening at Shannon
It gives the term "Shannon stopover" a whole new meaning - thousands of
American troops passing through an Irish airport each day on their way
to and from Iraq, plus visits by an unspecified number of planes
chartered by the Central Intelligence Agency - destination, occupants
and purpose unknown.
Last year, flights carrying US troops accounted for 6 per cent of
business at the Co Clare airport; by the end of this year, this
proportion is likely to have doubled. Business with the military is
booming just as most other areas of business in Shannon are in decline;
income from this source is expected to top €30 million by the end of
the year.
But at what cost? Has Ireland been co-opted, involuntarily and largely
unsuspectingly, into the "War on Terror"? And is it now implicated in
covert and illegal CIA practices, including torture, as alleged by some
journalists and peace campaigners?
These questions are more than academic. Fundamental human rights issues
are involved, but in addition to this, Irish support for the US war
effort, however unwitting, could make this country a target for
terrorist attacks. Arguably, it already has, given the amorphous nature
of the war being waged on the West by Islamic extremists.
The issue has been bubbling away in the background for some time
without fully grabbing the public's imagination. Less than three years
ago, more than 100,000 people marched in Dublin in opposition to the
Iraq war, which was then imminent. However, this momentum was quickly
lost amid splits and recriminations in the peace movement, and a
failure to co-ordinate activities between Dublin and Shannon.
"We've found it hard to get people out again," admits Brendan Butler of
the NGO Peace Alliance. "People felt 100,000 went out and marched and
what happened? They feel disenchanted."
Notwithstanding the wider sense of disillusionment, small groups of
peace activists have kept the issue in the public eye. Marches, vigils
and occasional skirmishes with the gardaí are the staple of Shannon
protests, but arguably the most effective work has been done by those
monitoring the movements of aircraft carrying US military.
While the public has remained largely unaware or indifferent to these
activities, this could change in the coming weeks and months.
The international drumbeat of allegations of human rights violations is
growing louder by the day; from the abuse of detainees in Afghanistan
to the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and, most
recently, claims of CIA-operated "torture flights" and illegal prisons
around the world.
The overall picture is still patchy and confused, but credible media
reports from the US and elsewhere are pointing to the existence of a
network of CIA-run detention centres in north Africa, Asia and eastern
Europe where al-Qaeda suspects are allegedly subjected to cruel and
degrading treatment that fairly closely approximates to torture.
THE FIRST SUCH DETAINEE, Abu Zabayda, was flown from Pakistan, where he
was captured in March 2002, to Thailand. There he was made to stand for
hours in a cold cell being subjected to "waterboarding", an
interrogation practice which simulates the experience of drowning by
covering the victim's face with cellophane and then pouring water on
it.
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have
documented other such cases involving so-called rendition, by which
detainees are transferred from country to country without legal
process:
Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen, was near the Pakistani-Afghan
border shortly after the 9/11 attacks. He says he was transferred to
Egypt, where he was hung from hooks, beaten and given shocks from an
electric cattle prod. He was moved to Afghanistan and then to
Guantánamo and then released last January.
Maher Arar, from Canada, was flown from New York to Syria, his country
of birth. There he was held in a small underground cell which he
likened to a grave and his hands were repeatedly whipped with cables.
Ahmed Agiza, a doctor, and Muhammad al-Zari were abducted in Stockholm
in December 2001, and flown to Cairo, where they say they were
subjected to electric shock torture in Egypt.
The last case has an important Irish angle. A Swedish journalist
investigating the abduction of the two men received information from
local police about its call sign, N379P. A Google search threw up a
single hit, to an article by peace activists at Shannon who had
monitored the same aircraft, a Gulfstream V typically used by wealthy
corporate executives.
Further investigation showed that this aircraft visited Shannon at
least 16 times in 2002 and 2003, and may also have landed in Cork.
Further investigation by Amnesty has shown that a second aircraft
involved in the abduction of another man in Italy was also sighted in
Shannon hours after his rendition from Germany to Egypt in 2003.
The pattern is sketchy but discernible from the jumble of sightings by
plane-spotters in airports such as Shannon and their blogger friends.
It appears the CIA, often operating through front companies, has
employed a fleet of chartered jets to ferry al-Qaeda suspects in its
detention around the world. As part of this mysterious activity, its
aircraft stop frequently to refuel in Shannon.
Amnesty says it has obtained flight logs for six of these aircraft,
which show a total of 50 landings at Shannon. However, given claims
that the CIA operates a total of 30 aircraft, it believes the actual
number of such landings at Shannon is much higher.
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT any of these aircraft are carrying detainees
during their Shannon stopovers, much less that any torture is actually
taking place on Irish soil. Geography would tell us that while Shannon
might be a useful stop for ferrying prisoners from, say, Afghanistan to
Guantánamo, the CIA aircraft currently the focus of controversy are
probably travelling on to or from rendition work further east.
The Irish authorities take a hands-off approach. Theoretically, gardaí
have the right to search aircraft if they believe it is being used for
commission of a crime. In practice, governments everywhere are
reluctant to interfere with the passage of foreign aircraft from
friendly countries where assurances of good conduct have been given.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, which has responsibility for foreign
military aircraft entering Irish airspace, normally grants permission
under certain conditions, such as that the aircraft is unarmed and not
carrying explosives. However, the Minister can waive these conditions
in certain conditions.
In any case, the majority of planes carrying US military through
Shannon are civilian aircraft, specially chartered for the purpose;
these are the responsibility of the Department of Transport. Such
aircraft are also prohibited from carrying weapons, unless exempted by
the department; so far this year, over 1,400 exemptions have been
issued.
The Americans have responded forcefully to the allegations from human
rights groups.
"We do not render to countries that torture," President Bush said last
week, while insisting on his government's right to undertake covert
operations.
"The United States does not permit, tolerate or condone torture under
any circumstances," US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said during
her visit to Europe last week. Renditions are a "vital tool" in
combating international terrorism which have been used by many
countries for decades, she said.
"Renditions take terrorists out of action, and save lives." In 1994,
she pointed out, the French used the process to bring Carlos the Jackal
from Sudan to Paris, where he was tried and imprisoned. The US used
rendition to catch Ramzi Youssef, who masterminded the 1993 bombing of
the World Trade Centre.
The Government here has accepted these assurances.
"She [ secretary of state Rice] was very categorical that Shannon has
not been used for anything untoward," said Minister for Foreign Affairs
Dermot Ahern after a meeting in Washington earlier this month. "We
fully accept the categorical assurance of a friendly nation."
But anti-war activists are ill-inclined to accept such assurances,
claiming that what the Americans classify as "enhanced interrogation
techniques" actually amounts to torture. Shortly they hope to purchase
a radar device that will allow them monitor and identify aircraft
movements in Shannon.
© The Irish Times