Shatter claims "immunity" for US Military at Shannon!

SHATTER CLAIMS
"SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY"
FOR US MILITARY
AIRCRAFT:

 

Under pressure of opposition questions in Dáil Éireann last week, Defence and Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, introduced a new concept of “sovereign immunity” for US Military aircraft using Shannon airport to tranship troops and their equipment and whatever else they might be carrying, to justify the failure of Irish governments to carry out their obligations under international human rights laws and neutrality laws in respect of misuse of the Airport by the US Military in the past 12 years since the illegal invasion of Afghanistan.

John Lannon of Shannonwatch, the locally based group of peace activists who monitor US activities at the Airport commented:

 

"The Minister for Justice and Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter has claimed that An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) has no role in relation to the inspection of foreign State or military aircraft at Shannon or other airports because they enjoy "sovereign immunity". In effect this means that the government allows the US military to take whatever or whoever they want through Ireland, regardless of the human rights, security and other consequences.

His statement was made in response to Clare Daly, TD, who asked the Minister whether or not the Government or the Garda Commissioner has instructed Gardaí at Shannon not to search US military aircraft, or chartered aircraft transporting US troops, or aircraft associated with the CIA.

According to Minister Shatter, An Garda Síochána has statutory powers of search and entry available to it under various legislative provisions, and these apply to aircraft as much as to any other type of private property.  He was talking here about civilian as opposed to military aircraft.

The Minister said that these powers may only be exercised in circumstances where a member of An Garda Síochána reasonably suspects that an offence has been or is being committed. But, there have been plenty of incidents in which there were reasonable
grounds to suspect involvement in torture-related offences and these have not been investigated.

The Minister also said that An Garda Síochána has fully investigated a number of allegations of unlawful activity at Irish airports and files have been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions in some of these cases. This is a claim that was also made by the government in their report to the fourth periodic review under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

At that time they noted that 17 complaints were received by An Garda Síochána regarding alleged rendition flights to/from Shannon Airport. "However they could only confirm that 7 of these were investigated"

Shannonwatch calls on the Department of Justice to make the outcomes of the investigations of all the complaints known, or if no investigations took place to explain why".

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This new and outrageous attempt by Shatter to avoid legal responsibility for crimes at Shannon Airport is typical of his contemptuous attitude to any reporting of international law and human rights violations by the US Military or Israel and to the opposition who draw attention to these events on a regular basis, the monthly demonstration organised there by Shannonwatch being the most hated by this imperialist toady who, unfortunately for the Irish people, was put in charge of the Irish departments of Defence and Justice by the current Fine Gael/Labour coalition government.

There is no such thing as “sovereign immunity” for military transports in Irish or International Law; it is a spurious and malignant invention by Shatter to bolster his own pro-imperialist, pro-NATO and pro-zionist views expressed publicly at every opportunity along with vituperative and vicious comments on any opposition to his war-mongering and genocidal cronies in the Pentagon and Tel-Aviv.

 

The Hague Conventions, 1907:

The Second Hague Convention of October 1907, (Treaty V, Convention relative to the rights and duties of neutral powers and persons in case of war on land), specifically states:

“Art. 2.

Belligerents are forbidden to move troops or convoys of either munitions of war or supplies across the territory of a neutral Power”.

 

Although this Hague Convention of 1907(V) has not specifically been incorporated in modern  Irish Law by Dáil Éireann, the foundation of the Irish Free State/Saorstát Éireann in 1922, under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922, affirmed all laws previously in force under the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland remained in force unless amended or repealed by Dáil Éireann and a similar provision in the 1937 Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) regarding the laws of Saorstát Éireann, allows the 1907 Hague Convention, to which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a signatory, to be validly considered as Irish Law since no amendment or repeal of this convention has been enacted by Dáil Éireann.

Further, after World War II, the judges of the military tribunal of the Trial of German Major War Criminals at the Nuremberg Trials found that by 1939, the rules laid down in the 1907 Hague Convention were recognised by all civilised nations and were regarded as declaratory of the laws and customs of war. Under this post-war decision, a country did not have to have ratified the 1907 Hague Conventions in order to be bound by them.

 

This leaves no grounds whatsoever for Shatter’s spurious legalisms and such malignant inventions designed to give a fig-leaf of spurious legality for war-crimes and human rights violations by the world’s most aggressive imperialist power, the USA, must be vigorously opposed and rebuffed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shannon Protests continue

SHANNON PROTESTS
WILL CONTINUE:

Protesters who attended the monthly peace vigil at Shannon Airport on

October 13 vowed that the protests, maintained since 2001 when the Afghan

War began, would continue until the Irish Government honoured its commitment made in 2011 to enforce international law at the Airport as the

majority of the Irish people wished according to the latest opinion poll last

September.

A large contingent of peace activists from Dublin and other cities travelled to

Shannon to join the local activists in their protest and some of them were

interviewed during the journey by Connolly Media Group:

http://vimeo.com/77093252#at=0


Aircraft Identified:
 

The aircraft which landed on September 5 last in breach of Irish Neutrality and so-call "assurances" by the US Government and its Embassy in Dublin has been identified as a USAF Hercules C130W registration 87-9288. This is one of the "gunship" versions of the C130 and is armed with two 30mm cannon in its usual array.

                                          USAF Hercules C130 with weapons system on port side.

30mm Cannon are weapons capable of demolishing concrete buildings and destroying vehicles

including armoured types such as tanks and APC's. Needless to say, human beings in the path of destruction wreaked by aircraft like these stand no chance of survival. The presence of this aircraft

on our territory is grossly offensive to our sovereign rights and the Irish people's Constitutional commitment to settlement of international disputes by peaceful means.

The Irish Government's explanation of this event as an "administrative error" by the US  military authorities is farcical and unbelievable. No US military aircraft could leave the USA except on a defined mission and detailed flight path whether filed in public or not. 

The Irish Government must be more forthcoming with the public on how this aircraft was allowed to land and not detained and impounded under the Defence Act 1954. The Irish people require no less from their Government and the Garda Síochána responsible for law enforcement at Shannon Airport.

Later today in Dáil Éireann, Deputy Michael Wallace will ask the Minister for Defence to state the cost of additional security at Shannon Airport due to the use of the airport by the US Military.  

US breaches Irish Neutrality:

                                                   US Hercules at Shannon Airport


GOVT. ADMITS  US LANDED 
ARMED AIRCRAFT AT SHANNON:

In a statement to Dail Eireann on October 15, Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore admitted a breach of Irish Neutrality by the United States on September 5, 2013, when an externally armed US Hercules C130 aircraft was landed at Shannon Airprort contrary to Irish and International Law and assurances given to Ireland previously by the US Government:

“An armed US military aircraft stopped at Shannon airport early last month in breach of Government rules prohibiting planes carrying weapons from landing in Ireland or flying through Irish airspace." Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore revealed concerning details of an aircraft “armed with a fixed weapon” landing at Shannon, in a reply to a parliamentary question this week.

The aircraft landed on September 5th after clearance paperwork submitted by the US supposedly "mislabeled" the type of aircraft requesting landing rights at the airport, which has been frequently used by American military personnel travelling between the United States and war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When contacted by officials of DFA the US embassy said that it regretted the incident and said that new procedures had been “put in place to ensure such errors do not take place in the future”.

The US Embassy declined to answer questions about the type of aircraft or weapon on the plane or where the aircraft had flown from or its destination.The aircraft landed at Shannon at a time when the US was pressing foreign leaders to support military action against Syria over the use of chemical weapons.

Mr Gilmore said that the Garda and Defence Forces providing security at the airport reported that a US military aircraft, which had landed, was “visibly armed”. Following an investigation, a senior department official expressed “strong concern” with the US embassy’s chargé d’affaires, the temporary stand-in for the vacant Ambassador’s role, at a meeting. The official made clear to the US representative that “the Irish Government views breaches such as the one that occurred as a matter of the utmost seriousness”, Mr Gilmore said. “It would appear that this was an isolated incident which took place as a result of an administrative error and I have noted the steps taken by the US authorities to ensure that there is no recurrence.”

The Tánaiste said that the system for dealing with requests for landing by US aircraft in Shannon was being fully implemented and “kept under regular review” to ensure it complies with Irish law. “The US authorities have no difficulties with this approach and indeed have expressed their concern to ensure that they are acting in full accordance with our requirements,” he said.
  
CHALLENGED:

Gilmore's statement was challenged by Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) International Secretary, Edward Horgan, who issued the following statement:

 "Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore stated in the Dail on 15^th October that a US military aircraft “armed with a fixed weapon” landed at Shannon. This incident is believed to have occurred on 5^th September 2013 and probably involved a Hercules Lockheed C130W combat aircraft. The Minister claimed that “It would appear that this was an isolated incident which took place as a result of an administrative error and I have noted the steps taken by the US authorities to ensure that there is no recurrence.” This statement by Minister Gilmore lacks credibility. 

The only reason that this incident has been made public is that the weapon was externally mounted on the aircraft, and the Gardai and Irish Army who were inappropriately guarding this aircraft could not have avoided seeing this weapon, and the Minister was likely aware that the matter was about be publicised. Minister Gilmore has repeatedly stated that US military aircraft being refuelled at Shannon “are unarmed, carrying no arms, ammunition or explosives, not engaged in intelligence gathering, and not part of any military exercises or operations at Shannon”. 

This is false information on several counts. The vast majority of US soldiers, including military air crews and US military aircraft, traveling through Shannon are either engaged in military exercises or on their way to or from military operations. These personnel virtually never travel abroad on such missions without carrying with them their personal hand-held weapons such as assault rifles and pistols and associated ammunition. These modern assault rifles are personal issue to each soldier and are taken with them to and from each mission. In addition the US military cargo aircraft being refueled almost daily at Shannon airport are not crossing the Atlantic towards the Middle East carrying harmless materials. Their sole purpose is to carry armed soldiers and war materials, including dangerous munitions.

 
All this is in clear breach of Irish neutrality, and of international laws on neutrality, and in addition presents dangers to workers and the public at Shannon airport who are exposed to serious dangers because Shannon airport is not designed for such dangerous explosive air cargoes.
 
The Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance calls for the long-term prohibition of all foreign military use of Shannon airport and for immediate implementation of a system of random unannounced inspections of US military aircraft at Shannon and of chartered aircraft carrying US troops and US military cargo through Shannon Airport". 

The Tanaiste's admission that an externally armed US military aircraft landed at Shannon Airport in breach of Irish Neutrality and Irish and International Law is seriously disturbing.

The description of this event as an“isolated incident” is contradicted by events at the Airport over this year in particular.  In February this year, members of PANA, and Shannonwatch, who monitor US military activity at the Airport, accompanied by Colonel Ann Wright (US Army retd.) observed a US Hercules C130 aircraft on the tarmac, near the Control Tower, from which aircraft armed and uniformed (camouflage) US military personnel could be seen disembarking and embarking at various times. This breach of Irish Law,  the Defence Act 1954, was pointed out to a Garda Sergeant who was also present but, who failed to take any action when he was requested to search the aircraft.

A number of other such incidents have been observed and reported by Shannonwatch observers and in no case have either Gardai or Defence Force personnel taken any action to enforce Irish Law against these scandalous breaches of our sovereignty indulged in with impunity by the US Military despite what the Tanaiste stated in Dail Eireann. In each case reports were made to Gardai on the spot which were met by silence and inaction.

The Irish Government should withdraw landing and refueling facilities for US Military aircraft at Shannon Airport forthwith, except in cases of emergency, as the assurances on compliance with law and regulations from the US Government and its Embassy in Dublin are worthless and an insult to the sovereign rights of the Irish people.