US assured State that CIA flights never used Shannon (Ireland)

Source: Irish Times

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

JOHN ZAROCOSTAS in Geneva

THE GOVERNMENT received assurances from US president George Bush and his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that no extraordinary rendition took place at Shannon airport, the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher has told a UN expert panel on human rights ...

Committee member Judge Rajsoomer Lallah (Mauritius) told the Irish delegation yesterday: "We have information of concrete cases of rendition taking place at Shannon airport" and use of Ireland's air space by the CIA in several instances such as the case of Khaled al-Maqtari.

Amnesty International said last month it believes the aircraft that took Mr al-Maqtari from Baghdad to Kabul in January 2004 had left Shannon the previous day. Mr al-Maqtari, who moved from his home in Yemen to Iraq in early 2003, was detained by US forces in Falluja the following January.

On Monday, Mr Gallagher repeatedly stressed the Government is totally opposed to extraordinary rendition and that "freedom from torture of punishment is among freedoms protected by the Constitution," and also by international instruments to which Ireland is a party. But he also conceded that the Government is aware "there are instances where diplomatic assurances can not be relied upon" ...

Read more: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0716/1216073118832.html

I'm surprised the Irish would let that happen

Not Northern Ireland. It has nothing to do with the United Kingdom.
So take that out while you have time.

That being said our government is lying, kick and nominated

Saying, "But Bush gave me his word" is meaningless. When ANYONE says it.

There is no such thing as a reasonable expectation for honesty from a known liar - no matter what title the liar holds.

Hiding behind "assurances" (I took his word for it), when information to the contrary was out there, in no way erases culpability..

It's no different than when the US claims they were given assurances that no one would be tortured in Egypt, Morocco, etc. (after being sent there by the US with the use of extraordinary rendition)

You don't send people to known torturers and then claim as a defense, but they gave me their word they wouldn't torture.

And you don't accept "assurances" from a country ALREADY KNOWN for using extraordinary rendition. (in order to disappear people and torture them)

And it's not just Ireland....



from 2002

November 2004

"The report reveals that the since October 2001, the plane has completed at least 72 operations in over 30 countries. It has a special landing permit at military bases all over the world and is also afforded free passage in international airspace.

The plane’s routes always follow the same pattern. After take-off from its home base in Smithfield, North Carolina it makes a short stop at Dulles International Airport in Washington, close to the CIA headquarters and Pentagon.

After crossing the Atlantic it makes stops in places such as Shannon, Ireland, Frankfurt, Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic"


list of countries involved in extraordinary rendition
* Ireland
Amnesty International today revealed that six planes used by the CIA for renditions
have made some 800 flights in or out of European airspace including 50 landings at
Shannon airport in the Republic of Ireland.
...
GulfstreamIV, call sign N85VM (Later re-registered as N227SV), the plane that took
Abu Omar to Egypt from Germany after his kidnapping in Italy, turned around and
flew to Shannon. ...

Amnesty International is publishing the information after a challenge by the Irish
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern on Thursday last week. Asked about CIA planes
using Shannon airport, the Foreign Minister said, "If anyone has any evidence of any
of these flights please give me a call and I will have it immediately investigated."

On 17 Feb 2003, for instance, the Gulfstream IV, N85VM took Abu Omar from Ramstein
to Cairo, then turned around and flew to Shannon, arriving at 0552 on the 18th.
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGAMR511982005

I had so many on extraordinary rendition, I couldn't decide which to use

it makes it look like they took part

The thing is, I can see (very early on) a few flights coming in unchallenged. The US military lands all over the world, carrying troops and supplies. Nothing out of the ordinary about those flights. Nothing suspicious.

But after the information started leaking out, ALL countries now wanting to claim ignorance should have denied the flights they couldn't physically verify as legal within their own laws, as well as international/customary law.

Then, maybe, "they gave me their word", would have some merit. MAYBE.




I've no doubt whatsoever that assurances were given...and accepted. Sometimes you accept a tiny lie from your foreign counterpart and that's called diplomacy. But when you accept a lie of this magnitude with wink and nod diplomacy? Well, that's called complicity.

First they disappear people, then they disappear the awareness of these people. :grr:

There is no telling how many people the US has disappeared.

Such as when they're American diplomatic assurances, since America is known world-wide for being the biggest liar on the block.

they should resign for rank incompetence.

The devil is in the detail.

Nope, we didn't ever snatch someone who was at Shannon and make them disappear. Flew through there a couple times, but we never grabbed anyone that was at the airport.