No End to Shannon military stopovers? Sink this deal

It now appears  that a special conference of the Green Party will be held on Wednesday, 13 June,  to endorse or reject the party's programme for government with Fianna Fail and the PDs. It is now clear that no commitment has been given to end the use of Shannon airport by the US war machine.

 It now appears  that a special conference of the Green Party will be held on Wednesday, 13 June,  to endorse or reject the party's programme for government with Fianna Fail and the PDs. It is now clear that no commitment has been given to end the use of Shannon airport by the US war machine.

In other words, if the Greens accept this deal, they will become part of a government that allows the integration of an Irish civilian airport into the US war machine. They will be providing practical support to George W. Bush in his efforts to enforce US geo-political power in the Middle East and elsewhere. They will be supporting the violent occupation of Iraq and the daily slaughter occurring in that country. The Green Party will have blood on its hands and will be as guilty as Fianna Fail and the PDs.

A recent PANA-commissioned Lansdowne Market Research poll indicated that 58% of Irish people oppose the US military presence at Shannon; only 19% support it. Such mass opposition was made clear back in 2003, when 100,000 people marched in Dublin against the impending war on Iraq and against the facilitation in Ireland of the US killing machine. The issue remains the same.

Anti-War Ireland (AWI) calls on its members and supporters who are members of the Green Party to make every effort to attend the special conference of your party and to speak strongly in opposition to the misuse of Shannon airport and against this immoral deal. Please ignore vague promises about 'inspections': CIA 'rendition' flights are just one aspect of what is occurring at Shannon airport; the through-traffic of soldiers and weapons of war is a daily event.

Do not allow your leadership to drag the Green Party into complicity with the Bush administration. Do not allow the Green Party to become complicit in mass murder. Do not allow them to turn a blind eye.

The facilitation of the Bush war machine is a Green issue: please, we urge you to get to this conference and stop this pact with the PDs and Fianna Fail.

Sink the deal.