US assurances on CIA flights worthless
– McDowell and Ahern’s faith in ‘assurances’ from US Govt is either disingenuous or naive
Statement by Green Party Foreign affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD: “Justice Minister Michael McDowell said in the Dáil today that he accepts assurances from the US that there were no prisoners on board any of the 147 CIA-operated flights that have landed in Irish airports in recent years.
“We know all too much about the value of US assurances. President Bush assured the world there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This turned out to be a total fabrication. The Irish Government was assured that US troops passing through Shannon were not carrying weapons. This again turned out to be untrue. And the US last year assured the international community that it did not use flesh-searing white phosphorus as a weapon in Falluja, before incontrovertible evidence forced them to tell the truth. US assurances on military issues are completely worthless. To take them at face value is either disingenuous or an act of extreme naivety.
“But the Minister is missing the point – and perhaps deliberately so. Flights that were used for rendition purposes passed through Shannon airport, which is, in itself, a breach of international law. This is completely undeniable.
“Minister McDowell and his colleague Minister Dermot Ahern have feigned anger at the damning criticism of Ireland contained in yesterday’s draft report by a European Parliament committee. They should genuinely be ashamed of their complicity in the serious breaches of human rights that have occurred as a result of Ireland’s cooperation with the CIA on their renditions programme. Report after report proves that these planes landed at Shannon with the full permission of the Irish government.
“They have also sought to cloud the issue by saying that there is no evidence of prisoners on board. If we have no direct evidence it is because the Government had no interest in finding it. Minister Ahern has pointedly rejected advice to put a system of random inspections in place. The policy coming from the Department of Foreign affairs would appear to be: ’see no evil, hear no evil.’”