Ireland, Iraq, and 'Bullocks'

Ireland is not a member of the “coalition of the willing.” But the neutral country that sits in between the two largest members of the coalition is still aiding America's cause in the Middle East.

The Irish connection to the War in Iraq involves an airport, activists, money and international politics; not usually a mix seen in neutral countries. Since before the invasion of Iraq, the blend has fostered not only some strong opinions about the war, it has provoked thoughts on the future of Ireland, and of the United States -- especially with the 2008 presidential election, and with it a possible change in America's approach in Iraq, approaching.

Shannon Airport sits in County Clare, just north of Limerick in the midwest region of Ireland. It is Ireland’s second-most trafficked airport, next to Dublin, and serves as a technical stop-over for both civilian and military aircraft, including services coming from the U.S., since the 1940s.

Eugene Pratt, Shannon Airport's compliance and regulations manager, explained that the airport services any plane approved by the Irish government to stop over.

“The current programs by various airlines transporting troops to and from missions in Afghanistan and Iraq are so approved,” he said. Over 142,417 U.S. troops have gone through Shannon this year on more than 1000 flights.

In addition to troop carriers, Shannon accepts technical stops from U.S. military planes carrying government personnel, Congressional delegations, and other VIPs. Military planes from the United States are usually from the Department of Defense and government intelligence agencies.

The war is a business for Shannon. Irish news outlet RTE reported that up to 10 percent of airport business comes from the traffic of U.S. troops. When one carrier, World Airways, shifted its business from Shannon to Leipzig, Germany, reports estimated that the airport would lose €20 million.

Something was amiss in the business, though, according to several activist groups that have protested, plane-spotted and camped out near Shannon throughout the war. In 2004, one activist wrote to the Gardaí, the Irish police force, reporting that a U.S. plane was illegally transporting prisoners.

The practice of “extraordinary rendition” is the non-judicial transport of detainees to other jurisdictions for interrogation. The interrogation often includes torture, opponents of the practice allege, which Ireland stands firmly against.

Gardaí conducted five investigations between 2004 and 2005 in response to the allegations, but did not find any evidence to prove the activists’ claim. However, the police, along with Shannon Airport officials, do board planes that are stopped over.

In December 2005, as the allegations were stirring anti-war protesters in the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, sat down with other European leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the claims.

In a statement at the time, Rice said “the United States does not transport and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture.” Before the statement, Ahern accepted what were described as “categorical assurances” from Rice, and did not change the stop-over procedure for the CIA or other planes.

Although business continues as usual in Ireland’s booming economy, the people have been consistently against the deal, says Irish freelance journalist Pat Flynn.

When asked by the Irish Times and Ireland.com, “Should we let US troops land at Shannon on route to Iraq?” 65 percent of responders said “no.” According to Flynn, this has been the case since the beginning: an Irish majority is against the Shannon stop-over.

By the same token, in another poll taken this year by the same outlet, 75 percent of responders think the United States should pull out of Iraq.

The airport has become a potent symbol of Ireland's involvement in the war for some groups. Since 2001, a fledgling organization, the Irish Anti-War Movement, has tried to make its stamp on Irish politics and policies by centering its efforts on Shannon Airport.

The Movement’s Chair, Richard Boyd Barrett, says the organization partners with about a dozen anti-war affiliate organizations in Ireland, and includes about 1000 individual members. While he said he does not expect the war to end anytime soon, he remains focused on working within an international anti-war movement to try and stop this “ongoing global struggle.”

In Barrett’s eyes, the polls are right.

“There is a strong feeling in this country that Ireland needs to restore its policy of neutrality,” he said, which means the Irish government should not permit the United States to make pit stops through Shannon.

But the ongoing relationship symbolized by Shannon Airport’s traffic is also one of economic success. Continued Irish support of the American military in this way promotes good relations between the two countries and a continuance of American business investment in the Ireland's growing economy.

Ireland’s prime minister, Bertie Ahern, laid out the depth of the relationship last year, as reported in the Sunday Tribune. Over 600 U.S. companies invest in the island nation, while the United States remains Ireland’s top market for exports. This relationship employs 100,000 Irish people and has contributed €2.5 billion in corporate taxes.

Because of this, says Barrett, Ireland isn’t looking to get rid of business at Shannon.

Still, Barrett’s organization and others have been protesting at Shannon since the beginning of the war. One activist, Mary Kelly, was arrested in 2003 for criminally causing damage to a U.S. military plane. She was convicted in 2004, after two trials, for taking an axe to the plane and causing €1.1 million in damage.

Although news of big protests has lessened in the past year, Barrett says the movement is continuing its activism, and regardless of where the Irish act, there is no shortage of opinion about President Bush.

Walking into any of the many pubs in Cork, American students may be offered sympathy for coming from the States. One pub-goer told a student studying here for the semester, “I’m so sorry. That Bush is bullocks.”

In a 2006 poll by Ireland’s Sunday Tribune, over 70 percent of the sample said Bush was doing a poor job, not unlike similar stateside polls.

However, according to the Irish Labor party spokesman, Michael D. Higgins, this anti-Bush sentiment is not anti-Americanism.

He told the Tribune, "People are quite rightly critical of Bush but that is not to say they are anti-American. They are more sophisticated and better informed than that. They see that Bush has put confrontation over diplomacy and squandered trust. "

Anti-war activist Deirdre Clancy agrees that Bush has damaged the very thing he set out to fix.

“The Bush Administration has been foolhardy and rash in the Middle East,” she said, “and destabilized the whole region in a dangerous manner.”

As the Irish government continues good relations with the United States and Bush, it leaves many Irish, like Clancy and Barrett, looking toward the future.

In the legacy of the Shannon stop-over and his anti-war stance, Barrett isn’t supporting any particular candidate in 2008 yet. He doesn’t see that either Democrats or Republicans are taking a firm stance against Iraq and wants the American people to “put pressure on a candidate, any candidate, to take an anti-war position.”

Clancy says she’s read up on the “usual coverage” of the candidates and is not satisfied. “The charisma and folksiness of a candidate appears to matter more than policy,” she said. “I think there is far too much power vested in one individual and that it is a very problematic system.”

The personalities do make an impression, though.

One source in Galway, who did not wish to be named, said he preferred Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). In his eyes, Obama offers “something a little different” from “normal politicians” who “don’t get anything done.”

The Clintons also have a good reputation in the region. Former President Bill Clinton is credited with aiding in Northern Ireland peace talks and is coming to Belfast this season to fundraise for his wife.

But the Irish are aching for a change.

In responding to an article on the United Kingdom’s TimesOnline Web site about a joint appearance in New Hampshire by the Clintons, one American reader wrote that “spending 28 consecutive years with just two names, Bush and Clinton, on White House holiday cards is just too much for a democracy to stomach.” Ruairi De Burca, a reader in Cork, simply responded, “What democracy?”

In searching the Irish papers, there is little mention of other candidates, even those that are becoming household names in the United States. But, crawl into any pub, and successfully strike up a conversation on U.S. politics (which is a dangerous sport), no matter the names that arise, the response is always, “anybody but Bush. He’s bullocks.”