This morning Gardai arrived at the home of Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) PRO, Niall Farrell, and proceeded to search it. The information he was given indicated that the search was linked to a peaceful act of sabotage on a US troop transporter at Shannon on the morning of 20th December 2011. At the time GAAW had received a handwritten communication from one of the members of the Peace Team involved in the action, and it would seem that this was the basis for the Gardai’s search.

Gardai spent over three hours at Mr. Farrell’s house at the end of which they took all his computers away.

US troops on their way to Afghanistan, ready to kill (from Wisdom Quarterly)

This recent article from CommonDreams.org is a stark reminder of just what a dangerous militaristic country America is. It now spends over $600 billion annually on its military, which is more than the rest of the world combined.

Given all that Ireland has done in the past to promote peace around the world, it is shameful that we now provide military support to the most aggressive country in the world.  

In fact it is worse than shameful. It is amoral complicity in endless killing.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has announced that new security measures are being implemented at Dublin Airport - but not Shannon - as a result of a European audit of airport security. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning (15 May) he stated that these measures included searching of all aircraft transiting through Dublin airport. However he went on to say that this applied to Dublin airport only and not to other Irish airports.

Prisoners at Shannon Airport - Edward Horgan and Justin Morahan in a Garda van following their detention for displaying a banner saying "US Troops Out of Shannon"

John Maguire detainee at Shannon for carrying a flag with the word "PEACE"

Three peace activists were detained by Gardai at Shannon Airport today for displaying signs saying "Peace" and "US Troops Out Of Shannon". After being removed from the airport they joined the regular second Sunday of the month vigil which took place from 2pm to 3pm outside the

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal which was established in 2007 to investigate allegations of war crimes in Iraq, Palestinian territories and Lebanon has found former U.S. President George W. Bush and several other members of his administration guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a unanimous vote on Saturday (12 May), the second Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, which is part of an initiative by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, found Bush and seven of his associates, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld guilty of torture and war crimes. 

The court also heard evidence from former detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, of torture methods used by U.S. soldiers during their captivity in prisons run by American forces. 

In the last week two aircraft owned by a company linked to rendition flights have been spotted at Shannon. The Learjet 36s, with registrations N71PG and N54PA, are operated by Phoenix Air Group, based in Cartersville, Georgia. The company carries out air ambulance and cargo services as well as military operations for the US Government, and the aircraft are known to have visited the US military interrogation and detention centre at Guantanamo Bay over the past number of years.

While N54PA is operated by Phoenix Air its registered owner is a company called VPC Planes of Wilmington, Delaware.