October saw a drop in US Airforce (USAF) and troop plane numbers landing at Shannon and flying over. Shannonwatch recorded 58 troop carriers at Shannon in October compared to 68 the previous month. Over 200 commercial airlines carrying US troops or cargo passed through Irish airspace during the month.

In addition, Shannonwatch also logged 13 USAF executive jets, 5 Hercules C-130's and 8 C-9's (the military version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 airline) at Shannon during October.

There were also at least two Volga-Dnepr flights through Shannon, and 3 - 4 Kalitta air flights (in the few days between 29th October and 1st November). Both carriers are known to transport munitions and military supplies.

American Statement of Support for the Peace & Neutrality Alliance and Shannonwatch and their Opposition to Irish Participation in the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

As American peace activists working to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we support the efforts of our colleagues in the Irish peace movement to draw attention to and to oppose the use of Shannon Airport by the Pentagon as part of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In particular, we support the demonstration called by PANA & Shannonwatch for October 10, 2010, marking the ninth anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy

John Feffer, Co-Director, Foreign Policy in Focus*

Tom Hayden, Peace and Justice Resource Center, Culver City, CA

Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action

Judith LeBlanc, National Field Organizer, Peace Action

Medea Benjamin, Co-founder, CODEPINK

Gael Murphy, Co-founder, CODEPINK

Dave Robinson, Executive Director, Pax Christi USA

Ray McGovern, Tell the Word, Church of the Saviour, Washington, DC

Shannonwatch records and documents flights by the US military and its contractors in and out of Shannon Airport. Here's a summary of the main facts and figures covering the last decade of U.S. military use of the airport.

Some of the main points highlighted in this fact sheet are that

The Afghan War Diary released by Wikileaks earlier this week provides startling insights into the war in Afghanistan. Thanks to their release, we now know that coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians, that the CIA’s paramilitary operations are expanding in Afghanistan, and that the Taliban has been able to use the same portable missiles that helped defeat the Soviet occupation in the 1980s against U.S./NATO aircraft.

We also know that neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are probably fuelling the war. Western commanders suspect that Pakistan's military spy service guides the Afghan insurgency that fights U.S./NATO troops, even as Pakistan receives more than $1 billion in aid from the U.S.

Speech given at Public Meeting 'US Army Out of Shannon; Troops Out of Afghanistan', Wynn's Hotel Dublin 27 May 2010. Organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM)

John Lannon, Shannonwatch

“We’d all prefer if there were no wars …”

This is a quote from a Clare Fianna Fail TD, speaking on a local radio show in early May 2010. It was a few days after Omni Air International, the main airline company transporting U.S. troops through Shannon, stopped using the airport. They did so because of the volcanic ash from Iceland which was drifting in and out of Irish airspace. As a result of the pull-out, 30 workers were laid of at the airport and this prompted local media interest and discussion.

Shannonwatch member Edward Horgan will speak at a conference on rendition and torture in Duke University in North Carolina this week. In January of this year the U.S. revoked the ten year visa which he had been granted in 2009, but at the last minute he was granted a 3 month visa and will be attending the conference.