Shannon Five verdict should be clear message

Listening to the reports of the cruel and unjustifiable carnage being perpetrated by Israel over the past few weeks would depress even the most carefree of people.

The realisation that Israel is allowed to freely breach every international law in the book without fear of ever being held responsible is an international scandal. Those nations that would wish to stop the carnage cannot and those nations that have it within their power to make it stop — that is, the United States of America — do not want to.

It has been reported that Israel is using phosphorus in its bombs, which is illegal, and also cluster bombs and mines. It has also been reported that Israeli pilots are being told to take out ten buildings in Beirut for every building hit in Haifa. If such clear premeditated and indiscriminate actions are not war crimes, I do not know what is. A policy of “for every one take down ten†is not about self-defence. It is clearly about vengeance.
However, it is just when things are at their lowest level that something inspiring happens to restore our faith in human nature and our belief that there is some justice in this world after all. One of these rare occasions occurred last week when five anti-war protesters were found not guilty of criminally damaging a US navy aircraft at Shannon airport. For once at least, good had indeed triumphed over evil and those opposed to war and killing have come out on top.

The group of five pacifists —Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon, Damien Moran and Ciaron O’Reilly — had pleaded not guilty of causing damage without lawful excuse to the naval aircraft at Shannon airport in 2003. As the jury obviously concluded, they had indeed a very good lawful excuse — the need to protect life and prevent greater damage to innocent people far from our peaceful shores.

The cost of repairs to the aircraft was estimated at over $2.5 million (£1.3 million; €2 million), which is only a drop in the ocean for a nation that spends more than $400 billion annually on war and militarism. The US military budget for this year alone is $441.6 billion (£237 billion; €346 billion) and the Bush administration has made a request for $462.7 billion (£248 billion; €363 billion) for next year.

The peace activists rightly argued that they had a lawful excuse for doing what they did because they honestly believed they were acting to protect lives and property in Iraq – a nation that has already suffered untold violence and misery, including years of crippling sanctions that have left hundreds of thousands dead.

The five had claimed lawful defence as they had an honestly held belief that the plane, through its involvement in the build-up of weapons and personnel for the illegal war on Iraq, was a threat to the lives of innocent civilians in Iraq. Britain and the United States had amassed a military force in preparation for the massive assault against Iraq. In the previous aggression against Iraq in 1991, terrible crimes against peace and crimes against humanity had been committed by the US and British armed forces.

These brave people had to wait nearly three-and-a-half years for their case to reach a jury. Thankfully, it took the jury only a few hours to find them not guilty of criminal damage to the US Navy plane.

The jury seems to have agreed that to damage a US military plane could not, under the current situation, be perceived as a crime. This unanimous verdict should send a message to our government about its policy of facilitating the US military at our airports. More than 300,000 troops passed through Shannon last year alone.

After the trial, Deirdre Clancy, one of the peace activists, said that the conscience of the Irish people had spoken and the Ahern government had no popular mandate to let Shannon airport be used as part of the “American war machine†.

Will these words fall on deaf ears once again or will our government at long last reconsider its support for the US and its illegal war? The peace and human-rights group Action from Ireland has long criticised the Irish government for its involvement in an illegal war through the facilitation of the movement of US troops through Shannon airport. Afri believes that weapons have been transported through our civilian airports and that rendition flights of prisoners have also taken place. The group said: “The government has consistently refused to investigate these allegations and chooses instead to take the word of the American administration that this is not the case. Afri strongly believes that the word of the current US administration is not good enough in this case and believe Irish neutrality and our good name in relation to international peacekeeping is sullied by the use of Shannon airport.â€
The Shannon Five case is not unique. There have been other such cases with similar results in recent years. In 1996, a Liverpool jury acquitted four women Ploughshares movement activists who broke into a British Aerospace plant and damaged the nose of a Hawk fighter jet destined for Indonesia for use by the Suharto regime in its illegal war against East Timor. Many believe that these women’s actions contributed to the end of arms exports to the Indonesian dictatorship, which had massacred a third of the people of East Timor during their struggle for independence.

In 1999, a judge in a Scottish court instructed the jury to acquit three women who had been charged with causing £80,000 worth of damage to the Maytime, a Trident-related acoustic research barge in Loch Goil, during a Ploughshares disarmament action. During the case, evidence was given that international law applied everywhere and that, because of its destructive power, Trident could not be used in any manner that was lawful. A German judge, who himself had been involved with 20 other judges in direct action against the US military, gave evidence of the legitimacy of non-violent action to uphold the law. He said they had learned from the Nazi era the high cost of remaining silent when their government was acting unlawfully.

Evidence was also given on the composition and capabilities of the Trident system, the imminent danger of nuclear war and accidents and of the effectiveness of civil resistance to change official policy
The judge concluded that the three had been justified in thinking that Britain’s possession of Trident could be construed as a threat and, as such, was an infringement of international and customary law.

“I have heard nothing which would make it seem to me that the accused acted with criminal intent,†said the judge.

All these actions were inspired by the vision of Isaiah chapter 2 verse 4 of beating “swords into ploughshares†.

In accordance with the principles of the Nuremburg tribunal, citizens have a right and duty to seek to prevent crimes against peace and humanity. It is only right that they are not criminalised for their actions.

Last week’s decision should be accepted as a clear message that Ireland wants no part in waging war on the people of Iraq. The refuelling of US warplanes and the facilitation of US troop movements through Shannon airport should stop immediately.