One of the five protesters charged with damaging a US aircraft at Shannon airport has told the jury that "acting on the philosophies of Isaiah rather than pissing off George Bush" was the motivation behind their actions.
He also said they hoped gardaí would join them in their protest similar to the way police and civilians joined together to chip away at the Berlin Wall and bring about its eventual fall in 1989.
Ciaron O'Reilly (45), an Australian national living in Dublin and working with homeless people at the Catholic Worker Movement, said "turning swords into ploughshares" was the inspiration behind his attacking the US aircraft on February 3rd, 2003.
He told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that for them it was a choice of doing what they did at Shannon or travelling to Baghdad to act as human shields.
Following a visit to Glenstal Abbey in Limerick during which they discussed the issue, they chose not to travel to Baghdad as they did not speak Arabic.
Mr O'Reilly said, in reply to his counsel, Hugh Hartnett SC (with Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha), that Shannon had become "a pit-stop for death" and by damaging the aircraft he wanted to prevent the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and the destruction of property and of the infrastructure that kept Iraqi society functioning.
He also told the packed courtroom that when he used a pickaxe to attack the aircraft, he had a genuine belief, honestly held, that by doing so he was going to protect "other people and property".
It was day four of the trial of Mr O'Reilly, along with Damien Moran, a student priest with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Dublin, sharing an address with him on the South Circular Road, Rialto; Karen Fallon, a Scottish marine biologist, also living on the South Circular Road; US national Nuin Dunlop, a counsellor who lives in Dublin city centre; and Deirdre Clancy, a copy editor for The Spinnaker, Alverno, Clontarf, who are all accused of criminal damage.
They all plead not guilty to one count of damaging a US naval plane and to causing similar damage to two glass door panels at Aer Rianta at Shannon on February 3rd, 2003.
Mr O'Reilly told the jury of nine women and three men he was informed of the consequences of sanctions imposed on Iraq following the 1991 war through sources such as the television documentary Paying the Price by journalist John Pilger.
He said he and his co-accused left a copy of Pilger's documentary as well as a documentary produced by Jesuits in the US on the effects of the Iraq war at a "shrine" they erected at Shannon, along with a copy of the Koran, the Bible and prayer beads.
He denied in cross-examination by prosecuting counsel Conor Devally SC (with Luan Ó Braonáin) that he damaged the aircraft in Shannon to publicise to maximum effect his position on the war by getting himself arrested and by bringing about his trial.
What he had been hoping for, he said, was that instead of arresting them, gardaí would join them in the protest, much the same way that people chipping away at the Berlin Wall had inspired police and civilians to join in.
He agreed he had given a live interview on Monday this week to an American broadcaster in which he said: "...and so we are hoping to put the war on trial". He said, however, the phrase did not refer specifically to the proceedings at the courtroom where the five are being tried.