A legitimate tool in the war on terror or just another abuse of human rights? Paul Cullen examines what is happening at Shannon
It gives the term "Shannon stopover" a whole new meaning - thousands of American troops passing through an Irish airport each day on their way to and from Iraq, plus visits by an unspecified number of planes chartered by the Central Intelligence Agency - destination, occupants and purpose unknown.
Last year, flights carrying US troops accounted for 6 per cent of business at the Co Clare airport; by the end of this year, this proportion is likely to have doubled. Business with the military is booming just as most other areas of business in Shannon are in decline; income from this source is expected to top €30 million by the end of the year.
But at what cost? Has Ireland been co-opted, involuntarily and largely unsuspectingly, into the "War on Terror"? And is it now implicated in covert and illegal CIA practices, including torture, as alleged by some journalists and peace campaigners?
These questions are more than academic. Fundamental human rights issues are involved, but in addition to this, Irish support for the US war effort, however unwitting, could make this country a target for terrorist attacks. Arguably, it already has, given the amorphous nature of the war being waged on the West by Islamic extremists.
The issue has been bubbling away in the background for some time without fully grabbing the public's imagination. Less than three years ago, more than 100,000 people marched in Dublin in opposition to the Iraq war, which was then imminent. However, this momentum was quickly lost amid splits and recriminations in the peace movement, and a failure to co-ordinate activities between Dublin and Shannon.
"We've found it hard to get people out again," admits Brendan Butler of the NGO Peace Alliance. "People felt 100,000 went out and marched and what happened? They feel disenchanted."
Notwithstanding the wider sense of disillusionment, small groups of peace activists have kept the issue in the public eye. Marches, vigils and occasional skirmishes with the gardaí are the staple of Shannon protests, but arguably the most effective work has been done by those monitoring the movements of aircraft carrying US military.
While the public has remained largely unaware or indifferent to these activities, this could change in the coming weeks and months.
The international drumbeat of allegations of human rights violations is growing louder by the day; from the abuse of detainees in Afghanistan to the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and, most recently, claims of CIA-operated "torture flights" and illegal prisons around the world.
The overall picture is still patchy and confused, but credible media reports from the US and elsewhere are pointing to the existence of a network of CIA-run detention centres in north Africa, Asia and eastern Europe where al-Qaeda suspects are allegedly subjected to cruel and degrading treatment that fairly closely approximates to torture.
THE FIRST SUCH DETAINEE, Abu Zabayda, was flown from Pakistan, where he was captured in March 2002, to Thailand. There he was made to stand for hours in a cold cell being subjected to "waterboarding", an interrogation practice which simulates the experience of drowning by covering the victim's face with cellophane and then pouring water on it.
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have documented other such cases involving so-called rendition, by which detainees are transferred from country to country without legal process:
Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen, was near the Pakistani-Afghan border shortly after the 9/11 attacks. He says he was transferred to Egypt, where he was hung from hooks, beaten and given shocks from an electric cattle prod. He was moved to Afghanistan and then to Guantánamo and then released last January.
Maher Arar, from Canada, was flown from New York to Syria, his country of birth. There he was held in a small underground cell which he likened to a grave and his hands were repeatedly whipped with cables.
Ahmed Agiza, a doctor, and Muhammad al-Zari were abducted in Stockholm in December 2001, and flown to Cairo, where they say they were subjected to electric shock torture in Egypt.
The last case has an important Irish angle. A Swedish journalist investigating the abduction of the two men received information from local police about its call sign, N379P. A Google search threw up a single hit, to an article by peace activists at Shannon who had monitored the same aircraft, a Gulfstream V typically used by wealthy corporate executives.
Further investigation showed that this aircraft visited Shannon at least 16 times in 2002 and 2003, and may also have landed in Cork.
Further investigation by Amnesty has shown that a second aircraft involved in the abduction of another man in Italy was also sighted in Shannon hours after his rendition from Germany to Egypt in 2003.
The pattern is sketchy but discernible from the jumble of sightings by plane-spotters in airports such as Shannon and their blogger friends. It appears the CIA, often operating through front companies, has employed a fleet of chartered jets to ferry al-Qaeda suspects in its detention around the world. As part of this mysterious activity, its aircraft stop frequently to refuel in Shannon.
Amnesty says it has obtained flight logs for six of these aircraft, which show a total of 50 landings at Shannon. However, given claims that the CIA operates a total of 30 aircraft, it believes the actual number of such landings at Shannon is much higher.
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT any of these aircraft are carrying detainees during their Shannon stopovers, much less that any torture is actually taking place on Irish soil. Geography would tell us that while Shannon might be a useful stop for ferrying prisoners from, say, Afghanistan to Guantánamo, the CIA aircraft currently the focus of controversy are probably travelling on to or from rendition work further east.
The Irish authorities take a hands-off approach. Theoretically, gardaí have the right to search aircraft if they believe it is being used for commission of a crime. In practice, governments everywhere are reluctant to interfere with the passage of foreign aircraft from friendly countries where assurances of good conduct have been given.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, which has responsibility for foreign military aircraft entering Irish airspace, normally grants permission under certain conditions, such as that the aircraft is unarmed and not carrying explosives. However, the Minister can waive these conditions in certain conditions.
In any case, the majority of planes carrying US military through Shannon are civilian aircraft, specially chartered for the purpose; these are the responsibility of the Department of Transport. Such aircraft are also prohibited from carrying weapons, unless exempted by the department; so far this year, over 1,400 exemptions have been issued.
The Americans have responded forcefully to the allegations from human rights groups.
"We do not render to countries that torture," President Bush said last week, while insisting on his government's right to undertake covert operations.
"The United States does not permit, tolerate or condone torture under any circumstances," US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said during her visit to Europe last week. Renditions are a "vital tool" in combating international terrorism which have been used by many countries for decades, she said.
"Renditions take terrorists out of action, and save lives." In 1994, she pointed out, the French used the process to bring Carlos the Jackal from Sudan to Paris, where he was tried and imprisoned. The US used rendition to catch Ramzi Youssef, who masterminded the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre.
The Government here has accepted these assurances.
"She [ secretary of state Rice] was very categorical that Shannon has not been used for anything untoward," said Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern after a meeting in Washington earlier this month. "We fully accept the categorical assurance of a friendly nation."
But anti-war activists are ill-inclined to accept such assurances, claiming that what the Americans classify as "enhanced interrogation techniques" actually amounts to torture. Shortly they hope to purchase a radar device that will allow them monitor and identify aircraft movements in Shannon.