Peace groups want Irish offer to US withdrawn

The cause of justice will not be served by bombing attacks on Afghanistan led by the US, the national executive of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) has declared.

The Government should withdraw its offer to make Irish airports available for US troop aircraft, or else share in the responsibility for the deaths of innocents in any coming conflict, it said.

The organisation, which played an important role in the anti-Nice Treaty campaign, believe that current events will make Irish people even more wary of international military actions.

A comparison should not be made between the Government's current offer to the US and the one given during the Gulf War, when Shannon Airport became an important stopping point for US forces.

"The situation is different. Then, one country had invaded another. There was a UN mandate. There is no UN mandate for going to war against Afghanistan," said PANA's chairman, Mr Roger Cole.

The organisation's national executive, meeting for the first time since the Nice Treaty was defeated in Ireland, extended its sympathies to those left bereaved by the US atrocities.

PANA is an umbrella organisation, representing 40 groups such as the Greens, the Workers' Party, the National Platform, Sinn Fein and a host of aid organisations, including AFrI.

Mr Vincent O'Reilly of Refugee Trust International warned the meeting that US military action could destabilise the region and worsen the existing famine and exodus of refugees.

Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesperson, Mr Jim O'Keeffe said the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, should have told last week's special Dβil sitting that the Government about the airports' offer.

Unlike the Green Party, Mr O'Keeffe said he did not believe that the Government needed Dβil sanction for such a move. "Surely it was under consideration then," he said. The Dβil debate should have teased out Ireland's preferred resolution of the crisis, including seizing terrorists' assets and a settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

However, the Green Party insisted that the Government's offer was unconstitutional because the Constitution lays down that the State "shall not participate in any war save with the assent of Dβil ╔ireann". An attack on Afghanistan will simply make the situation far worse and lead to a spiral of violence, said the Green's Dublin South East TD, Mr John Gormley, who demanded the Dβil's immediate recall.

The Labour Party's spokesperson on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, accused the Government of "an appalling slight" against the members of the Dβil and Seanad.

Defending the decision, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen said the Government was demonstrating its solidarity with the US and backing a UN Security Council resolution. Mr Cowen will formally offer the US the option of refuelling at Shannon when he meets the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell in Washington later this week.