Tim V Cowen the fight is on

by BOSS Tue Jan 14, 2003 14:12

http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=23883

by renegade - FF - anti-biffo-spindoktor Tue Jan 14, 2003 14:25

Don't get bogged down in detail - decide what you want to say in detail beforehand and say it no matter what questions are asked of you or what strange tacks are taken by 'Biffo'.

Biffo has already been shown to be a liar by the public record - but he now has a team of 30/40 people working on this in Co-ordiantion with the Gardai / Aer Rianta / Us embassy / limerick FF Councillors/ friendly journalists trying to spin it around as if what is going on in shannon is business as usual. Arms in shannon - of course not (only Personal Firearms) Military Flights (of course not (Only VIP Flights and passenger flights).

So biffo - what is on the cargo planes detailed by Tim? Have you ever asked? Have you ever checked? Is tim a liar? Are the airport employees quoted in Sundays Observer lying? Why is security at the airport suddenly such a concern? Are you afraid someone will see something which will contradict you?

by iosaf Tue Jan 14, 2003 14:33

If you check the posting times you will see that indeed he has been working/playing for all of us through the night.
He is not alone in this, but his contribution to this forum this little bit of neutral space left to Ireland is exemplary.
He will be the subject of much silly TV nonsense before you see him on the screen. I doubt he has extensive experience of TV debate. So remember that they [those who sold out our neutrality] will try and use this opportunity to sideline the moral and constitutional issues.
Get a video recorder and tape it all.
Tape the adverts placed before hand.
Examine the bodylanguage of all on the screen.
Give thought to the placing of the news items.
Tim has support from all sides of Irish society, and his writing is electric. His contribution has been couragous. Real Courage.

The little rascals (FF) know this.
They shall approach this debate as one between popular people´s champion and an unpopular politician.
They will be quite happy to see Cowan come off badly and Cowan himself will be prepared for that.
Often in such circumstances they go for emotional v. cold long term vision.
So it is now time to discuss in all media the Shannon issue at a broader level. It was long such a time.
I wrote a letter to "The Irish Times" last year, I´ve appended it to an article last December, to keep it out of people´s hair, if you read "Who Shall Speak Out For Us" you will see the link to a posting on Muslim arrests.
I wrote "Who Shall Speak Out For Us" for Tim.
It is a cut and paste job from my cyber pals and anarchist comrades at the discordian site "the daily bleed", you can access it through infoshop.

I shall not attempt to colour Tim with any political prejudice. Tim is presently beyond politics, he is a spokesperson for all who find the Shannon story shameful.

He is a trusted spokesperson for all of us.
And he is an excellent journalist. I come to this site everyday to leave thoughts and games off the top of my head, my "real writing" goes elsewhere, Tim´s reports are the most exciting thing I read here. The energy behind his reports have I believe inspired others to join the many strands of the anti-WAR campaign.

I Thank you Tim most sincerely.

TV is their media. It is the media of lies, distortion and capitalism militarist propaganda.
TV is toxic. Do not expect too much from any TV appearance or debate.

But to return a moment to discussing Shannon at a broader level, such debate might focus fleetingly on "why did Ahern offer the USAF our bases?".
It is a most important question. I am not prepared to wait thirty years to read the reasons from Leinster House. I am not prepared to wait sixty years to read the censored reasons from Washington.
The process of which Shannon is only one small part began long long ago, before Sept 11 2001, and the debate which I would like to see is "was the Irish government aware of it´s collusion?"
We may have to wait thirty years.
we may have to wait sixty. But some of us need only look "into our hearts".
Tim beir bua!
tonight you speak for me as well.

by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein Tue Jan 14, 2003 14:43 maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

Cowen can be very tough in an interview and he's very experienced at what he's doing. Don't let him dominate the conversation and don't get bogged down into arguments over exactly how many soldiers with exactly how many bullets were on such and such a plane on the 14th of December or whatever.

best of luck Tom. Kick him about a wee bit.

by Blisset Tue Jan 14, 2003 14:44

The following ARTICLE is from REED AIR TRANSPORT INTELLIGENCE.
It's available on their website www.rati.com but only to subscribers Notice how several of the airlines at Shannon are mentioned in the article.
ATA, WORLD, EVERGREEN.

ARTICLE>============================================================

ATA, World, Evergreen & Atlas tapped for military charters
Brendan Sobie, Washington DC (11Sep02, 18:04 GMT, 397 words)

Over 20 US carriers will operate charter cargo and passenger flights for the US military in fiscal 2003, as part of contracts awarded last week by the US Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC).

AMC awarded $685 million in contracts to three teams with a combined 20
carrier members. A fourth contract, valued at $5 million, was awarded to Arrow Air.

An AMC spokesman says a $328 million contract was awarded to a team of seven carriers: Atlas Air, American Trans Air (ATA), FedEx Express, Gemini Air Cargo, Northwest Airlines, Omni Air International and Polar Air Cargo.

ATA stands to get 62% of the work, which equates to $203 million. Atlas and Polar stand to receive $36 million each. Gemini will get $13 million and Omni will get $10 million. AMC says another $29 million will be distributed "team-wide", including to FedEx and Northwest.

The $339 million contract awarded to a team led by North American Airlines includes ten other carriers: American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, DHL Airways, Evergreen International Airlines, Southern Air, United Airlines, United Parcel Service Airlines, US Airways and World Airways.

World has a 44% share in this team, equating to $149 million. North American and Evergreen stands to receive $75 million each. Continental has a 3% share, worth $10 million. Another $30 million will be spread across the team, including the six carriers without any specific shares.

A third contract worth $18 million was awarded to a team consisting of Miami Air and Alaska Airlines. Miami Air stands to receive all but $1 million of this contract, with the remainder going to Alaska.

The spokesman says AMC still plans to award additional charter flying
contracts for fiscal 2003, which begins on 1 October. All the participating carriers are part of AMC's Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). Besides operating pre-established charters, members also are sometimes asked to operate flights on short notice during times of military build-up. During war, the carriers are also must dedicate their aircraft entirely to military missions if required.

All the carriers participating in the military charter program have done so in the past except Atlas. Polar, another subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, has historically been a large player in the program. But Atlas, looking for new source of revenues to offset declining demand for its wet lease operation, decided to join the FedEx-led team this year.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

by The Pooka Tue Jan 14, 2003 14:48

Give 'em hell, Tim! Won't be able to see it, but am looking forward to hearing the reports...

by FF Renegade - anti-biffo-spindoktor Tue Jan 14, 2003 15:00

See: http://conway.webspace.fish.co.uk/legal/DubskysTrial.html

Willie the feckin eejit could get us into trouble : Keep him away from the unfriendly sectors of the Meeja for a few days:

by renegade - FF - anti-biffo-spindoktor Tue Jan 14, 2003 15:02

January 14, 2003

(12:14) Junior Minister at the Justice Department, Willie O'Dea, has said there is nothing covert or secret about the US military's use of Shannon Airport to refuel planes.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the Limerick East TD said that the Government's policy on the issue was the same as successive governments in the past.

He admitted that the traffic of civilian aircraft carrying troops has increased in recent weeks, but said it was nothing like the numbers suggested by peace campaigners.

Anti-war activists have set up a peace camp at Shannon to protest against its use by military aircraft. They say the military traffic is breaching Ireland's traditional policy of neutrality and is making Shannon a potential terrorist target.

Last night, Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen said it was simply not the case that the airport was being used to transport large quantities of arms to the Gulf.

But this morning, Mr O'Dea said that there is some ambiguity about whether the troops on civilian planes were travelling with personal sidearms. He said that they could not carry them into the airport, and that the Government has requested that they be notified if the planes are carrying personal weapons.

by katherine harford - shannon peace camp Tue Jan 14, 2003 15:46

as we all know tim knows his stuff, he knows cowen is lying that the government are decietful and complict. with a severe lack of sleep but charged by all the developments over the last few days, tim will wipe the floor with cowen. the tone in his voice already today, shows he will do us proud tonight. good luck tim!

by Marianne Tue Jan 14, 2003 18:13

Not that you'll even need it. But I hope it goes great and I know you'll kick his ass so
GO TIM GO!!

by Tim Hourigan Thu Jan 16, 2003 19:42

I'm still fuming from seeing how they comletely cut out the damaging stuff.

Fianna Fail cheerleaders where are you?
gimme a C ...
and a E
and a N
and a S
and a O
and a R
and a S
and a H
and a I
and a P