Tragedy may happen at Shannon

national | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Thursday July 31, 2003 13:14

by Justin Morahan - Peace People

Tim Hourigan's address at Fairview meeting

"If one of the 747s at present passing through Shannon, carrying
missiles or depleted uranium, were to explode in the airport by
accident, the airport would be blown into obliteration, half of
Shannon town would be wiped out, and large areas of east Clare,
Limerick and Tipperary would be unfit for human habitation".

Press release:

A tragedy of major proportions is waiting to happen at Shannon
Airport, Mr. Tim Hourigan said at a public meeting organized by the
Fairview Anti-War group in Fairview on Wednesday night.

"If one of the 747s at present passing through Shannon, carrying
missiles or depleted uranium, were to explode in the airport by
accident, the airport would be blown into obliteration, half of
Shannon town would be wiped out, and large areas of east Clare,
Limerick and Tipperary would be unfit for human habitation," he said.

Mr. Hourigan, who is a member of Refuelling Peace and a founder member
of the Shannon Peace Camp, told the meeting that the presence of a
chemical factory next to the airport compounded the danger. Further
to that, parking military planes next to civilian ones is
transforming unknowing civilians into "human shields." This is a war
crime under the Rome Conference on the International Criminal Court,
Article 8(2)(b)(xxiii), he said.

The well known peace activist traced the history of the United States
military traffic through Shannon since October 2001. He said the
United States used military and chartered planes with the complicity
of the Irish Government but for a long time this fact was unknown to
the Irish public. Surveillance by members of the Shannon Peace Camp,
Dáil questions and the actions of Mary Kelly and the Pitstop Ploughsares
Five forced the Government to admit what had been happening.
In fact, one of the planes owned and used by the US, he said, had even
been painted in Aer Lingus colours.

Mr. Hourigan objects to the United States military aura surrounding
the airport at present and for the past number of years. As one
example he cited an incident in February 2002 when a fire broke out in
the cargo hold of a plane still in flight. The pilot, as a matter of
routine, called for help but, when the plane landed, entry to Irish
firefighters was initially refused by United Stated soldiers armed
with M16s.

The speaker showed copies to the audience of official Government
documents stating clearly that the Departments of Foreign Affairs and
Transport had given permission to United States aircraft to carry arms
and munitions through Shannon. This, he said, was in direct
contradiction of an Inspector's evidence in Tulla District Court that
he "presumed" these planes were just carrying "American food for
American troops."

He had taken hundreds of pictures of planes and soldiers, some of whom
he had seen in full uniform in the airport, he said.

The tankers refuelled at the airport, said Mr. Hourigan, provided a
direct link to the fighter bombers that bombed Iraq. Parliamentary
questions had revealed that these bombers, which were refuelled in
mid-air by the tankers, had then passed through Irish airspace.

Mr. Robin Hennessy, convenor of the meeting, said "We are determined to
keep campaigning until Shannon Airport is returned to civilian status
and the Irish facilities are no longer used as an outpost for United
States military agression."

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Comments (19 of 19)

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Unlikely

by Sparks

Thu Jul 31, 2003 17:35

The idea that a 747 exploding "by accident" would trigger a nuclear release is ignoring the facts of how these devices work.

Far more important, and far more relevant, is the fact that they should not be here in the first place.

Dirty Bomb

by Yossarian

Thu Jul 31, 2003 19:45

Sparts, I think you should check out the principles of the 'dirty bomb'. Basically you set off a conventional bomb in close proximity to some radioactive material. This will pulverise the radioactive material and spread it all over the place, depending on wind etc. I think the massive physical damage Tim is referring to would be done by the force of explosion of 'conventional' missiles.

Nice bit of scaremongering

by Lone gunman

Thu Jul 31, 2003 22:40

For the Sheeple who dont know anything better.And shows the ignorance of the peaceniks on transporting and on military hardware.Missiles are not transported in 747s for a start [Try C5s,]
Also they are not transported armed or fuelled up.
Only on bombers or fighters,either on nuke patrol or going into a combat zone.
BTW there is more toxic shite coming out of Aughinish than from any possibility of depleted uranium in a plane crash.More than likely to be caused by loopy hairies damaging one than by accident.
But hey!the truth never botherd Tim on anything regarding Shannon

DU is harmless

by Seáinín

Fri Aug 01, 2003 02:31

It's got a halflife of 4.5 billion years for christs sake. Most tap water is ore radioactive than that.

Lone Gunman

by Tim

Fri Aug 01, 2003 12:33

Again an arrogant anonymous muckracker talks rubbish. (how rare they are in this country)
I challenge you to point out a single thing that I have stated as fact that is untrue.
If I am such a big liar, why was I not exposed on Prime Time by Brian Cowen when we were on? Why was I not done for perjury when I testified in court? (I'm sure you'll ignore these questions)
The forces of the State have a hell of a lot more resources than the few people who have exposed Shannon, and yet they haven't discredited us.

as for your "facts"

"And shows the ignorance of the peaceniks on transporting and on military hardware.Missiles are not transported in 747s for a start [Try C5s,]"

FACT> ARMED MISSILES CONTAINING EXPLOSIVES WERE TRANSPORTED ON A Boeing 747 jet through Shannon.
You want to contradict that, come to Limerick or Shannon and I will show you the IRISH GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS WHICH PROVE IT. These were presented in court recently and no attempt was made to contradict them. So, again, Lone Gunman you are talking shit, and you're out of your league.

Tim why so defensive?????

by Lone Gunman

Fri Aug 01, 2003 14:22

Ok Tim,stop ranting you'll wake up your neighbours in Moyross and they will shoot you if they dont get any kip.Why so defensive have i seen thru your dubious arguement??
You claim to have documents that prove that "missiles" were transported thru Shannon.
PUBLISH THEM HERE ON INDYMEDIA OR SHUT UP!!!

OK,if you are too chickenshit to do that,tell us what kind of missiles they were[serial no would do or mark]at aircraft it was, its tail number.[HINT it starts with N.....].
I am asking this BTW because it is a SPECIFIC type of 747 that can only carry munitions.Thus giving YOU a point to prove
dont give us any crap about arms and claiming it was the troops rifles.Troops move about with their rifles,but of course you would propagandaise that as well.
Have you any INDEPENDANT witness to the fact that this stuff was SEEN?A airport worker,airport cop,USAF pilot.No of course not,because [a] you didnt bother or [b]it was too difficult or [c] it wouldnt fit your plans.
Have you any info from the US to prove your dubious point? Cmon a hot shit peace agitator should be able to get this under the US FOI.?
Did any of you fuckwitts think of taking a Geiger counter down to see if deplated uranium shells were in the area.?r consider taking AIR samples around these aircraft to see if anything was hot??NO OF COURSE NOT!Because you wanted publicity and because of your actions you fucked up a professional operation that would have proven wether there were arms or not aboard the aircraft.
also you obviously know FUCK ALL about how deplated uranium shells and ordinance is transported.It is never transported with HE or any other type of ordinance.TO PREVENT EXACTLY SUCH A SCENARIO or to prevent the planr being a giant dirty bomb.With your actions you proably showed up how vunerable Shannon is to the terrorists of the world.If somthing happens.Some of the blood will be on your hands for a change,if somthing goes down at Shannon.

Now Tim Isuggest that you fuck off back to Moyross,and calm down abit.Maybe read up a bit on the US military,makes you sound more beliveable[HHAHAHA] a shitstorm that the powers that be are organiseing for you ,and you wont realise where it came from.You are outclassed ,and outgunned when it comes to the facts about US airforce procedure.

Check your facts.

Fri Aug 01, 2003 15:15

tim_hourigan at hotmail dot com

Limerick

Don't flatter yourself that you get me agitated.
Call me a liar, and I'm not impressed, but there's plenty of trolls like you. I'm not at all expecting you to go away or grow up.
I just wanted to see if you would answer any of the questions if asked if I said you were "full of shit".
It was deliberate, and it was calculated and it got a response, but you didn't answer the questions I put to you (Hint, they were marked with the statement that you would ignore them) but sure, we'll try again.

If I lied in court, why am I not in jail for perjury? Because Judge Mangan likes me? I think not.
How come we weren't sued for what we said in the papers?

and hey, if we're not worth listening to, why do we bother you so much.

Now, even though you deliberately ignore questions, I'll answer some of yours.

By the way I can't "fuck off back to Moyross" because I never lived there, but I'm sure facts like that are irrelevant to your ego.

We'll be publishing the documents on indymedia shortly.
We can't give the tail number of most of the aircraft because the documents, obtained through the high court, have large black deletions on a lot of 'sensitive' information.
They do however mention Cruise Missiles, Patriot Missiles, M-16s, ammuntion and in some cases the vague term "munitions of war".
However on one they were silly enough not to delete the fax transmission line "Polar Air Cargo"
I don't carry these documents around with me by the way so I'm not reading them now.

///I am asking this BTW because it is a SPECIFIC type of 747 that can only carry munitions.///

Really. That's funny. A crate load of grenades, landmines, cluster bombs would lock onto the palleted floor of a 747F they same way as a crate load of fluffy dice.

//Thus giving YOU a point to prove.//

It's true there are still some points to be proven, and they will be, in court again and again. We've proven a LOT already, and the state has proved ... FUCK ALL.
They couldn't even prove to 12 Clare People that Mary Kelly was guilty of Criminal Damage!

I'm not interested in proving anything to a malcontent like yourself. But hey, there's my e-mail address if you want to make me laugh.

//dont give us any crap about arms and claiming it was the troops rifles.Troops move about with their rifles,but of course you would propagandaise that as well.//

Actually, when I was on PRIME TIME earlier this year, I wasn't interested in making much of the troops having their guns. I don't see anything surprising about it. PRIME TIME empahsised the personal weapons and did a hatchet job when I raised the issue of cargo aircraft. My bit was pre-recorded while Cowen was on live.
Cowen then waffled on about personal sidearms.
Nobody stood up in the public eye and said "that fucker is lying" though.

//With your actions you proably showed up how vunerable Shannon is to the terrorists of the world.If somthing happens.Some of the blood will be on your hands for a change,if somthing goes down at Shannon.//

Really. And this is because?
a> I told the IRISH people that Shannon was used by the US military - in the US Noelle Phillips wrote lots of approved military propoganda about the US military being warmly welcomed to Shannon.
Sure, Willie O'Dea (FF) says there's "nothing secretive or furtive" going on at Shannon. So, are you saying we exposed something or not? one or the other now..

or

b> Terrorists were unaware that civilian airports are easy targets?

or better yet

c> I started the war, and I invited 50,000 troops and tonnes of explosives through Shannon for the purpose of killing Iraqis and Afghanis?

Please put the answer on the back of a 50 EURO note and send it to the Peace House in Shannon.

//You are outclassed ,and outgunned when it comes to the facts about US airforce procedure.//

ooooh,,, touchy. I think I hit a nerve!
Go back to your "modern warfare magazines" I, on the other hand will continue to talk to experts like Scott Ritter, Commandant Horgan, retired US Air Force and Naval Personnel and lots of other informed people who know better than to believe the hype and tripe.

Now, I'll be off to meet some friends for a cup of tea. If they are in need of a laugh, I'll tell them to read your posting.

Catch you later.

Don't Worry

by Irish American

Sat Aug 02, 2003 00:58

Ammunition, especially the types with DU (very heavy) is NOT carried by planes, but by ship.

Plus, we already have a huge stock in the area.

Still evading it Tim

Sat Aug 02, 2003 01:18

First off,sorry for mistaking you for that other "green" that you hang around with from Moyross. I am man enough to admit I can be wrong.Can you?
BTW I DO know what I am talking about.I served in the US forces.Did you?
Whats the govt going to get out of sueing you?Jailing you for perjury?HaHA.they cant even sort themselves out with Lawlor.Why give you lot more free publicity?
As for your friend Mary kelly,a six /six jury split is a hung jury,not a pronouncement of guilt or innocence.Retrial coming up isnt there? Hope the next bunch of wooden tops are abit more with it. BTW I dont think judge mangan gives a toss either way about you.his job is to be impartial,otherwise you could whinge about unfair trials. Kind of what the Iraquis and Afghans had.

What happened to your exellent spies who were taking notes and pics so stupidly obvisouly as to invite attention from the cops ,both rent and otherwise. Really....you people could do with a course on covert observation.So you couldnt see any tail nos or other ID apart from Polar air??
How convinent!Thought you had 24 hour surveillance on the field? Jeeze I thought you could quote those doccs verbatim by now[LOL]. Next question Timbo....Are they GENUINE documents?BTW for your info "munitions of war" are items that do not fit into the normal military ordinance.IE guidance systems,radio equipment,spares,etc.
sorry DU is a munition so it wont fit that category.
Missiles, is what you stated true the tomahawk and patriot are,however they are not and never have been transported with DE.Nor do they explode on impact.Get a thrilling puff of smoke,thats all.Intresting that you could quote that it was a 747F.from the doccument or from observations?Reason I asked because it has to be either a "nose loader" IE the nose lifts to accept cargo,or a side door loader.Those were the civvie aircraft leased to the USAF for deployment in crisis situations. Hence long items like missiles have a bit of trouble being loaded on these type of 747. Ask your retired cols,majors etc about that.Or that Irish know it all Comdt Horgan.[BTW be careful of ex top brass,their info can be dated or false as well.seeing that they know who you are.]
That guy really cracks me up.
Now we come to what I belive is your propaganda
trick. The Sheep out there wouldnt know DU from Haddock. You have combined the two to give a chicken little the sky is falling scenario.Suits your purpose to get headlines but totally untrue.Yet your retired Cols,and what ever top brass you do know have proably told you that DU and HE is never transported together,and that cruise missiles,etc do not explode until armed,and are carried in some pretty "bombproof" containers.Ask them about
the tests this stuff goes thru,so it does NOT explode,when it crashes,is hammered on by hairies,etc.BTW DO ask them about the time SIX Hydrogen bombs fell on Spain in 1966,and what procedures were put into clean up Sthn Spain and how muvch the US govt paid Spain in compo. More than enough to pay Irelands deficit.

Actually I would WELCOME a plane crash like that in Ireland.It will show up how much of a smug little clusterfuck this god awful rock is.I would love to see the panic and the fight to get on the govt jet to escape the fallout. A bit of looting ,anarchy and martial law is what this place needs to wake it up.But You and I know it wont happen,you just use it to try and scare more people to your camp.

As for the terrorist thing.Yes if you are moving troops ,munitions of war will follow ,common sense,apart from the Irish govt,for whom i dont care much either,who are such idiots that they hamfistledy try and hush it up,because of some dumb neturality issue.We are not neutral,never were or will be.You need a competant defence force and plan to be neutral,like the Swiss. Cant ever see this "dads army" or people ever having the will or disipline to do so. we will whinge and let the brits or Uncle sam come to protect us.But i wouldnt expect much else from those incompetants anyway.
now,by breaching the "security" at Shannon you highlighted how bad it is.Why?If you were concerned about public saftey,it would be prudent to keep it quiet.If not why blast its weakness all over the world? But I guess that is part of the plan as well.The war ? What war?....Well that has been going on loooong before 9/11.BTW if you know such top brass I AM SURE THEY would be able to get you some proper uncensored info......

here endeth the sermon,BTW if I sent the 50 euro would you invest it in cleaning and painting the "peace" house?Shannon residents think it looks like a scruffy squat.
Well I must say if you are going to be a politican you do fit all the requirements.there is a place in the Dail for you all right.You fit right in with the rest of them ok. Glad to see i am still a thorn in your arse.Why bother reply if i am such a thicko?
Send us a reply.Could do with a laugh.

To Lone Gunman

Sat Aug 02, 2003 12:44

A few points: I don't doubt that you served in the US army but your knowledge of Judge Mangan and his treatment of Tim in his courtroom leaves a lot to be desired.
Also, who told you that it was a six-six verdict in the Mary Kelly trial? Sources that were closer to it than you revealed that it was 9 to 3 against conviction.
So you think all Irish jury material are "wooden heads"
How easy it is to be anonymous and cast slurs like that on good decent citizens who conscientiously followed all the evidence, came back to court for extra guidance on a point of law and - all 12 of them I presume - voted according to what they really believed.
How dare you try to rubbish them and future Irish juries with an anonymous sneer.
You throw in "unfair trials. Kind of what the Iraquis and Afghans had". So, what is your opinion of the internment without any trial in Guantanamo Bay? Shackes on the wrists, ankles and abdomens whenever they leave the cells.
You profess outrage that revelations about Shannon's lack of safety will inspire terrorist action. You say that Tim will have blood on his hands as a result.
This reminds me of a day I picketed Sinn Féin's offices in Kevin Street and a gentleman from Sinn Féin told me that my picket would draw attention to the location of his office and if any terrorist bombed it, I would "have blood on my hands".
The silliness of his attack struck him after he had spent a while in his office and within a half hour he returned to me to apologise for the remark - which he withdrew.
He had the graciousness and spunk to apologise - have you the same spunk or graciousness?
What puzzles me (but not really) is that, on the one hand, you worry about a terrorist attack on Shannon and in the next breath you hope for such an event. You even gloat about the prospect: You say: "Actually I would WELCOME a plane crash like that in Ireland.It will show up how much of a smug little clusterfuck this god awful rock is.I would love to see the panic and the fight to get on the govt jet to escape the fallout. A bit of looting ,anarchy and martial law is what this place needs to wake it up".
These are your words. You refer to Ireland as a "god awful rock". You would welcome this tragedy that Tim has said is possible. It would give you pleasure - you hate us so much.
The US army may have trained you well in blind obedience but they sure haven't done a good job in helping you to show much trace of humanity. And you think that we are the sheep?

Well. Justin

by lone gunman

Sat Aug 02, 2003 14:21

Justin
It was actually good old RTE news that came out with the six/six split. Main news if I belive rightly.Take it up with them. Well if you are dumb enough to bring trouble upon yourself in a courtroom......
I'll rubbish who I like when I like. Called freedom of speech .I consider them wooden topped.If they cant see a plain case of vandalism and armed criminal trespass.[read the airport bye laws on carrying offensive weapons on airport property].Actually going by those laws ,the whole organs of state have been pretty easy going with the anti war crowd.

Guantamno bay,Any US prisoner is shackled like that when transported or in holding custody.EVERYONE from 16 year old kids to 90 year olds.Stop whineing about the "rights" of these people.They are in this predicament because of their own choice.Read the Geneva convention on the following, POWs in uniform,gurreilla units,combatants in civillian clothes.The last one is most important,they can be shot on the spot as spies or bandits.A uniform is described as any recogniseable emblem,armband,piece of clothing,etc. Also a irreuglar unit must have some sort of recogniseable command structure.
Funnily enough the IRA would have a better claim to being treated as POWs than the Taliban.Tough Guantamno is legal and above board by the laws of war.but no doubt you can come up with somthing to refute that.Please dont bother.

i'm sure your experiance in front of the Sinn fein office was intresting especially since it is the IRA who have more blood on their hands than anyone else here along with the other brick throwers, the Protestants.A plauge on both of their houses and a totally irrelavant point.

I am worried and hoping somthing might happen.
worried because of the INEPTITUDE of our "security forces" in protecting this place,and more so because of the anti war crowd HIGHLIGHTING it. The most inept,bumbling ,not so in a rush to meet Allah bent terrorist group could cause mayhem at Shannon.I think the reason is that they havent hit it yet is because,[1]they dont belive it is so easy.[2] They have no support base for logistics here yet.[3] the IRA wouldn't like them foreginers messing around in their back yard. Yes the IRA is well respected in international terr circles.

Yes some sort of cathostrophe like that would wake this rock up a bit.This is one smug,hyprocritical,praochial,self centerd,full of it's own bullshit,two faced, robbing,back stabbing,gombeenland.It needs somthing like that to wake us up from our petty stupid day to day lives and problems.[And I had the misfortune to be born Irish.]I had to serve in a foregin land and army,because back here when I wanted to serve here,you needed "pull" to even get into dads army bloody interview.

Humanity,Ah yes a humanist.The first people to sell out their country and ideals,and the first to kiss the boots of the person standing over them with a gun or a whip.
Call me what you want,it's because of people like me,serving our countries and democray [in some shape] that gives you people the RIGHT to protest.
We accept it.

When you meet an antiwar protestor.Shake his hand,and wink at his girlfriend.She will know then she is dating a pussy!
[US COL addressing his men on dealing with anti war protestors]

Sat Aug 02, 2003 17:34

I don't regard your reply as a serious effort at dialogue.
I'm genuinely sorry you dislike so many classes of people so intensely and that this country treated you so badly.

Friendly advice

by friendly advice

Sun Aug 03, 2003 19:04

Go get yourself sorted out amigo.
You have some serious issues, and ranting on a website is not therapy.

Thanks friendly advise

Mon Aug 04, 2003 14:12

But it works for me. A good rant and debunking propaganda is fun.

by Drbinoche

Mon Aug 04, 2003 14:46

Technically speaking it is possible for a dirty bomb to happen in any major hospital in Ireland. In fact I would say it probably has a higher percent chance of it happeneing. The easiest material to use in a dirty bomb would be the radio isotopes used by X-Ray machines, so lets just say, in the Mater Hospital, they have a few X-Ray machines. Then one day the gas boiler blows up, or something of that level happens, boom, you got your own little dirty bomb and no terrorists were involved. You see, while it is highly unlikely that that would happen [the same as the possibility of a 747 loaded with weapons to explode or go down mid-flight] technically you guys would have to factor this into any equation you want to throw out. And it is true that missiles and other munitions are sometimes transported on planes, but it is usually transported by cargo ships or larger military only tranports, NOT leased commercial aircraft or non-military aircraft.

INDYMEDIA CENSORING AGAIN!!!!!

Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:12

Yet another post censored by this group.
"Free speech" Dont make me laugh!!

There have been no posts by you hidden on this thread

by IMC Editorial Group - IMC Ireland

Thu Aug 07, 2003 03:39

Your unfounded and wild allegations and multiple postings suggest that it's time that you calmed down. Also, this website is not about "Free Speech": racist and/or untrue/non-factual posts and comments are deleted on sight.

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Comments (19 of 19)