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Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland |
US Government Jets disguised as private executive Jets?
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report
Sunday March 09, 2008 00:20 by Edward Horgan, Conor Cregan
Two unwelcome return visitors to Shannon tonight N478GS and N54PA Tonight, 8 March 2008, Executive jet Gulfstream IV, number N478GS, with known associations with the CIA torture rendition programme landed at Shannon airport. Unusually on this occasion Conor and Edward were told they were not forbidden to take photos, but that the Gardai were not allowed to search this plane without higher authority because it was a US Government aircraft. The plane was on the ground refueling for about 30 minutes, and the engines were running during all this time. One crew member got off the plane briefly, and checked the refueling process. He is seen in the photo with one of the ground crew. A number of plastic bags possibly with rubish were taken off the plane. A tray about one square square possibly with sandwidches was taken on board, indicating that there may have been several passengers on board. The plane arrived from Fayetteville in the US via Gander Newfoundland. CIA Torture Plane? N478LS Shannon 8 Mar 08 0.17 Mb N478GS caught on camera Shannon 8 Mar 2008 0.16 Mb |
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N71PG from GANDER INTL to SHANNON ETA Sun Mar 09 20:30:00 PDT 2008
N54PA from GANDER INTL to SHANNON ETA Sun Mar 09 23:00:00 PDT 2008
We are being lied to almost on a daily basis by Irish Government spokespersons.
"Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill provides for the continuation of the prohibition on Irish participation in any EU common defence force.
This prohibition being "in plain black and white, for all to see", undermines any argument by those advocating a No vote in the forthcoming referendum on the Treaty would dilute Irish neutrality, Mr Ahern said.
A similar provision was inserted after the second referendum on the Nice Treaty in 2002."
Yes "A similar provision was inserted after the second referendum on the Nice Treaty in 2002" just as the Irish Government was abandoning Irish neutrality in an agreement made at the White House on 16 March 2002.
Ireland's subsequent participation in the Iraq war by allowing over one million US troops and millions of tons of munitions pass through Shannon airport was certainly there "in plain black and white, for all to see",
The lies being told by our government about Irish neutrality are also there for all to see almost on a daily basis at Shannon airport.
Reports such as those above are only the tip of iceberg.
The Irish people must challenge these lies by voting no in the Lisbon Treaty (EU Constitution) to challenge these lies.
I am very much pro-European, and pro-European Union but like the majority of Irish people I am opposed to the militarisation of Europe and to the abandonment of Irish neutrality.
It is accepted accross Europe that a majority of the citizens of most EU states would vote against the Lisbon Treaty, as the French and Dutch did with the EU Constitution. This treaty includes all that was in the EU constitution, but uses different forms of weasel words.
The Irish people owe it to democracy and to the concept of a Europe for the people of Europe, not just a Europe of elite governmental groups, business interests and the military industrial complex.
What is happening at Shannon, now usually in the dark of night, is a scandal. We need support to monitor this complicity in crimes against humanity. We need volunteers now and every week to help with this monitoring process and to mount peaceful non-violent protests as often as possible, and if possible on a continuous basis.
It is a crime to ignore a crime and to take no action to prevent crimes against humanity.
There will be a peace vigil at Shannon organised under the auspices of Amnesty International on Easter Sunday, 23 March 2008. Of course Easter Sunday will be very inconvenient for most of you.
Being tortured by the CIA is also inconvenient for some.
Having bombs that passed through Shannon airport dropped on your home, by US warplanes that passed through Shannon airport is also most "inconvenient" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Being shot dead or seriously wounded by some of the one million US troops that have passed through Shannon "Duty Free" airport is also very "inconvenient".
Please, Please help to end Ireland's complicity in the deaths of up to one million people.
The bombs are not being dropped on me.
The bullets are not hitting me.
I don't care.
Phoenix Air Group Inc
100 PHOENIX AIR DR SW
CARTERSVILLE
GA 30120-6896
United States
Registered Agent RANDALL H. DAVIS
CEO MARK H. THOMPSON
CFO A STEPHEN HARRISON
Secretary RANDALL H. DAVIS
http://www.phoenixair.com/home.php
Ted, in his wisdom did type :
"The bombs are not being dropped on me.
The bullets are not hitting me.
I don't care. "
Noted, Ted. Although, you cared enough to read the story and comment ? : )
I hope nobody ever returns the favour of indifference if you are being robbed, or assaulted, or even caught up in a bomb blast. I'm sure you'd be pretty annoyed if people shrugged their shoulders as you lay there bleeding and screaming.
"Ted does not care" however, will never be a featured headline in Indymedia. The actions and vigilance of Ed Horgan and Conor Cregan is quite newsworthy, interesting and commendable, in polar opposition to the 'see no evil' attitude of the police and government of this little colony we used to call a Republic.
Mr Horgan and your friends,
Within the past two years, you and your friends are qouting articles given to you by others and then printing same as being gospel regarding different "White" planes transiting thru Irish Airports, mostly Shannon. You routinely state Ireland's unwillingless thru the Gardai to search these aircraft, but as you well know Mr.Horgan, nearly every complaint you make to the Gardai, opens up a file and as stated in the Dail, the subsequent statements made by the service people who go on board these aircraft has proven nothing suspicious going on. As a result you and your associates both in Government and looking thru the fence are stirring things simply to gain media attention for your own agenda. Simply put, you are wasting Irish Tax Payers hard earned money creating a situation whereby these ordinary planes and the business men on board need more attention by the local Gardai, protecting same while more serious problems to Irish Kids, Irish Mothers ets are being neglected due to resources being wasted elsewhere.
Local people servicing these aircraft, in their statements, have answered honourably that their has been no evidence obvious to alert the Gardai's attention.
These findings have been relayed to the people thru the Dail from the statements taken by Gardai about your suspicious ongoings, ...........nothing going on, STOP WASTING OUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON WILD GOOSE CHASES.
"Unusually on this occasion Conor and Edward were told they were not forbidden to take photos ..."
Nach aisteach é sin!
Why were you not arrested again, as you were the last time you took pictures of this same aircraft on the morning of 30 November?
(CIA watchers arrested at Shannon last night http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85297 )
Have you received any news of a prosecution arising out of your arrest that other time? If not, why not?
Tá súil agam go mbeidh seans agaibh an t-ábhar a phlé sna cuirteanna go luath.
Beir bua agus beannacht,
Coilín.
Watcher seems to believe that 'service people,' can perform the duties of the Gardaí. Who signed the search warrant for them?
I must admit that I was unaware of this and will immediatelly go in search of the legislation that facilitates it.
It is a fact that these planes have been used in unlawful renditions. Service people who do not search these planes and who report that they have observed nothing suspicious, do not even begin to prove that nothing suspicious is going on. I'd like to be made aware of any statement made by a service person that states unequivocally that a particular plane was not used for a rendition at any time and indeed that any personnell on board these planes were not involved in any renditions.
If such a statement exists, my next question asks who verified it and how was this accomplished.
More to the point, if such proof existed, our straw graspers in Government would have long since latched onto it.
All in all a very poor attempt at spin from Watcher and the rest of the content in his or her post doesn't warrant a response.
While some US government agencies do have their own aircraft or two, not the usual thing. Government here tends to operate to benefit private businesses. So MOST such aircraft would be owned/operated by charter companies, leased for periods of time or just individual filight charters.
And you can bet that the agencies doing clandestime operations are going to take advantage of that. How better for the CIA, etc. to operate than to increase the necessary effort on the those opposiong them to do surveliance than to have the SAME PLANE 90% of the time used for corporate charter flights and 10% of the time for CIA flights. In other words, instead of going to a charter company and saying "we want to lease 2 of your 20 planes full time" (the opposition can try to identify these planes, track just THEIR movements) they could say "every time we ask, give us one of your 20 planes for a single flight charter" (and now the opposition has to try to keep track of the movements fo 20 planes, 90% of which are not CIA flights, but how do you know which?).
These planes are well documented as being involved in CIA missions. Last Sunday morning at around 3.30 am I witnessed several men in dark fatigues being ferried on to an Omni troop transport plan from a civilian type business jet but these men where not businessmen.
Earlier that day a Garda Ffench told us that he could not search these flights because they were classed as government jets. All military flights arriving at Shannon are marked in a book held in the public office of Shannon's Gardai Station. They are aware of all these flights and provide provision for security at the airport on that basic that when all military/CIA flights are at Shannon they send members to the airport. However recently Gardai have stopped overt security to CIA planes but are never far from the airport when these planes are on the tarmac at Shannon. I have witnesses several temporary road checkpoints several hundred meters before the entrance to the airport when these planes were landing at Shannon.
Over the last few years I have talked to many ex-employees who have services the planes at Shannon. All have said that all US military planes at Shannon have armed security at the doors and they were not allowed to look in to the airplanes. This was also the case when firemen from Shannon tried to enter a US military cargo plane that made an emergency landing at the airport due to a fire on board. On Saturday we witnessed the pilot of a CIA jet taking out the rubbish from this plane and carrying in a tray of food. No Irish airport service personnel entered this plane.
Watcher is probably a cop or trying to become one, or else a newbreed celtic kitten incapable of an altrustic thought let alone an action. At least he is honest enough to admit annonomously al beit, how he thinks, unlike some.
Seems to me, he is like most people in Ireland and the rest of western 'civilisation' Including all walks of political life as those elected who shifted one step to the right at the slightest whiff of power, even if it is mingled with the smell of blood.
He is un-like the Church in that regard, they have said nothing other than to suggest that we should 'pray' for the Iraqis, this is before we bombed them.
In her book 'The Widows Of Baghdad' the figures are frightening....
1,200,000 innocent people killed.
Cancer detection increase 7 times.
Radioactive water and foodchain from DU.
Frequent Rape of children by troops
8.000,000 displaced from their homes
5,000,000 orphans....this is the US and UK and Ireland bringing 'civil' society to the Middle East.
Keep up the fantastic work Conor and Ed etal, hopefully one day.....I dont know.
past indymedia.ie contributor ex-Pioneer {http://www.indymedia.ie/openwire?search_text=ex-pioneer} discovered this article (in Hungarian) [ http://index.hu/politika/kulfold/crp0310 ] which was interpreted by the Hungarian state news agency MTI from this Slovak JOJ-TV news article (in Slovak) [ http://spravodajstvo.joj.sk/bratislavsky-kraj/10-3-2008....html ]
all clear?
Please click on the audio link below for a rough translation of the Hungarian article.
the mystery plane
listen to ex-Pioneer's interpretation of the article
listen to ex-Pioneer's interpretation of the article 7.56 Mb
According to the blog I've linked to below, the plane currently parked in Bratislava has N34315 as its registration number.
This is quite interesting as Ed Horgan has previously spoken about this plane.
Airline World blog - http://airlineworld.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/white-plan...lava/
Ed Horgan mentions N34315 (first comment in the article) - http://www.indymedia.ie/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=77...58959
"as stated in the Dail, the subsequent statements made by the service people who go on board these aircraft has proven nothing suspicious going on."
Seeing something proves something, and seeing nothing proves nothing.
Since none of these service people was trained, equipped or authorised to search for hair, blood, mucus, saliva, skin particles, faeces, fingerprints, shackles, blindfolds, sedative suppositories, documents or other evidence to link the aircraft and crew with the CIA's crimes of kidnapping and torture, this is just one more excuse for government politicians to avoid incriminating themselves in these crimes.
We have the following prima facie evidence to justify searches by detectives who are trained and equipped to collect forensic evidence:
We know that aircraft N478GS and N475LC belong to the company Centurion Aviation Services. This company is relevant, within the framework of CIA flights, as a beneficiary of the so-called "landing permits" in the US military bases all over the world. The Civil Aircraft Landing Permit (CALP) authorizes aircraft to land on US military bases worldwide, including Mr Bush's concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Read more details published by the European Parliament's TDIP committee here:
Working document number 8 on the companies linked to CIA, aircraft used by the CIA, and the European countries in which CIA aircraft have made stopovers
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/tempcom/tdip/work...n.htm
We also know that the Central Intelligence Agency used aircraft no. N379P for at least six extraordinary renditions - i.e. kidnappings for purposes of torture: Mohammed el-Zari, Ahmed Agiza, Abou Elkassim Britel, Binyam Mohammed, Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna. Eurocontrol documents (flight logs and payment data) show that this aircraft flew from Islamabad to Rabat on 21 July, 2002, and it landed at Shannon at 7.21 am on 22 July, 2002. It was probably carrying Binyam Mohammed when it landed at Rabat on 21 July, and detectives might have found evidence of that kidnapping trip if they had searched it when it landed at Shannon on 22 July.
Similarly, Eurocontrol documents show that CIA jet N313P transited at Shannon on 16 January, 2004, when it was probably on its way to transport Binyam Mohammed from Rabat to Kabul on 22 January. And Gulfstream IV jet registered as N85VM probably carried the CIA's torture victim Abu Omar from Ramstein to Cairo on 17 February, 2003, and transited at Shannon on 18 February, on its way back to Washington. The Italian police are still looking to arrest Abu Omar's kidnappers, and the Italian authorities will prosecute them if they turn up.
Read further details published by the TDIP committee here:
Working document number 7 on extraordinary renditions
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/tempcom/tdip/work...n.pdf
(Ctrl-F allows you to search for terms such as "shannon" or "n379p" so as to find the most relevant details.)
If we knew that Maddy McCann had been abducted and transported to another country in a car registered as N379P or N3131P or N85VM, which was owned or hired by a criminal organisation known as the Child Induction Agency (CIA), and if we knew that this same organisation also owned or hired dozens more cars, including two registered N478GS and N475LC, then the international community would jump up and down and demand that the police stop all of these cars at the first available opportunity and make a thorough search for hair, skin, mucus, blood, fingerprints, incriminating documents, etc. The police would keep records of all the drivers and other occupants of these vehicles and monitor their movements carefully so as to catch them in future kidnappings.
Meanwhile, we rely on the commitment of self-appointed airport neighbourhood watch activists in Shannon and elsewhere to keep sniffing at the heels of the other organised crime gang known by the same acronym: the CIA.
Go n-éirí go geal libh.
Coilín.
The efforts of people like Ed and Conor are deeply appreciated in other countries, such as Germany, where the same aircraft have also been landing:
Nach Rendition-Warnung: Planespotter in Shannon festgenommen
(After rendition alert: Planespotters arrested in Shannon)
http://worldcontent.twoday.net/stories/4502705
Dokumentation: Die Landungen von 50 CIA-Flugzeugen in Deutschland (4)
(Documentation: The landings of 50 CIA aircraft in Germany)
http://worldcontent.twoday.net/stories/2608428
Coilín.
Remember folks that since last summer Greena Fail now support the presence of Empire troops at Shannon, not to mention their neat tactical silence since then on rendition flights. Therefore I say 'watcher' is one of the 'new influx' of Greena Fail members and so I claim my five euros.
N54PA Learjet was back at Shannon being refuelled at 7 PM on Wednesday 12 March 2008. This was its second trip to Shannon within a week. Other visitors to Shannon over the past few days were N478GS, N475LC, and N71PG. We know they all arrived from the USA via Gander in Newfoundland. What we dont yet know is where they went to after they left Shannon airport and what was the purpose of their journeys?
Most landed in the dark of night, and two of the landings were in storm force winds.
If anyone can find any further information on the onward destinations and purposes of these flights please let us know. Some of the planes may be being used for multiple purposes to make their CIA rendition use more difficult to keep track of. However, these five refueling flights over a short time are curious, and may be significant.
N54PA Plane with CIA history back at Shannon 0.05 Mb
N54PA was refuelled at Shannon at 7AM not PM on 12 March 2008