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A REPORT PUBLISHED today shows that some 54 countries helped to facilitate the CIA’s secret detention, rendition and interrogation programme in the years after 9/11, including Ireland.
The report by the Open Society Justice Initiative said the countries participated in these operations in various ways, including by hosting CIA prisons on their territories; detaining, interrogating, torturing, and abusing individuals; assisting in the capture and transport of detainees and permitting the use of domestic airspace and airports for secret flights transporting detainees.
It also said some provided intelligence leading to the secret detention and extraordinary rendition of individuals; and participated in interrogating individuals who were secretly being held in the custody of other governments.
Foreign governments also failed to protect detainees from secret detention and extraordinary rendition on their territories and to conduct effective investigations into agencies and officials who participated in these operations, according to the report.
The report comments on Ireland permitting the use of its airspace and airports associated with CIA extraordinary rendition operations and references several examples since 2002.
Concern
The European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the United Nations have all expressed concern over the years about Ireland’s alleged cooperation in the CIA rendition program.
A 2007 European Parliament report expressed serious concern about the 147 stopover made by CIA-operated aircraft at Irish airports that on many occasions “came from or were bound for countries linked with extraordinary rendition circuits and the transfer of detainees”.
U.S. court records from a lawsuit involving Richmor Aviation, a company that operated CIA extraordinary rendition flights, also show that at least 13 flights operated by Richmor involving U.S. personnel landed in Ireland between 2002 and 2004.
Richmor-operated flights were involved in the extraordinary rendition of the Egyptian cleric Abu Omar, and are also suspected of having refueled at Shannon before transporting Abd al Nashiri, alleged to be the mastermind of the bombing of the navy missile destroyer the USS Cole .
Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010 revealed that former Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern told US Ambassador Thomas Foley that he was “quite convinced that at least three flights involving renditions had refueled at Shannon Airport before or after conducting renditions elsewhere.”
Government “acted to ensure continued US military transits”
Other cables revealed that former U.S. Ambassador James Kenny noted in 2006 that the Irish government had “acted to ensure continued US military transits at Shannon in the face of public criticism” despite public concern that the airport was being used for extraordinary rendition flights.
The government responded to concerns by the Irish Human Rights Commission in 2005 that inspections were not necessary because it had received assurances from the United States that detainees had not been and would not be transported illegally through Irish territory.
In 2011 the UN Committee against Torture also said it was concerned about the “inadequate response by the government with regard to investigating theses allegations.
The report recommends that the governments involved refuse to participate in the CIA’s detention and rendition programme and disclose all information relating to human rights violations. It also urges governments to conduct investigations into human rights abuses and provide compensation as well as putting safeguards in place to ensure it does not happen again in the future.
Commenting on the report today Amnesty International Ireland Executive Director Colm O’Gorman welcomed the report, which confirmed the findings of the organisation’s own report in 2010. He said:
It is undeniable that the Irish government knew rendition flights transited Ireland and that they knew this breached the legally binding international convention on torture. Yet they did nothing. Official Ireland was prepared to ignore our role in kidnap and torture for the sake of maintaining good relations with the United States government.
“We have repeatedly called for an independent investigation into the use of Shannon airport. This investigation must also make clear who knew that we were complicit in torture and why they failed to act,” he said.
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It’s your ‘civic duty’ to pay water charges.
While a foreign vulture fund is able to pay .000026% tax on €77m profit.
Do me a favour!
If big corporations paid their fair share and the tax payer wasn’t sending billions out of the Country every year to repay bank debt just think of the kind of Country we’d have..
If you compared the net tax take from multinationals (including income tax levied on their employees) and compared it to the combined tax take (after social transfers) of all SF/AAAPBP/SP/SWP voters, I think it would highlight who the real leeches are in this sham of a state.
@Denito:
I think it is time the people of Ireland took this country back and said good buy
to FF/FG/LABOUR for good.
@Denito: Exactly- the multinationals, the corporate sector generally, the Small Firms Association, the catering and ‘hospitality’ sector, farmers, cowboy builders and many, many mouthpieces who bleat on about “rural Ireland” until they turn up on revenue’s tax defaulters list, leeches one-and-all! Oh, and BTW, income tax derived from employees of multinationals is paid by THE WORKERS, not their bosses!
@Denito: So, to extend your logic then, because someone pays, say income tax, they should be allowed to avoid paying other taxes, like vat or tax on fuel and stuff then.
Income tax is paid by the worker, not the company, and I don’t support any of the parties you mention in your post by the way.
@Eyepopper: ah no its your civic duty to pay if you waste water. Hum let’s see I for that reason did not pay the water bill. Due to the fact the EU directive and Fine Gael whole argument again stated by Richard Burton is the the polluter pay principle for those who use excessive water. I did not do that so I did not pay and will not pay. Really Mary Lou McDonald missed that point.
My civic duty is to my fellow Irish Citizen by voting for politicians who think outside the box and do not stay inside the box with their enemies.
Enda’s running away again coz the water issue needs clarification, after the commission’s report.
@Dave Doyle: no Enda gone xmas shopping with his wifey on his over inflated salary of €201,000 a year plus expenses and of course his €5000 increase this year. Ah if only I could have his neck, he runs like the red shank and maybe he has the Irish constitution in his pocket to take out and wave at his wife when she annoys him. He only got married at 41 years of age, their 25 years married so he 66 years old . He needs a rest from all hassles.
@Clever Jake: Simon The conman has annoyed you Jake. His homeless project is a disaster, this government will not last another year. His hot air hissing is because he is shamed into a defenceless argument based on taking water an essential source for human life and putting a charge on it.
He gave me a great Idea, I’m off to the recycling centre to get the empty baldly gown plastic bottle to fill them with water and sell them to people to wash their cars. Thanks Simon you are a failed lost politician.
Seems Richard bruton carried on government policy. Not answering the question he was asked. Just waffled away. They don’t seem to remember the are not just answering to the td that asks the question but the public listening at home. Waffle doesn’t cut it.
Three times he was asked about referendum on water for public ownership. He ignored the question each time. Why?
All of this avoidance to enshrine Irish Water into the Constitution and reluctance to address the issue makes one has to wonder if Irish Water has already been sold.
Why is he going to the US and is he travelling standard class onboard an Are Lingus flight. Or is he using the Gulfstream jet at over €10,000 per hour.
@Michael Clinton: Moan moan moan. He is not there on holiday but rather an important trade mission. Considering the investment US companies have put into this country and Irish into the US I think such trips are worth their price or do you think we should all stay home and do nothing?
Just to keep you in the loop john, we have a superb Enterprise board that have worked very hard to get US companies to invest. All this rubber necked turnip is doing is going to take praise for the hard work others have accomplished. So as a taxpayer I am perfectly entitled to as questions and if “moan”.
@Michael Clinton: Of course Enterprise Ireland do great work but don’t underestimate the power of government. I know for a fact as I work for a US company that moved here. Kenny while hated in Ireland in generally liked by business in the US. I have been at the lunches and open evenings in San Francisco, DC and New York so less of the negativity.
@John Reese: power of govt ? this is kenny we are talking about a clown who bearly knows how to tie his shoelaces he is gone away again to avoid any questions on water, If he is so liked in the USA let him stay there because as you say he is hated here….
Well let him stay in the US and they are welcome to him. As I said I am as a taxpayer entitled to my opinion and well entitled to question anything that any person claiming to represent me does or says. If you don’t like what I say then kindly move on .
@Michael Clinton: No need to get all jumpy. I am pointing out a fact of trade missions. Your big American CEO gets a kick out of meeting a PM be that Irish or whatever country is trying to woo them. It is competition and to suggest that Kenny can’t even string two words together is lazy and wrong.
Kenny is as thick as a bag of sledgehammers, the waster has hung around the dail since he inherited his father’s seat. What has this buffoon contributed to the country ?????…. Sweet F/A. The gombeen stumbles from one shambles to another mumbling about how much confidence he has in his cohorts. He is an embarrassment to the country and if the American people want him so bad they are welcome to him. Everything this clown touches falls apart. Look at the children’s referendum, that was deemed illegal (and the money was never returned). What about the Senad vote.. Any other person call that referendum and those layabouts would be gone. Kenny is a prize clown that happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Ok it’s no point debating with a fool . Happy Christmas
@Peter Donnelly. A clown that can’t tie his shoe laces? And only gone to the US to avoid leaders questions? You realize by making such childish statements you completely undermine whatever is you are trying to say.
For all his faults, at least criticize constructively, but from what little I’ve seen from you, I seriously doubt you have the brain power.
That’s charming indeed, says more about you buddy and how pig ignorant you are. You fit right into the fg camp of ignorance. I can assure you that I will have a great Christmas. I wish the same to you and yours.
Ah,come on,bring this joke of governance to an end.the Irish people want and deserve a government,not this political play acting by fg.
We got what we voted for. If we had an election tomorrow, what do you think would actually change?
@(((Jason))): the govt ?
Unfortunately Peter it wouldn’t. An election tomorrow would see most of them reelected. And as recently proven, FF/FG are the same party who control the power and opposition. Nothing will change, Irish water will remain. The only way to rid the country of it is to remove ff/fg from power
Does Mary Lou realise most of rural Ireland have been paying fir water for years ?
God that argument annoys me so much. It’s the most blatant example of begrudgery imaginable. Grow up.
@Lurfic: Is it the fact that he pays for his private water supply that annoys you or that he also has to go ahead then pay for your water on top of that? Can you clarify your annoyance?
@John Reese: Someone shouod tell that stupid woman that many of her constituents don’t have a front and back door, all they have is a sleeping bag.
Begrudgery for what. How else do you expect people in rural areas to get clean water Your comment is annoying because of how uninformed it is.
Same can be said for urban. Should urban dwellers pay more for Shannon water when it happens to to the greater distance? No just like rural people should not have to fork out
Tis grand for some..
MLMcD & LeoV texting again during Leaders Q time
How hard can it be to find out how much upgrading the water network is going to cost. Once that’s done create a fund, if required apply a scaled tax for water usage. Set a standard rate that everyone pays and then problem solved. Now we are all used to the idea that water as a utility being free but the simple truth is that it’s not completely free. If we all contribute then the cheaper it will be to fund
@Éannus.. nobody is “used to the idea that water as a utility being free”; it has never been free. The “simple truth” is that it is already being paid for, but you already know that, don’t you? TBH, I don’t really see how you see the wilfully thick approach advancing your argument..
Sinn Fein need to grow a pair and stop letting the tail wave the dog. It’s because of their initial capitulation that the lowest common denominator is setting policy on this issue. Most people in this country care about the environment and want to see sustainable policies put in place. It’s time for SF and FF to prove they’re grown-up parties and tell Paul Murphy and his populist mates where to go with themselves.
Mary Lou is a two faced four chinned fcuker SF Agreed with Water charges until foetus face Murphy stole the lime light and they collect water charges in NI Such hypocrisy !!!
But they will bring out a tax that everyone pays that will be used to pay for water. Is that not illegal after the ECJ ruled that owners of wells do not have to pay for water and therefore well owners who pay this tax are making the government break the ECJ ruling?
http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/well-owners-evade-threat-of-water-levies-26807579.html
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/water_services/water_charges.html#l6a2ae
“Types of water/wastewater system If your water comes from a private well or a group water scheme and you have a private wastewater treatment system (such as a septic tank) you are not regarded as a customer of Irish Water and do not have to pay domestic water charges. “
So how can these people be taxed then?
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