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IAWM Condemns Irish Government's Complicity In U.S. Torture Regime printable version

13 Dec 2014: posted by the editor - United States, Ireland

The Irish anti-War Movement (IAWM) say it is angered but not surprised by the revelations in the US Senate Report into torture used by the CIA.

John Molyneux, Secretary of the IAWM said: “This confirms what has long been known—namely that in its so called ‘War on Terror’ the United States has made widespread and systematic use of barbaric interrogation techniques that are, quite simply, torture.”

US citizen and member of the IAWM Steering Committee, Glenda Cimino added: “The CIA cynically tried to hide this brutality under the deceitful euphemism of 'enhanced interrogation techniques’, but now the truth is out. This was torture pure and simple.”

“There is no possible justification for this, whether it is ‘effective’ or not. The IAWM condemns it unequivocally as we have always condemned all forms of torture which is a violation of fundamental and universal human rights”, said Molyneux.

The IAWM believes this raises, once again, the question of the Irish government’s complicity in torture through its permitting the US military to use Shannon airport and specifically the likelihood of its use by ‘rendition’ flights in which prisoners are flown to third countries that are notorious for their practice of torture.

In view of the non-inspection of US military flights at Shannon and the evidence repeatedly presented by organisations such as Shannonwatch, the IAWM simply does not believe ‘assurances’ that Shannon has not been used for rendition or that Ireland is not being drawn into complicity with torture. Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM noted that there is certainly evidence of planes being used in the US rendition programme having landed at Shannon Airport. That alone is enough to implicate the Irish Government in the facilitation of the horrific torture exposed in this Senate Report.”

The IAWM believes that the only guarantee of non-complicity in torture is for the Government to reaffirm the principle of Irish neutrality and its consequence—what should have been the case all along—namely to refuse the use of Shannon for US military flights.

Tags: torture, rendition, Shannon

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