Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - 20th December 2005

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - 20th December 2005:
Shannon Airport: Presentations:
Mr. Norris: I salute the four witnesses. They behaved honourably, remarkably and wonderfully. They have done what our authorities should have done and significantly failed to do both politically and in regard to policing. I thank them, as an Irish citizen, for behaving the way they have. They have at least maintained some shred of integrity in this island. As Deputy Allen stated, they should not be hindered in taking photographs. I am glad they did because, clearly, the US is queasy about what it is doing and it is disguising the identity of the aircraft. As a result, a Minister misled Dáil Éireann by saying aeroplanes that had been named had not passed through Shannon Airport. Following an analysis of the material the alliance sent to me, I was able to demonstrate the US had changed the registration and the same aeroplane had passed through. Those aeroplanes are international pariahs and they are not accepted in many other countries. One of our European neighbours scrambled fighter jets to see them out of its airspace, yet Ireland cravenly allows the US to use ours.
I do not salute the behaviour of our authorities, which is contemptible and disgraceful. I would like the Chairman to withdraw the briefing note we received late this morning. It is an insult to the committee to be given such material. A number of allegations are listed and reference is made to repeated clear and explicit assurances from the US. Nobody believes the US authorities, not even their own people. A headline article in Newsweek last week laughed at and scorned European governments because of the ease with which they accepted the assurances from Condoleeza Rice. President Bush and Condeleeza Rice — and it pains me to have to say it — are confirmed, consistent and deliberate liars. They have lied and we know this perfectly well. Secretary of State Rice said the USA did not render prisoners to torture, but it has been proved repeatedly that it does, including proof by parliamentary committees in Sweden. We know prisoners are taken to Egypt. We may accept bland assurances from the American ambassador that what happens in Guantanamo is not torture, but that is a lie too. We should certainly not accept such assurances in this country as it was the State which took the United Kingdom Government to the European Court of Human Rights on the issue of the Castlerea interrogation centre. Practices at the centre which were found to constitute torture were hooding, sleep deprivation and the use of white noise. The assurance on Guantanamo is, we know, another deliberate lie.
Paragraph 3 of the Department’s briefing note states that the focus on the definition of “torture” incorporates a distinction which does not affect the assurances the Irish Government has received. It could not more materially affect it. According to the note, the USA assurances “state categorically that no such prisoners have been transported through Irish airports or airspace, nor would they be without the Government’s permission”. This is an evasion. Paragraph 5 says the Government is “completely opposed to the practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’. That such a practice might have the aim of delivering a prisoner to a jurisdiction in which he or she might be tortured or otherwise ill treated is disturbing and objectionable”. It is a hell of a lot more than that, it is criminal. The note states further that the Government “has not and will not permit any flight engaged in extraordinary rendition to pass through Ireland”. I demand that the document be withdrawn. It drags us into the lies. The Government has permitted at least one flight — but probably several — which was engaged in extraordinary rendition through the national airspace. The flight may not have been on the way out, but it was certainly on the way back and it means the statement that the Government has not permitted a flight “engaged in extraordinary rendition” is untrue. Chairman, I repeat my demand that the document be withdrawn The Government is attempting to create a situation whereby it can protect itself in international law by pretending not to have the requisite knowledge or mens rea. The best legal advice is that refuelling aircraft constitutes “facilitating criminal activity”. The contrary argument is that the accused party must know of the activity. How was it that the Government did not know given that the ordinary citizens in attendance today knew? I am an ordinary citizen who happens to be a backbench Member of Seanad Éireann and I know. Suspicions have been reported to the police. If the case was one involving drugs and the aircraft were vans which had been known to do nothing but transport cocaine and were found in the car park at Shannon Airport, the Garda would attend to the matter pretty bloody quickly. Why is the Garda not represented here today? I have written to Commissioner Noel Conroy to make my complaint and state my belief that a crime has been committed. In any other circumstance, the matter would be investigated. The briefing note continues:
In the light of the absolute assurances the Government has received, the Government will continue to follow the long-standing practice whereby details supplied to the Department of Foreign Affairs in this area by the US authorities are accepted in good faith as being accurate.
I do not so receive them. The document, which is supposed to be helpful and assist us, should be withdrawn as an affront to our intelligence.
We should be extremely grateful to the witnesses for collecting the invaluable information with which we have been presented. I hope the alliance will continue to collect information and make it available to us to enable us to continue these investigations. As a number of very important points, including specific, clear legal points, have been raised and teased out by Deputy Michael Higgins, I suggest we engage independent legal advice to establish what the position is under international law. Have the witnesses or their associates gathered information on the use of Baldonnel? There is media speculation, presenting itself as fact, to the effect that the CIA uses Baldonnel for rendition flights. The Department of Defence is sending bills for fuel to CIA shadow companies at post office boxes in central Africa. This is the extent to which our involvement may be miring us further in this appalling filth.
I salute the witnesses who are speaking out on behalf of the people, including an entire Christian family who were blown to smithereens in Baghdad when Bush tried to target Saddam Hussein by dropping a high impact bunker buster bomb down the chimney of a family home. What has happened in Iraq is appalling and the witnesses are among those who have stood up against it. I honour them for it and hope we maintain a positive contact with them