We clean our conscience with the slippery soap of legal niceties
Shannon Airport workers servicing military flights were in effect vindicated last week - by “anti-war” protesters. Two long letters from the “peace” lobby attacked American Ambassador James C Kenny and the Limerick Leader for defending the traffic. But the letters failed to substantiate the claims that the troops -and therefore the airport- are breaching international law.
A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.
The reason is simple. The troops’ tours of duty are legal. And that, as they say is official. The facts are as Ambassador Kenny stated: “Ireland recognises the government of Iraq. Full sovereignty was restored to Iraq on June 30, 2004, in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546. Iraqis voted three times with huge turnouts to elect a government and approve the most progressive constitution in the Arab world.”
“They did so at considerable risk to life and limb. In fact, a higher percentage of Iraqis voted in their first and most dangerous election than voted in recent elections in either Ireland or the United States! There can be no question of the government’s legitimacy.”
From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children.
One young Iraqi girl said the Marines killed six members of her family, including her parents. “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying,” she said, “and shot him.”
“American and other mutinational forces are in Iraq with the agreement and approval of both the legitimate government of Iraq and the United Nations. What more can anyone ask?”
Ambassador James C Kenny, Limerick Leader Editorial 19th May
A videotape taken by an Iraqi showed the aftermath of the alleged attack: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.
The video, obtained by Time magazine, was broadcast a day after town residents told The Associated Press that American troops entered homes on Nov. 19 and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.
“Finally, there is no issue here of neutrality, either. We are not at war with Iraq or with Afghanistan. We are helping these governments to fight terrorism and insurgency.”
Ambassador James C Kenny, Limerick Leader Editorial 19th May
One military official says it appears the civilians were deliberately killed by the Marines, who were outraged at the death of their fellow Marine.
“There are no state-to-state conflicts in either theatre - thus, there is no legal issue around the concept of neutrality. For the military are there to protect the process of creating democracy. and the UN are the moral guardians of that process”.
Ambassador James C Kenny, Limerick Leader Editorial 19th May
Military officials say Marine Corp photos taken immediately after the incident show many of the victims were shot at close range, in the head and chest, execution-style. One photo shows a mother and young child bent over on the floor as if in prayer, shot dead, said the officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn’t been completed.
In fairness the protesters deny none of these facts. The truth is that supporting democracy is not only our legal right. It is our moral duty.
“This one is ugly,” one official told NBC News.
Mark Waters marked time at 10:55 pm on May 18th, 2006 .
Highlighting the killing of civilians does not prove that Shannon is acting illegally at all.
For balance you might like to put the killings that saddam did as well.
Shannon is not acting illegally. That is the whole point of the post. And I don’t recall the last time Saddam flew through Shannon.
The fact that Saddam has no planes might effect that. The soviets often landed back in the day.
The fact that something may be legal does not necessarily imply that it is by definition morally defensible. Capital punishment is a legitimate form of punishment in the United States and personally, I find it reprehensible, cruel and inhumane.
additionally - and this is just a comment - the legitimacy or otherwise of US troops using Shannon as a stopover on their way to Iraq is not, in my opinion, enhanced or negated by reminding people what Saddam did. Your need to adhere to local and international law is not somehow eroded just because you think you’re the good guys. In other words simon, what saddam did is actually irrelevant in this matter. What matters is what we do.
An off topic point but just in case readers are mislead by Simon’s last comment relating to Saddam having no planes, Iraqi Airways has been around since 1945 and the Iraqi Airforce was established in 1931. It is true that both were severely restricted by the no-fly zones during the 1990s but it is not true to say that Saddam had no planes. It was WMD that he didn’t have. Not that that made much difference to the argument either.
We set ourselves a very low moral standard if we are content to be “better than Saddam”.