This article is from page 8 of the 2009-09-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
FEARS have been raised that the Royal Air Force (RAF) have been secretly using Shannon Airport to transport goods and possibly weap- onry to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photographs taken earlier this month by the Shannon Watch organ- isation show a number of contain- ers clearly marked property of RAF waiting to be loaded onto a Omni Air International plane in Shannon.
The containers were also marked property of Brize Norton, increasing speculation that their cargo inside was bound for conflict in Afghani-
stan or Iraq. The Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire is one of the main staging posts used to transport troops, weaponry and equipment to various war zones.
It is also home of the RAF’s strate- gic air transport (AT) and air-to-air refueling (AAR) forces. It is the most important British military base for maintaining the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘This raises further serious ques- tions about Shannon’s role in the oc- cupations of Iraq and Afghanistan,’ said a Shannon Watch spokesperson.
“What might an American civilian plane – that looks like it is carrying
US troops – be doing with RAF con- tainers? Is Ireland now part of the re- supply chain for all of the belligerent NATO forces around the world? And if so, is it being done with our gov- ernment’s approval or without it?”
The incriminating photographs were taken in Shannon Airport in the morning of Saturday, September Dee
According to a spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs, British military aircraft rarely land at Shannon Airport and no and offi- cial landings have taken place so far in 2009.
Permission for the landings by
foreign military aircraft are usually granted provided that the aircraft is unarmed, carries no arms, ammuni- tion or explosives, and does not en- gage in intelligence-gathering, and that the flight in question does not form part of a military exercise or ey oro lnleyee
According to Shannon Watch, pro- testers are normally removed from the airport when they attempt to photograph Omni Air International planes at Shannon Airport.
However, they say that on the day in question last Saturday no attempts were made to remove the photogra- phers from this part of the airport.