Representatives of Veterans for Peace from USA, UK and Ireland will attend the Peace Vigil at Shannon airport on Sunday, March 10th. Veterans for Peace was founded in the USA in 1985, in opposition to US military intervention in Central America, and now has over 8000 members. Its objectives include bringing about a clearer understanding of the cost of war, in particular the US-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, to close the School of the Americas and to counter military recruitment efforts in schools. They have also undertaken significant humanitarian projects in war zones such as Iraq and campaigns against torture. In 2011 a chapter of Veterans for Peace was formed in the UK, on the initiative of Ben Griffin, and in 2012 Veterans for Peace Ireland was initiated.
Last month Colonel Ann Wright, a high profile member of Veterans for Peace who resigned her post as a senior US diplomat in protest against the Iraq War, visited Ireland, and included Shannon airport in her itinerary, as well as attending meetings in Dublin, Belfast and Galway. Her visit was virtually boycotted by most of the mainstream Irish media, presumably for fear of offending our US Government masters.
Ireland’s proud record of promoting genuine UN peacekeeping missions has been tarnished in recent years by the Irish Government’s complicity in the CIA torture program and in war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan by allowing CIA and US military warplanes to refuel at Shannon airport.