SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

O’hEara makes his mark during office

18 May 2005

Whether friend or foe, few could dispute that Gearoid O’hEara has made his mark on the role of mayor of Derry.

As his term of office comes to a close on May 23, it cannot be denied that the Sinn Fein man has made brave moves by both traditional republican and unionist standards.

His attendance at the likes of ex-servicemen’s events and Protestant church services has defied perceptions and expectations from his own community as much as from “the other side”.

Just last week, the extent of his impact became apparent when the Derry branch of the Royal Naval Association praised his “good grace” for attending its Battle of the Atlantic commemoration in St Columb’s Cathedral.

His readiness to reach out and form such unlikely alliances has no doubt raised a few eyebrows from his own inner circle, but Gerry O’hEara has “no regrets” as his year - and indeed council career - draws to an end.

“The mark of a good mayor in this city, in my opinion, is a mayor who attempts to represent all the people and attempts to make contact with all the people. A mark of success would be the level of acceptance and respect from the entire community. I have worked hard to that end, but it is down to others to judge if I have achieved that,” said Mr O’hEara.

But he believes his reception from the city’s Protestant community has been largely positive.

His only disappointment at the end of a year of highlights has been those Protestant groups and individuals’ unwillingness to go public on their meetings.

Mr O’hEara said: “During my year I have worked on outreach and written to almost every community group from Protestant areas to see how I could inform myself better. The response was very positive.

“But I have been disappointed by the co-operation of the DUP deputy mayor Joe Miller. I made several approaches through the town clerk and Chief Executive to ask him to meet with me and co-operate in the sharing of duties and taking on joint duties which would have shown a unified face of the city.

“But unfortunately he refused to co-operate with me and during the past 12 months he has refused to even speak to me.

“It has meant effectively that I have had to carry the brunt of the civic office which has been very extreme.”

He conceded: “On a number of occasions when I was out of the city, he deputised for me, but I would say that amounted to less than 10 engagements.”

In general, he added: “I had a very positive response from Protestants. I had meetings with community groups, church leaders and individuals, but I was disappointed that all of this was done in private and that all of these groups were nervous of the fact that the DUP would attack them if it became public that they were meeting with me.

“I would commend those brave individuals and groups who did go public. They have shown great leadership to their community.”

Mr O’hEara said he found that the entire community took an interest in the office of mayor and his position in promoting the civic, economic and political life of the city.

His aspiration when he was appointed to the post last June, he said, was to forge a pro-active path, rather than a reactive one, and to this end he believes he has been successful.

Among the highs of his term of office was the day of civic remembrance held in December 2004.

“Rather than squabble about the Cenotaph and whether nationalists should go or not, I wanted a day of remembrance for all in the city who had died as a result of conflict. It was an innovative move and hopefully the next mayor will follow that up.”

He continued: “I had dearly wanted to see a St Patrick’s Day in the city - something which had not happened for 30 years - and we pulled that off very successfully.

“We received a grant to stage a carnival which included a Chinese Lion dance, dancers from the Ukraine, groups from the Protestant community and representatives from the city’s gay and lesbian community, making it a very inclusive, multi-cultural parade.”

Indeed, Mr O’hEara hosted civic receptions for the Sikh, Chinese, Italian and Polish communities, and for the gay and lesbian community in his bid to create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect.

He ran a mayor’s initiative through all local secondary schools who in turn drew up charters of equality.

The mayor continued: “I have worked on economic development, trying to build trade links with North America and London, and I have looked at the relationship between the Honourable the Irish Society, which actually owns quite a lot of the property in the city, and ourselves. We have asked that they hand back the walls to the people of the city so we can market and brand them as a world heritage site.

“We also asked that the Honourable the Irish Society gave us its archives which would make a very valuable asset for the museum and interpretative centre.

“We further sought to draw a line under its current relationship with the city, which has been slightly colonial, and bring it on to a different level where they would actually promote Derry within the city of London.”

An efficiency drive within Derry City Council championed by Gerry O’hEara led to savings of £563,000, with a further £1million targeted for the incoming year.

Improved youth facilities for the city’s youth was also on the mayor’s agenda and he got so far as to set up a forum which was aimed at changing the culture of excessive drinking, city-centre violence and the cultural approach to the city.

He also encouraged cross-border linkages with Donegal.

As a member of the Arts Council, public art was another objective that the mayor tackled and he has managed to secure funding from the local DSD office to the tune of £100,000 for a major piece of sculpture.

And, taking his promotion of the arts seriously, he has personally sat for an official portrait by a local artist to commemorate his year in office rather than follow his predecessors’ option of having a framed photograph erected.

He said: “I issued a manifesto when I was elected in which I outlined 20 initiatives and I have achieved almost 90percent of what I set out to do.

“I hosted an historic mayor’s three-day breakfast, which the Round Table were involved in, when I opened up the Guildhall and raised money for my chosen charity, DESTINED (a learning disability group) and Macmillan Cancer Relief.”

Further fundraising efforts came in the form of marathon running for Macmillan and Foyle Hospice.

Paying tribute to Elisha McLaughlin, his Sinn Fein successor in the Shantallow ward, Gerry O’hEara revealed he had no regrets about how the recent council elections had gone.

“It is probably going to be a good thing. I will go back into the ranks of the party while still having an advisory role in the council team,” he said.

“I will be available to offer my experience. Within the role of mayor, I tried to promote change, outreach and reconciliation, and hopefully that will continue. I will see out my year as mayor and have been really encouraged by the response from people since the election results came out, including many Protestant groups from the Waterside. In one vox pop, there was a good degree of approval from people in the Protestant community.

“I have tried to bring greater status to the office of mayor and lift its importance to a higher level. I was working very consciously towards that and it will be down to my successors to see if they follow that approach.”

After having carried out almost double the number of engagements of his predecessor, Mr O’hEara must surely have proved to his detractors that his time in office - as a Sinn Fein member - was by no means boycotted as some had predicted at the start.

And while his time as an elected representative in the city is over, Gerry O’hEara certainly does not seem like a spent force.

Working holidays to Tel Aviv and the USA in June are definite possibilities so it seems the mayor’s distinctly leisurely interests in bee-keeping, fishing, vegetable growing and tai-chi may take a back seat for some more time to come.

Yahoo! News

US envoy calls for ‘unambiguous’ IRA move in N Ireland

18 May 2005

BELFAST (AFP) - The IRA must respond in a “very positive and unambiguous way” to calls from its political wing to end violence, the US envoy to Northern Ireland said.

“I think there is some cautious optimism, but frankly it is too early to tell,” Mitchell Reiss told reporters in Belfast, where he is holding two days of talks before heading to Dublin.

Reiss, George W. Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, said the crucial point was the reaction of main Catholic paramilitary group the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) to Sinn Fein’s demand.

“Everybody is waiting to see the response to (Sinn Fein leader) Gerry Adams’s call to the IRA, and once we get that response we will be in a better situation to evaluate whether we can reach a deal or not,” Reiss said.

In April, Adams called on the IRA to “fully embrace and accept” democratic means and end all violence.

“It is imperative that they (the IRA) respond in a very positive and unambiguous way,” Reiss continued.

“Everyone has said sooner is better than later, there is some concern that if it continues to delay much longer that the situation is not going to remain the same. You either are going forward or you are not.”

More than 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland were largely ended by the 1998 Good Friday peace deal, which also set up a semi-autonomous power-sharing government.

This has been suspended since October 2002 following allegations of spying by the IRA,

Allegations by police, backed up by politicians in London and Dublin, that the IRA remains heavily involved in criminal activity have hardened attitudes on both sides of the Protestant-Catholic divide.

Matters appear not to have been helped by Britain’s general election on May 5, which delivered gains to more militant parties from both communities at the expense of more moderate groups.

Irish Independent

Rebel MP defies US senate and attacks invasion of Iraq

18 May 2005

British MP George Galloway appearing yesterday before the US Senate Sub-committe on Investigations to answer questions about the UN oil-for-food programme.

BRITISH MP George Galloway put US Iraq policy on trial in a powerful performance yesterday before a US senate committee that had accused him of being in the pay of Saddam Hussein.

The defiant Respect Party MP turned the tables on senators who had accused him of receiving oil allocations from Iraq by delivering a stinging criticism of the war against Iraq to a US television audience which rarely hears such attacks on US foreign policy.

Mr Galloway told the committee’s Republican chairman, Norm Coleman, that he was engaged in “the mother of all smokescreens” to divert attention from US failings.

“I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that the case for invading was a pack of lies,” he said.

He had told the world that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and had no connection to al-Qa’ida or the September 11 attacks, and that the Iraqi people would resist invasion, he said.

“Senator, in everything I said about Iraq I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong, and 100,000 have paid with their lives - 1,600 of them American soldiers, sent to their death on a pack of lies.”

Mr Galloway said he had met Saddam only twice. “I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld (the US Defence Secretary) met him.

“The difference is that he met him to sell him guns and to give him maps to better target those guns. I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war.”

Mr Coleman and Carl Levin, the committee’s senior Democrat, adjourned the meeting without a promised press conference.

“I just don’t think he was a credible witness,” Mr Coleman remarked.

Mr Galloway dismissed Mr Coleman as “not much of a lyncher” and told CNN:

“Most of the traffic I’m getting is that the British parliamentary tradition won . . . I came not as the accused but as the accuser.”

Mr Galloway flew to Washington at his own expense after the permanent subcommittee on investigations accused him of receiving 20m barrels of “oil allocations” from Saddam.

It suggested that he might have used his anti-sanctions campaign, the Mariam Appeal, to “conceal payments.”

Senate investigators double-checked Iraqi documents naming Mr Galloway with an unnamed senior official in Saddam’s regime.

The documents named Mr Galloway as the recipient of oil allocations handled by Middle East ASI, a Jordanian company which was owned by Fawaz Zureikat, who contributed stg £375,000 to the appeal.

They also linked him to a French company, Aredio Petroleum. But the panel could not document any payments made to Mr Galloway himself.

Mr Galloway called the charges utterly preposterous, adding: “You have nothing on me, Senator, except my name on lists from Iraq, many of which have been drawn up since the installation of your puppet government.”
(© The Times, London)

James Bone
in Washington

BreakingNews.ie

Children handed ‘buckets of blood’ in KFC protest
18/05/2005 - 18:04:25

Animal rights protesters handed buckets of fake blood, bones and feathers to children outside a secondary school today in a bid to encourage them to boycott Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

>>>READ ON

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Irish Echo

Echo Focus: A labored legacy

Original working class hero celebrated

By Ailbhe Jordan
ajordan@irishecho.com

As a central figure in the labor movement, James Connolly believed that “believed that all workers in one organization should belong to the same union to exert more economic strength within that organization.”

As Ireland approaches next year’s 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, a new wave of public discourse has emerged surrounding one of its central figures, James Connolly.

On this side of the Atlantic, most trade unionists hail Connolly as the original working class hero. Born on June 5, 1868 to migrant Irish parents in Edinburgh, Connolly came from a poor family and left school at 10 to work in a printing factory.

In 1903, he moved to Troy, New York. There he lived for seven years, becoming one of the key figures in the trade unionism movement. Throughout his time in the U.S., Connolly traveled extensively, often for months at a time, spreading the message of socialism and solidarity amongst workers.

In 1905 he helped found the Industrial Workers of the World, an organization that paved the way for modern trade unionism, becoming organizer in 1908.

So important is Connolly to American trade unionists that the centenary celebrations of the founding of the IWW in Albany last weekend doubled as a commemoration of Connolly’s life.

“He believed that all workers in one organization should belong to the same union to exert more economic strength within that organization,” according to Greg Giorgio, Branch Secretary for the New York IWW, who spoke at the commemoration.

“He had a vision that monopolies and business barons would have to be challenged in order for democracy to prevail. He saw the need to increase solidarity amongst workers and not have them crossing each other’s picket lines.”

Connolly’s commitment inspired the admiration of leading U.S. trade union leaders like Bill Haywood, who later traveled to Dublin to support Connolly during the 1913 lockout. Socialist Party founder Daniel De Laon was less impressed with Connolly, whose superior writing and oratory skills were said to be superior to his own.

Throughout his time in New York, Connolly wrote several of his most important publications, including “Socialism Made Easy,” which set forth his socialist credo.

In 1986, the James Connolly Society of Canada and the United States erected a monument to Connolly in Troy, several years before a corresponding monument appeared in Dublin.

Connolly was instrumental in introducing the idea of socialism and trade unionism in Ireland. He founded the Irish Socialist Republican party and later the Irish Labor Party and also helped establish the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.

But many commentators argue that Connolly’s political importance in history is continually overshadowed by his role in the Easter Rising and his subsequent execution.

Historian Tom Stokes and theatre producer Frank Allen hope to change that when they bring Connolly’s life to the big screen next year. Their film, entitled “Connolly,” will involve the first cinematic depiction the events of the 1916 Rising. Irish actor Adrian Dunbar will direct the film and Scottish actor Peter Mullin will play the title role.

“We want to take Connolly down from that picture on the wall,” according to Stokes. “We want to illustrate the fact that people who do ordinary things have to leave people behind.”

Connolly’s frequent touring of Ireland, the UK and the U.S. meant frequent, and often, prolonged absences from his wife Lillie Reynolds and their six children. One scene in the film depicts an excited Connolly waiting at Ellis Island for his family, whom he has not seen in almost a year. Only five children climb off the ship and Connolly finds out that his eldest daughter died in a fire on the night before the ship set sail.

Told through the eyes of his daughter Nora, the film will also highlight Connolly’s role as a radical feminist. One of the earliest advocates of universal suffrage, Connolly regularly appointed women to prominent positions in his organizations.

“Connolly was a true believer in equality,” said Stokes. “Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington described him as ‘the finest feminist amongst all the labor men.’ Women like Maude Gonne and Countess Markievicz surrounded him. He encouraged his daughter Nora to become active in politics.”

In keeping with Connolly’s beliefs, Stokes and Allen have set up the James Connolly Foundation for Educational Equality, a facility that will enable members of the public to donate money towards financing the film. In turn, profits from “Connolly,” will be used to fund programs to alleviate inequality in education caused by poverty.

This year will also see the release of a number of books that will bring to light Connolly’s life and the work of the early socialist movement in Ireland.

“Radical Politics in Modern Ireland — The History of the Irish Socialist Republican party 1896 — 1904,” focuses on Connolly’s first seven years in Ireland when he formed the Irish Socialist Republican Party, which many argue was the first left-wing political party in Ireland.

“The ISRP were extremely forward thinking,” according to author David Lynch.

“They would hold meetings in places like St. Stephen’s Green and the Phoenix Park calling for an end to British Rule, universal suffrage, reducing the working week. Nobody else would have been saying these things out loud at the time.”

In her book, “Rebel Girl” feminist writer Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn recalled one of her many meetings with Connolly at an Italian socialist meeting in 1907.

“I asked Connolly: ‘Who will speak Italian?’” she wrote. “He smiled his rare smile and replied, ‘We’ll see. Someone surely.’ Then we returned to the platform and Connolly arose. He spoke beautifully in Italian to my amazement and the delight of the audience, who ‘viva’d’ loudly.”

Connolly’s desire to communicate with all workers drove him to learn Italian and German. On one occasion, he reputedly published a pamphlet in Yiddish for the Jewish Community living around the Christ Church area in Dublin.

In ideological terms, Lynch argues that Connolly’s achievements and writings were comparable to those of the main socialist leaders across Europe.

“What’s different about Connolly is that he came from an absolutely de facto working class background,” said Lynch.

“He experienced the difficulties of a working class life unlike many Soviet socialists like Lenin and Rosa Luxembourg, who came from middle class backgrounds. He was one of the first socialists to come from a colonized country and the first to articulate a left-wing view of imperialism.”

Said Stokes: “Of all the big leaders, Connolly was the one who left a body of work behind. He gave us a belief system that could be applied worldwide. Workers who read Connolly today would find solutions to many of their work problems.”

Some say that Connolly’s less than celebrated position in history is part of an increasing agenda to play down the revolutionary activities of 1916, whilst others believe it is symptomatic of the Irish Government’s nervous attitude towards socialism.

“In the early days of the Free State, the government consciously downplayed a lot of Connolly’s ideas and tried to portray him as just another 1916 martyr,” Lynch pointed out.

“His ideas are also uncomfortable for a lot of parties now in Celtic Tiger Ireland. There is a debate about whether we’ve used the wealth we have amassed in the best way. That debate is increasing. Connolly’s views on redistribution of wealth have a lot of resonance in that argument.”

This story appeared in the issue of May 18-24, 2005

Irish Echo

Analysis: The next move

By Paul Colgan
pcolgan@irishecho.com

As the British and Irish governments again set to chart out a course towards power sharing in the North, they have been confronted with a invigorated and triumphalist DUP.

The sheer scale of Ian Paisley’s victory in the general election, in which his party devastated the Ulster Unionists, has supplemented his argument for a “voluntary coalition” between the DUP, the UUP and the SDLP.

The DUP is not known for its shrinking violets and the party’s arrival at Westminster on Wednesday evidenced the newfound swagger amongst its ranks.

Paisley warned that the government heed the DUP’s mandate and appoint DUP men to all boards in the North saying he wanted “independent Ulstermen” representing unionists, “not paid government lackeys”.

He told incoming Northern secretary Peter Hain not to “confront” the “Ulster people”, while his son Ian Paisley Jr. has called for a new chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, presumably one more to the DUP’s liking.

While the scale of the DUP successes had been anticipated in many quarters, nationalists and republicans are concerned that British prime minister Tony Blair, who, in their eyes, has traditionally embraced the unionist position in negotiations, may be swayed by Paisley’s increased mandate.

The SDLP has ruled out any cozy new deal with the DUP that would exclude Sinn Fein from a power sharing government. However, republicans claim that several senior SDLP figures are more amenable to the notion than others.

Sinn Fein point to the comments of SDLP MP’s Alasdair McDonnell and Eddie McGrady last year, in which they seemed to warm to the idea. Both men insist that they have never contemplated such a strategy, and that their comments were taken out of context.

The SDLP knows that to go into government with the DUP at the exclusion of republicans, it would run the risk of electoral wipeout at some stage in the not too distant future.

Sinn Fein is the largest nationalist party in the North and any arrangement that would lead to the effective disenfranchisement of thousands of nationalist voters would not play well among SDLP supporters.

Nonetheless the DUP’s increased support still poses major problems for nationalists, and in particular, Sinn Fein.

Paisley now possesses increased leverage with Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Both men felt that the DUP demand for photographs of IRA decommissioning was reasonable last December and there is nothing to indicate that their position has changed.

Concerns expressed by the SDLP that the DUP is not prepared to cut an honorable deal with the nationalist constituency do not appear to play heavily of the minds of those in Iveagh House or Government Buildings.

The focus of Ahern and the department of foreign affairs is instead on what the IRA intends to do in the coming months. Government sources insist that the continued existence of the IRA is the key impediment to a deal between nationalists and unionists — not whether the DUP is prepared for power sharing or not.

Seemingly, the government is convinced that Paisley is committed to doing a deal and that things will fall into place as soon as the IRA goes away.

The DUP’s newfound self-assurance, however, may make moves towards speedy negotiations unlikely.

The party is likely to demand that certain parts of the proposed deal in December be revisited. After having whittled down its requirement for a so-called “cooling off period” between the signing of a deal and the restoration of devolved government from six months to a few short weeks, it will now demand a much longer period of time.

Ahern and Blair’s fidelity to the December deal will be put to the test.

In addition to the standing down of the IRA, both men will call for “clarity” with regard to on-going paramilitary activity. Ahern unleashed the Progressive Democrats in the days after the failed deal in order to flag government displeasure over the IRA?s rejection of a proposed statement on criminality.

The £26 million Northern Bank heist and the Robert McCartney killing have done republicans no favors and, following months of unrelenting pressure, anything resembling a fudge will probably not pass muster.

However, given that the IRA seems poised to stand down unilaterally, the old format for negotiations may yet be rendered redundant. Republican sources are adamant that the IRA will only stand down on its own terms and that calls for photographs of destroyed weaponry will not factor in its thinking.

With Blair widely tipped to make way for his chancellor Gordon Brown within the next eighteen months, the temptation to cut a side deal with republicans on decommissioning, may be playing on the prime minister’s mind.

Republicans have certainly not sought to rule out such a possibility. Gerry Adams, while stressing his commitment to an inclusive deal, has repeatedly warned that if the DUP are not willing to play ball then the governments need to look at alternative ways out of the morass. Adams has not said as much, but many assume he is talking about joint authority.

Ironically it will probably be Ahern who is the least likely to consider such a way forward. His government had gone out on a limb in establishing the new rulebook for republicans.

To turn around and simply discard the power sharing model, with the associated requirements of clarity on “criminality?” and “disbandment,” would leave him open to claims that he, like Blair, is prepared to sacrifice moral standing on the altar of political expediency.

This story appeared in the issue of May 18-24, 2005

DANNY MORRISON

**ATTENTION! The ‘boiling alive’ Danny Morrison speaks of concerns a man seen here on the following website:

Information Clearinghouse, who was tortured and killed by the security forces in Uzbekistan, America’s new ‘best friend’.

The photos are post mortem and extremely graphic. Uzbekistan is currently in the process of slaughtering its own citizens ‘like rabbits’. Close to a thousand, if not more, have been killed. Remember these photos when you hear Bush speak of human rights and democracy. He doesn’t know the meaning of the words.

The Fog of War

Most people, one would think, would not hesitate to condemn the boiling alive of an individual or the roasting alive of a hundred thousand individuals. Yet war, and the side one supports, often leads to perverse ambivalences, excuses and justifications.

Last Friday five hundred civilians, protesting against religious persecution, poverty and unemployment, were shot dead in Uzbekistan whose autocratic ruler, President Karimov, is a close ally of George Bush and part of ‘the coalition of the willing’. US forces are stationed there in strength and used the country as a base for the war against the Taliban in nearby Afghanistan.

Furthermore, suspected members of al Qaeda have been brought (‘rendered’) to Uzbekistan by the US for ‘special’ interrogations, using methods outlawed in the US.

In return the US has turned a blind eye to the repression of those Muslims who practise their faith independently of Karimov’s state controls. As a result of this repression they are increasingly attracted to and radicalised by the underground Mosque movement.

Two years ago Human Rights Watch published horrific photographs of Muzafar Avazov, a father of four, showing sixty to seventy per cent of his body covered in burns.

Later, Craig Murray, the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, spoke in London about having seen “the pictures of Avazov, with Amizov [another prisoner] boiled to death in Jaslyk prison. The University of Glasgow pathology department studied the detailed photos and concluded that this was immersion in, not spattering with, boiling liquid. There was a clear tidemark. The fingernails had also been pulled,” said Murray.

Murray described Uzbekistan as having “no freedom of the media, no freedom of religion, no freedom of speech and no freedom of assembly.” He criticised Bush’s meeting with Karimov, and other high-level delegations to the capital Tashkent by Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell, during which there was no mention in public, nor did he believe in private, about the country’s appalling human rights’ record.

Murray queried the morality and legality of Britain accepting clearly tainted intelligence information from the Uzbeks: “What absolutely terrifies me is the thought that such poor intelligence material, endorsed by someone in the last gasps of agony [is] given credence by some gung-ho Whitehall Warrior.”

After these outspoken comments and criticism of the US, Tony Blair removed Murray as British ambassador to Uzbekistan .

Bush and Rumsfeld , by patronising and protecting Karimov (from criticism at the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva), must bear some degree of moral responsibility for the repression in Uzbekistan. Yet, they would probably argue that the ends (defending their nation from terrorism) justify the means (their use of state terrorism, and allying themselves with a terrorist state - though they would object to that description).

Last Sunday BBC2 broadcast the 2003 Academy award-winning documentary, ‘The Fog of War’, about Robert S. McNamara, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force during WWII and US Secretary of State for Defence (1961-68) during the Vietnam War.

It was a fascinating insight into the 86-year-old McNamara’s reflections on war and of a disturbing mentality which can justify the mass slaughter of civilians, and, later, put it and one’s regrets down to experience.

“In order to do good, you may have to commit evil,” was one of his eleven lessons from his life, which sounded like Machiavelli paraphrased.

During World War II McNamara was a bombing statistician under General Curtis LeMay and supported the carpet bombing of Japan which in one night resulted in the burning to death of 100,000 civilians. It was terrorism by any definition.

It was also under LeMay’s command that the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The government’s defence was that the Japanese would fight to the death and kill scores of thousands of the invading US marines. In other words, our American soldiers were more important than their Japanese wives and children. I don’t know what view I would have adopted had I been an American marine or the father of one. But at that point the interests of the tribe, not humanity, reigned supreme. At the time of the A-bombs Japan was militarily broken and the use of the bombs was a powerful demonstration to the USSR of the prowess of the USA.

McNamara recalls LeMay later saying, “‘If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.’ And I think he’s right. He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals. LeMay recognised that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose, but not immoral if you win?”

Well, the victor usually gets to write history and make the law, which is why the Allied bombing of German and Japanese civilians were specifically excluded from the list of war crimes developed for the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials.

McNamara was an advisor to Kennedy at the time of the Cuban missile crisis when the world came close to destruction. But it was because of McNamara’s involvement in and defence of the war in Vietnam, first under Kennedy then under Johnston, that my generation despised him. Millions of Vietnamese and 55,000 Americans died in that war. There was no threat to the American people and lies were told to sustain the war.

McNamara regrets that it happened, admits that mistakes were made and that they didn’t really understand the Vietnamese but resists accepting responsibility for his actions apart from questioning whether humankind is able to learn anything from history.

All the while he seeks the comfort of humans as flawed individuals: “Any military commander who is honest with himself, or with those he’s speaking to, will admit that he has made mistakes in the application of military power. He’s killed people unnecessarily…”

And so, the lesson that supporters of the US and Britain’s war-on-terrorism need not balk at is that under the fog of war occasionally prisoners will be boiled to death unnecessarily. Such acts are to be regretted and, yes, mistakes will be made. But we have to appreciate the wider picture and that in order to do good we have to commit evil.

BreakingNews.ie

Immigration Council expresses shock at Lenihan remarks

18/05/2005 - 16:53:18

The Immigration Council of Ireland has expressed its shock following racist comments made by a Fianna Fáil TD in the Dáil.

Junior Minister Conor Lenihan was forced to apologise after he was overheard telling Socialist leader Joe Higgins to “stick to the kebabs”, in reference to Turkish employees of the GAMA construction company.

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy of the Immigrant Council of Ireland says she finds Mr Lenihan’s remarks very offensive.

“I think they are racist comments and the very least we expect from our politicians who are our leaders is a basic standard, and we don’t expect racist comments from them,” she said.

BBC

Shot fired during hospital raid

A shot was fired during a robbery at the Royal Victoria Hospital

A shot has been fired during an armed robbery at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Shortly after 1500 BST, three security staff were approached by a man with a handgun in the grounds of the hospital.

He demanded money, before firing a shot. No-one was injured during the incident.

The robber escaped in a silver Volkswagen Golf car which was later found abandoned in Forest Street.

Police have appealed for anyone with any information about the robbery to contact them at Grosvenor Road PSNI station, on 028 90 650220.

Daily Ireland

‘Drive-by’ pellet gun attack

Eamonn Houston
e.houston@dailyireland.com

Sinn Féin last night called for a blanket ban on controversial pellet and BB guns after details emerged of a drive-by attack on a teenage girl in Derry at the weekend.
The 13-year-old was struck by a pellet fired from a passing car near her Gobnascale home on Sunday. She had been walking with friends in the area when she was targeted.
Local councillor, Lynn Fleming said that the guns, which are sold legally throughout the North, had “no purpose” in society and called for them to be banned.
The PSNI also issued a statement yesterday expressing concern at the abuse of the firearms across the city.
Councillor Fleming said: “We have been dealing with many incidents across the city during which pellets and ball bearings have been fired into people’s homes. There could be dire consequences for anyone who is targeted deliberately or happens to be in the way of someone firing these weapons. They are potentially lethal.”
The PSNI issued a stark warning, saying that it may only be a matter of time before someone is seriously injured, or killed, because of growing misuse of the weapons.
Condemning the incident involving the young girl in the Gobnascale area, PSNI Inspector David McFetridge said it was fortunate that her injuries had not been more serious.
He added: “We are becoming concerned about a growing misuse of this type of weapon throughout the city.
“As well as this incident, we have had reports of pellet guns and BB guns being used to damage property and vehicles, and we also believe that a cat was killed by a pellet at West End Park, on the city side, late last week.
“BB guns are popular among young people, but the message must get out that they should be used in a responsible manner. There have been incidents in which children have been seriously injured after being hit by a ball bearing and we do not want that to happen here.”
Meanwhile, the PSNI in Limavady arrested a man at the weekend when he was caught in possession of a stun gun. He was spotted chasing two youths along Main Street from the entrance to the rugby club. He was carrying a dark object, which appeared to be giving off electrical shocks and could be heard crackling.
When stopped and asked what the item was he said it was an “electric shock device”. It was later identified by the PSNI as a stun gun.
The PSNI has warned the public that the devices are dangerous and illegal, and that they will take action against anyone found to be in possession of one.

Daily Ireland

‘Take Blair to Europe over bombing inquiry’

By Conor McMorrow
c.mcmorrow@dailyireland.com

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Calls for the Irish government to take the British government to the European Court of Human Rights were renewed yesterday by the relatives of those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, 31 years to the day since the lethal blasts.
The anniversary plea was made by Margaret Urwin, of the Justice for the Forgotten group who have been requesting a full inquiry into the bombings for some years.
“We are asking the Irish government to take the British government to the European Court of Human Rights as Tony Blair’s government has refused to establish an inquiry in his jurisdiction into the bombings,” Ms Urwin said.
She was speaking after the 31st anniversary commemorations in Dublin yesterday.
“We had our traditional wreath laying ceremony in Dublin at 11.30am and our chaplain, Fr Tom Clowe, celebrated a Mass for the victims in the Pro-Cathedral at 12.45pm,” she said.
“It’s a very hard day for all those who had relatives killed in the bombings.
“It’s particularly hard to see parents who lost their teenagers and children in their early 20s all those years ago and have yet to find out the real truth behind the bombings.
“A lot of these parents are getting old and some of them are now using walking sticks. Some of them were not able to attend due to ill health and old age.”
Last year President McAleese unveiled a special commemorative monument in the centre of Monaghan town close to where the blast took place in 1974.
The relatives and families of those killed in that bomb were invited to participate in the commemorations in Dublin yesterday and Ms Urwin told Daily Ireland that many of them made the journey to participate.

Daily Ireland

PUP chief says LVF killed Lisa

Colm Heatley
c.heatley@dailyireland.com

The leader of the PUP says he “can’t work out” why the PSNI was prepared to indulge in speculation about IRA involvement in Robert McCartney’s murder but dismissed speculation that the LVF killed Lisa Dorrian.
David Ervine said it was “beyond doubt” that the LVF killed Lisa Dorrian, who disappeared from a party in a caravan park in Ballyhalbert, Co Down, on February 28.
Since her disappearance the PSNI have described speculation that the LVF was behind the killing as “unhelpful”.
“I can’t work out why police said speculation about Lisa’s killers was bad.
“It didn’t seem to be too unhelpful with the McCartney murder,” he said.
Mr Ervine also said that there had been a lack of media focus on Lisa’s murder.

“There has been a lack of focus on Lisa Dorrian while there was focus on other happenings at the time.
“That is sad if you are a member of the Dorrian family.”
Meanwhile, the mother of the murdered woman dismissed earlier press reports that she wanted to meet with loyalist paramilitaries.
“That is untrue. I never said that and I would never meet with loyalist paramilitaries.
“I would meet with the Loyalist Commission because they are removed from the paramilitaries,” said Pat Dorrian.
She also said that despite this week’s renewed media interest in her daughter’s murder she felt as though Lisa’s plight had disappeared from “the face of the earth”.
“The media could have done more”.
“There was a good few weeks that nobody bothered about us at all”.
“It was as if Lisa had disappeared off the face of the earth, that’s why we set up an appeal fund”.
“I would call on the media to do much more to help”.
“Even in England, where Lisa was born, there has been hardly a shred of coverage about her murder,” she said.
The family have offered a £10,000 (€14,500) reward for information leading to the recovery of the body.
Local DUP MLA, Peter Weir, said that, while he condemned the murder, he wouldn’t speculate on whether or not the LVF is responsible.
“I would appeal for anyone with any information to come forward and give that information.
“I don’t want to prejudge these matters,” he said.
Newly elected South Belfast SDLP MP, Alisdair McDonnell, who helped organise the McCartney family’s trip to Washington on St Patrick’s Day, refused to comment on the Dorrian case.

Guardian

Abigail Witchalls regaining speech and sensation

Mark Oliver and agencies
Wednesday May 18, 2005

Stabbing victim Abigail Witchalls said today that sensation was returning to most of her body, she was in less pain and could now speak in short bursts.

There were fears that Mrs Witchalls, 26, would not survive when she first arrived in hospital last month after being knifed in the neck near her home in Little Bookham, Surrey, while she was out walking with her 21-month-old son, Joseph.

The attack on April 20 left her paralysed but since then she has reported some sensation in her shoulders, arms and legs.

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In a statement released today by the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, she said she could now “breathe and speak on my own for short periods”.

In the aftermath of the attack she could not speak at all and had been communicating by mouthing words and blinking.

Today she said in the statement: “The staff here are wonderful and I am making progress every day. I have sensation over most of my body and the pain is less now. I can move my head, but as yet I cannot move my arms and legs.”

Mrs Witchalls, who is a devout Catholic, added: “Please pass on my thanks to everyone for their support and prayers. God is doing beautiful things.”

Earlier today her husband spoke publicly for the first time about his “remarkable wife” and described his pride at her determination not to let the attack ruin her life.

Benoit Witchalls said: “She is a remarkable character … I think I’ve had a crash course in spinal injury, and you just can’t tell anything for the first month, so it’s a case of wait and see, really. But she has still got her smile, which is very comforting to see.”

The 26-year-old engineer told the BBC programme Crimewatch, which will tonight broadcast a reconstruction of the attack: “We feel very lucky and very blessed because she is fully present as herself. It’s just great to see and it’s a great joy you can see in her face when she sees Joseph.”

The man who attacked Mrs Witchalls first threatened Joseph with a knife after following the pair down a quiet, private lane. Mr Witchalls said the first word his wife spelled out in hospital was “happy” because “she was so relieved that he [Joseph] came out of it unscathed, physically”.

It emerged last night that bloodstains could hold the key to identifying the attacker. Detectives hope they will find a match within days with samples taken from Mrs Witchalls.

DNA tests are being carried out on bloodstains on trousers belonging to Richard Cazaly, 23, who left Little Bookham five days after the attack and committed suicide in Scotland by overdosing on painkillers. Tests are also being processed on material taken from Mr Cazaly’s body and from a bag of knives recovered from his car.

Mr Cazaly left short suicide notes to Vanessa McKenzie, his Australian girlfriend, and his mother, in which he said: “I’m terribly sorry. I must be two people. I can’t remember. I must have done it.”

It also emerged last night that Ms McKenzie told police he had told her he “might have done it”, possibly in reference to the attack.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Harper of Surrey police said that he had been delighted with the response to appeals for information, but hoped the Crimewatch reconstruction and appeal by Mr Witchalls may “prompt someone to come forward with the final piece of the puzzle”.

Det Supt Harper said the incident room had received more than 700 calls, some of which had generated significant lines of inquiry.

“We do have at least two people whom we regard as suspects in this case and another 38 names that we are also following up. However, we are not yet in a position where we can prove beyond all reasonable doubt who was responsible for this attack, which left Abigail with such dreadful injuries.”

He said the case had presented “complex forensic and identity issues” that were being tackled as quickly as possible.

· Crimewatch is on BBC1 at 9pm.

BBC

McCartney breakthrough ‘closer’

The McCartney sisters are seeking justice for their brother’s death

A sister of Robert McCartney has said police have told her they are “closer to a breakthrough” in the investigation into her brother’s murder.

The 33-year-old was fatally stabbed outside a Belfast pub. His family have maintained IRA members were involved.

Speaking after meeting US special envoy Mitchell Reiss, Paula McCartney said police had told her witnesses were being a lot more co-operative.

Detectives were a “lot more confident in their language”, she said.

Ms McCartney added investigators were able to tell the family that they have received more information and “hopefully arrests will happen sooner rather than later”.

A police spokesperson described the murder investigation as an “active and challenging inquiry focused on bringing to justice the killers of Robert McCartney”.

They said there were still people in the community with information that would help the investigation and urged them to come forward.

Before meeting the McCartney family Mr Reiss had met Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.

The 33-year-old father-of-two was killed near the city centre

After the one hour meeting Mr Adams said he told the envoy that following the elections there was now an imperative to move the process forward.

Mr Adams said that while the DUP would have to be part of any revised institutions it did not have to give its permission for “other entitlements” including the equality agenda and a bill of rights.

Mr Reiss also met an SDLP delegation on Wednesday.

The party’s Alex Attwood said the envoy agreed with them that there must be a very strong stand to end organised crime on the island of Ireland.

Mr Attwood also said Mr Reiss supported their view that whatever the DUP had planned, they were not going to do damage to the Good Friday Agreement.

On Tuesday, Mr Reiss had his first meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain in London.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Hain said America was a “powerful partner” in the efforts for peace in Northern Ireland.

BBC

UDA is blamed over hotel killing

Mr Nelson was attacked outside a disco in County Antrim

Detectives investigating the murder of a man attacked outside a Newtownabbey hotel after a disco, are now blaming the UDA.

Stephen Nelson, who was in his 50s, died in hospital in March after the attack at the Chimney Corner Hotel on the Antrim Road in September 2004.

The officer in charge of the investigation has said Mr Nelson was killed by a gang of UDA men.

Up to 10 men kicked and punched Mr Nelson during the attack.

He was left in a coma and died from his injuries on March 18.

Mr Nelson had worked at the hotel as a doorman for several years.

At the time, police described the killing as “brutal and horrendous”.

Five men arrested and questioned about the assault at the time were released without charge.

Although it was on the hotel premises, the over-25s disco was operated by an independent franchise.