Willie the Kid takes on Uncle Sam - but is our hero shooting blanks?

THE image of our Defence Minister Willie O’Dea levelling his big guns against the CIA defies credulity.

Yet, during the week Willie thundered - as a man with an army at his back should - that CIA planes “may” be searched by Irish authorities to make sure they weren’t involved in torture operations.

I’m sure that those worried about human rights, never mind the reluctant guests of unsolicited American hospitality, will be relieved to know that Willie the Kid announced what may amount to a major policy U-turn by the Government.

Of course, it’s only a ‘may’.

Hitherto, the Government didn’t believe that they had the right to search anything that landed on Irish soil.

In fact, the planes would only be exempt from Irish law if they were taking off from the grounds of the US embassy, which is considered US soil.

Even if that were the case, I’m sure their neighbours in Ballsbridge might have objected to the noise level, something that simply could not be ignored in Kildare Street.

In any case, I don’t think Donald Rumsfeld or Condoleezza Rice lost too much sleep over Willie O’Dea shooting what will probably amount to blanks.

Irish people who are actually worried that some of our airports are being used by the CIA for what is euphemistically called ‘extraordinary rendition’ - torture to the rest of us - aren’t impressed with Willie O’Dea’s waffling.

Our minister, on whom the defence of this State depends, still believes there may be a question of seeking the permission of the US authorities before such searches are undertaken - if ever.

“There may be a case to be made (for asking them), but on the other hand there may be a case for retaining the status quo. If it comes up, and it probably will be discussed at Cabinet level in the not too distant future, I’ll have my views, which I’ll express to the Cabinet,” Willie declared in a recent television interview.

To get a clear view of what our Defence Minister thinks, one would have to ask Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, as if they cared.

I would hate to think what would happen if our Defence Minister, on leading his men into war, came upon a fork in the road.

Willie O’Dea also thinks he supports the idea of US Ambassador James Kenny appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the issue, but the minister doesn’t really know if the ambassador can be obliged to do so.

Neither do I, but then I am not a member of the Cabinet, every one of whom should know.

In any case, if the ambassador did condescend to grace the committee with his presence, our minister said “it wouldn’t be any harm at all, from a public relations point of view”.

From the minister’s almost categorical assurances, I presume if he ever sends the tanks into Shannon Airport, or any other, it will be either to protect American planes or search them - depending on what the Yanks tell him on the day.

Just as well the activities of the CIA are being taken rather more seriously by the Council of Europe, which is actively investigating allegations that the Americans ran centres in eastern Europe where suspects were interrogated, tortured or transported to other countries.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has admitted to parliament that they had approved two CIA ‘rendition flights,’ and the likelihood is that they approved more, but won’t admit it. The leaked memo admits that the CIA may have used British airports more often.

But even such a qualified admission goes to prove that the illegal secret transfer of terror suspects to foreign countries by the US is not a figment of the imagination of human rights’ groups.

And Britain believes that such transfers are illegal, according to a leaked official document. That is why it has always tried to downplay its role in this despicable practice.

President George Dubya Bush may claim he has a direct line to God, when he isn’t playing god, but nobody takes seriously his denial that the US does not secretly move terrorism suspects to foreign countries that torture them to get information.

Dubya should remember that his celestial buddy is listening when he tells the world such porkies.

Mr O’Dea would do well to consider what Swiss senator Dick Marty, who will present a preliminary report to the Council of Europe, had to say recently:

“The strategy in place today respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Convention. The current administration in Washington is trying to combat terrorism outside legal means, the rule of law.”

TALKING about being outside the rule of law, it must have come as a great relief to kerb-crawlers in west Cork when they read that Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe said the party would consider legalising small brothels. He added that if they persisted in being a danger to other kerb-users, then their licences could be confiscated.

The British Government is thinking of introducing the same measure. This is where Fine Gael got the bright idea because it certainly did not arrive out of the Mullingar pact made with Labour.

Mr O’Keeffe said he favoured setting up a thorough consultation process to consider the implications of such changes here, mentioning that there would be “upsides and downsides” to this.

There certainly will, Jim, and those in favour won’t be voting with their feet.

Mr O’Keeffe did say the issue would not be a top priority of a Fine Gael-led government as it would be something that would need to be assessed very carefully.

Undoubtedly, that is an understatement, of proportions comparable only to an election promise.

I’m not sure whether Pope Benedict XVI is of like mind with Jim O’Keeffe and the Brits, but his very first encyclical will deal with the difference between spiritual and erotic love.

Even though the lads in west Cork might remark, cynically, that the difference is a few quid and it doesn’t take an encyclical to spell it out, they would do well to ponder the Pope’s words when they are published next week.

Jim O’Keeffe and Fine Gael might have been better off to suggest that the problem of kerb-crawling could be dealt with more easily by introducing bicycle lanes in every town and city in the country.

It would certainly be far less controversial - something Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins certainly was not with his newly-formed Make Politicians History Party.

The two-time world snooker champion may not have been totally out of touch with voters everywhere when he said that his motivation was to “make a point about the pointlessness of politicians”.

He was right on cue.