Ahern told to cancel White House visit

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was today urged to cancel his visit to the White House in protest at the Bush administration’s plans to invade Iraq.

Anti-war protesters said Mr Ahern should refuse to travel to Washington tomorrow to mark St Patrick’s Day, accusing the Taoiseach of complying with US war preparations.

Talks between Mr Ahern and Mr Bush on Thursday are expected to be dominated by the Iraqi crisis.

During a press conference in Dublin peace activists also called on the people of Ireland to hold a 10-minute stoppage in the event of war breaking out.

Representatives of the NGO Peace Alliance, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and the Irish Anti-War Movement called for the action at midday on “Day X“.

Richard Boyd Barrett, director of the IAWM, said: “We are dealing with people who are willing to kill what health organisations estimate are between 50,000 and 100,000 innocent Iraqi people for oil and power.

“They have some cheek talking about the tyranny and dictatorship of Saddam Hussein when you consider these are people who are willing to murder innocent innocent civilians.”

He said countries with poor human rights records had taken a more progressive position on war than the Government.