US mother in plea over troop movements

The Irish Government must stop the US military using Shannon Airport to transport troops to the Middle East, American anti-war campaigner Cindy Sheehan demanded ahead of a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern today.

The ‘Peace Mom’ spent the summer camped outside President George Bush’s Texan ranch waiting for him to speak to her about the death of her 24-year-old son in Iraq in April 2004.

Her actions galvanised the anti-war movement in the US and today she called on Irish people to stand up against their country’s involvement in the Iraq conflict.

Ms Sheehan said she wanted an end to the occupation of Iraq and to Ireland’s involvement in allowing troop flights to stop over in the airport.

And she wanted to show Mr Ahern the face of a grieving mother.

Ms Sheehan, who was wearing a badge with her son’s face on it, said: “I want him to see Casey, and to see the face of a mother and to say that it’s not just about right and left, not about politics, it’s about flesh and blood.”

Casey was one of the 240,000 US troops who had passed through Shannon, and his last letter home had described his experiences using euros and talking to locals in Ireland about his family name.

The family only received the letter with his personal effects after he died, his mother said.

“The people who work at Shannon, I wonder if they think: ‘Will these people come back through, or will they come home in boxes or will they walk off the plane or will they come back in a wheelchair,’” she said.

“Do they think about the innocent Iraqis who will be killed, who had no intention of harming the people of Ireland, or America or Great Britain.

“I’m here to request the people of Ireland to resist their government in any way they can in colluding and being accomplices in the war crimes my country is committing.”

Ms Sheehan said it was not up to her to tell Shannon workers what to do, but she hoped they would make a decision to oppose the war.

“It’s not right to feed your families off my son’s flesh and blood,” she said.

Ms Sheehan also said Ireland had every right to inspect the planes passing through Shannon to check if they were transporting suspects to Guantanamo or other prisons where they were might be at risk of torture, and believing US Government assurances on the issue was not enough.

“That’s not only letting humanity down, that’s letting your country down,” she said.

Ms Sheehan was in Ireland to talk at a meeting of the Irish Anti War Movement in Dublin, along with British mother Rose Gentle, whose son also died in Iraq, and Iraqi woman Tahrir Swift, a member of Arab Media Watch.

“The more people who join us, the more relevant that we can become. We’re all in this together,” Ms Sheehan said.