Staff members back UCG student protest

WE the undersigned staff at NUI Galway wish to express our support for the students who have written a public letter in opposition to the recent visit of the US ambassador to the university.

Ambassador Thomas C Foley was invited by the student Law Society. In a previous post, he was sent as a representative of President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney to implement privatisation in Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority.

This makes him an accessory to the occupation of Iraq and so he shares the responsibility for the theft of oil and other Iraqi resources for the profit of private companies.

He has assisted in a war in which it is now estimated that more than one million Iraqis have been killed, the majority women and children. Many more have died as a result of the occupation from food shortages, pollution from uranium and other toxic weapons, lack of clean drinking water and medicines.

The culture, heritage and environment of Iraq have been devastated. Many have also been raped and tortured by US forces while others have fallen victim to the US rendition policy in which Shannon airport plays a role.

The ambassador has spoken of how Ireland and the US share the same foreign policy goals. What are these goals? Bombing people into democracy? Forced privatisation? The imposition of market values in our universities?

We always welcome students from the US. But we are shocked that the student Law Society would invite Ambassador Foley, as we were when they invited the Israeli ambassador last year, and we are glad to add our names in support of those students who have opposed the ambassador’s visit.

Maggie Ronayne Tadhg Foley Sinead Ní Fhaoláin Kieran O’Conor John Waddell

NUI Galway