Protest fines contrast with welcome on the mat for the US war machine

I admire the courage of Deputies Clare Daly and Mick Wallace in taking a stand against the use of Shannon airport by military aircraft suspected of carrying munitions or playing a part in so-called "renditions".

The fines imposed on them by Ennis District Court for entering a security zone are in frightful contrast to the enormity of what is happening at Shannon airport and its implications for our fragile supposed neutrality.

One can argue over what constitutes a just war, but what is certain is that ill-advised American intervention in the Middle East in the past has contributed to the present nightmare scenario off the Libyan coast and in the Mediterranean where thousands of people have drowned in a desperate attempt to escape a plethora of war zones and oppressive regimes.

Throughout all the mayhem endangered by Western meddling, Shannon had a proverbial welcome on the mat for the US war machine.

When I saw those images of Clare and Mick exiting the courthouse on the RTÉ news I couldn’t help recalling a scene from the comedy film Airplane: A frail elderly lady approaching the check-in counter at an airport is suddenly set upon by a dozen security men who wrestle her to the floor and frisk her. Meanwhile, as she remonstrates with them, half a dozen powerfully built sinister looking fellows armed with machine guns and rocket launchers are casually waved through.

Justice is blind, the ancient axiom states. There are times, alas, when it is blind in only one eye.

John Fitzgerald

Callan

Co Kilkenny