Irish Independent (McDowell's organ of choice) announces Censorship of "radicals"
national |
anti-war / imperialism |
other press 
Thursday November 17, 2005 05:43
by R. Isible
(c) Irish Independent Nov 17th 2005, Tom Brady (security editor who never got off his arse to investigate prisoners being "rendered" at Shannon)
Freedom of speech crackdown
THE law is to be changed to deter radicals making inflammatory remarks that could put Ireland's security at risk.
The planned move was disclosed yesterday by Defence Minister Willie O'Dea who said the Government could not guarantee that other threats would not be issued against Ireland by fundamentalists prepared to abuse the freedom of speech.
But it was proposed to toughen existing legislation to act as a deterrent against a repeat of the comments made by Islamic lawyer Anjem Choudary in Trinity College in Dublin last week.
Mr O'Dea said he had received huge public reaction against the remarks which suggested Ireland could be attacked by international terror groups because US war planes were allowed to refuel in Shannon.
Many
of the callers, he said, had been incensed and appalled by the threats contained in Mr Choudary's remarks.
Mr O'Dea discussed possible law changes after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Justice Minister Michael McDowell.
Watching a demonstration by the Army's elite unit, the Ranger Wing, at the Curragh yesterday, the minister said there were no plans to curb the freedom of speech.
"You can't have absolute freedom of speech", Mr O'Dea added.
"There has to be some balance and what we are trying to do now is to refine the legislation that is already there", he said. He told radicals like Mr Choudary that identifying Ireland as a target for a terror attack was "beyond the pale".
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4Mr O'Dea said he and many members of the public had been outraged at comments made by Mr Choudary while in Dublin last week to speak at a debate in Trinity College.
Mr Choudary said that allowing the use of Shannon by US troops was not a position of neutrality, and that Ireland would be seen as collaborating with the US. He said that things should change in Ireland, if it wanted to avoid the sort of attacks carried out in London and other places.
Mr O'Dea said the existing legislation could be "calibrated or refined" to deal with issues such as Mr Choudary's remarks He said he did not believe that any such amended legislation would infringe on freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech had to be balanced by security considerations. Mr O'Dea said US forces had been using Shannon for over 50 years and that there had been no change in policy in this regard. He also stressed that Ireland was not part of any military alliance.
"How dare anybody come here to stir up these groups to do something like what happened in Madrid", he said.
The Minister made his comments in the Curragh Camp at a demonstration of hostage rescue and anti-terrorist capabilities by the Army Rangers Wing.
"The use of Shannon Airport as a stopover for US military is to be phased out by April 2008, it was revealed last night.
The Republic's Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, signed an agreement yesterday with his US counterpart, Norman Mineta, in New York. "
In a report that confuses a couple of stories together, the same paper carries a report about Al qaida bomb threats by Tom Brady etc the day before ?? http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=668866
I mailed them yesterday to correct the story but it hasn't changed so Im estatic and I've emailed comrade Berite to thank him for being so anti-war and stopping military manouvers via Shannon.
Willie O'Dea, and the band of lawless thugs he is a part of, is a far greater threat to Ireland than Mr. Choudary. If Syria, Iran, or whatever country is next on the list, does decide to preempt a Western attack, Shannon Warport is a most obvious target.
The general feeling among judges who've spoken about ploughshares actions at the airport since 2002 is that far greater damage must be done if the military traffic through Ireland is to be really halted. That such action would greatly increase the risk of hurting or killing people in the process is obvious.
Non-state actors, either acting indirectly in the service of those states, or out of a perceived duty to God, to humanity, or whatever, might aim for Dublin instead. That's where the decision was made to depart from Ireland's tradition of neutrality, and to flagrantly defy the UN Charter on March 20, 2003, when it was voted by Dail Eireann to support the band of international terrorists waging war on Iraq.
If there were any justice, then the FF and PD politicians who voted to support the Iraq war in the greatest way militarily and politically that Ireland could -- every one of them there voted Yes, none so much as abstained -- would be working the night shift at Shannon Warport when the first retaliation from the Middle East hits. I pray that it'll never happen, and that we can change so that there could never be any reason or likelihood for it to happen.
They've taken silly story down now, God knows what took them so long.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=669045
Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.