Quote:
Ahern is accused of being Bush's puppet
Taoiseach 'shining the shoes' of US President, says leading academic
Brian Dowling
and Lorna Reid
THE Government reacted angrily last night after a leading US academic compared Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to a "shoe-shine boy" for President George Bush.
In a scathing attack on the Government's foreign policy, the influential anti-war academic Noam Chomsky accused Mr Ahern of "shining the shoes" of the US President by allowing US warplanes to use Shannon airport.
Speaking in advance of a lecture in Trinity College, Dublin next month, Professor Chomsky depicted the Government as little more than grovelling to US demands.
The 77-year-old - who is the eighth most quoted author in the world - asked whether Mr Ahern was following the will of the Irish people or following orders from Washington.
A long-time critic of US foreign policy, Professor Chomsky said the Taoiseach's actions in allowing Shannon to be used for the refuelling of US military aircraft could only be justified "if the goal of the Irish Government was to be the obedient servant of the global superpower". "This tells you that western politicians despise democracy and prefer to shine the shoes of the power," he said.
But a spokesman for the Government said the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern categorically rejected the allegations made by Professor Chomsky.
"They are satisfied that Ireland's position regarding the use of Shannon is fully compliant with domestic requirements and our international obligations.
"Arrangements for overflight and landing in Ireland of US military and civilian aircraft have been in place under successive governments for almost 50 years."
The spokesman said the Government's position had been approved by the Dail on March 20, 2003 and was wholly in accordance with US Security Council resolutions on the situation in Iraq, including that of November 8, 2005.
The broadside from Professor Chomsky came ahead of his visit to Ireland where he will deliver the Amnesty International annual lecture at Trinity College on January 18.
The controversial academic, who has been aligned to left wing politics for over 60 years, has been dubbed "the Elvis of Academia" by U2 lead singer Bono.
A spokesman for Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte reiterated the party's opposition to the decision to allow US warplanes to refuel at Shannon.
"We have consistently opposed the use of Shannon for US military flights and its use for CIA flights too," the spokesman said.
The party's foreign affairs spokesman and veteran international campaigner, Michael D Higgins, said Professor Chomsky's remarks only served to prove that the Taoiseach had "danced around the media" on the whole issue of the use of Shannon.
"The Taoiseach has accepted the simple assurances from diplomats about rendition, but the argument is, if we have friendly relations with the US then what has America got to fear from inspections of their aircraft, if they are telling the truth," Mr Higgins said.
Last week the Irish Human Rights Commission said the Government must inspect US planes landing at Shannon to ensure terror suspects were not being transported to alleged torture camps elsewhere.
And here's FF HQ's, I mean the editorial response... (again from unison.ie)
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ONE does not usually pay too much attention to the views of Prof. Noam Chomsky. But the issue of Iraq deserves to be debated.
Not because the veteran American anti-war campaigner is always wrong, but because his views are so predictable that they are bound to be wrong a lot of the time, and can be guessed in advance anyway.
Leaving aside the typical Chomsky insulting language towards the Taoiseach, on the question of Irish government policy towards US military flights, the professor is wrong once again.
Even so, there are problems, especially over CIA covert flights, which the Taoiseach and the Government must address more openly.
The professor and his many Irish supporters are wrong in saying that Ireland should ban all US military landings at Shannon - or even those taking troops to and from Iraq.
To do so would be to say that we are completely opposed to US operations in Iraq and will do our best to hamper those operations - in this case by halting a facility which has been available for decades.
Such total opposition to the presence of American, British, Polish and other troops in Iraq is not the policy of the Irish Government.
Nor should it be.
For a start, the Government has a duty to weigh the implications of what would be a blatantly hostile act against the USA.
Ministers do not have the luxury of those armchair diplomats and generals who shout for such actions from the sidelines and do not have to worry about the consequences.
But there is a more principled reason as well.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Iraq invasion may have been, it would be an even bigger catastrophe for the people of Iraq if the Americans were to cut and run now.
The duty of other governments is not to give them excuses to do so, but to encourage better US policies to build a stable Iraq where the sort of horrors uncovered yesterday no longer occur.
The allegations that Shannon may be hosting flights which bring suspects for abusive interrogation, even torture, are another matter.
All EU governments must tell the US - preferably through the EU - that they will not tolerate such practices, intend finding out if they are taking place, and putting a stop to them on their territories if they are.Keep 'Anvil' striking
