In addition to the many hundreds of thousands of US troops that have transited through Shannon in the last three years, many of the leading players in the drama that is contemporary US foreign policy on the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan have passed through the Co Clare airport.
A cursory look at the visitors' book for the VIP presidential lounge in Shannon reads like a dramatis personae of the Bush administration's current "international war on terrorism".
In July, Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi signed the visitors' book on his way to meet President Bush in the United States. On September 13th, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani passed through Shannon, also on his way to the US. On Ireland, he writes in Arabic, "As I look at this beautiful green country on this perfect summer's day, I think of the suffering of the Irish people - a people that have suffered as the Iraqi people have. I pray that one day, the Iraqi people will enjoy the peace and prosperity that have so recently come to the Irish people."
On September 17th, Afghan president Hamid Karzai stopped over in Shannon en route to Washington. He writes in the visitors' book, "This is my second stop at Shannon Airport. On both occasions I found Ireland very beautiful and green. airport hospitality was great! See you on my road trip."
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, signed the Shannon visitors' book in September also. In addition to these leaders of nation states at the fulcrum of international affairs were the political architects and military planners of current US foreign policy.
The high-ranking military visits began in earnest in January 2003, two months prior to the invasion of Iraq. On January 7th, a senior US staff officer from the US military's Central Command (Centcom) responsible for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, notes in the visitors' book, "A wonderful FIRST. Thank you." Other regular high-ranking military visitors who have frequented Shannon since the invasion of Iraq have included Lieut Gen John Abizaid, head of the United States Central Command, and his staff, along with, more recently, Lieut Gen John Saller, commanding general of the US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to Iraq.
In recent weeks, the Iraq Study Group has sipped Irish coffees and Guinness at Shannon on its way to and from Iraq. A lonely figure to have transited through Shannon in recent times is former secretary for defence Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld - unlike Condoleeza Rice, who apparently prefers to wait out the Shannon stopover in her US government jet - is noted by airport staff to be a fan of Irish coffees in the Sheridan Bar.