There is a calculated obfuscation of the central issue to do with Ireland's facilitation of CIA rendition planes coming through Shannon. It is the assertion and reassertion that there is no evidence that kidnapped suspects are being transported through Shannon to or from centres of torture or illegal incarceration, writes Vincent Browne
Of course there is no such evidence because the Government studiously avoids coming by such evidence. To acquire such evidence one would have to know who was on the planes coming through Shannon and, since the Government refuses to have the planes inspected, there is no way of knowing, short of the Americans telling us themselves.
Yesterday's statement by Dermot Ahern about a US marine prisoner passing through Shannon will heighten concerns about how the US has been using the airport.
The Government says it relies on American assurances that the planes coming through Shannon are not engaged in the transportation of illegally apprehended suspects and being taken to centres of torture. But the Americans deny that anybody is illegally kidnapped - they believe they are legally entitled to kidnap suspects anywhere in the world. They also deny that any suspects are tortured. But practices such as waterboarding are torture.
Waterboarding is the practice of holding a person's head under water until such time as their lungs are about to explode.
So even if we believe American assurances, what good are they? According to them even if there are people on board flights going through Shannon who by the standards of the rest of the world have been illegally kidnapped, and even if these persons are being taken to centres where practices such as waterboarding are used regularly, according to them nothing untoward is happening.
But as far as the Government is concerned, we accept American assurances, even though we all know these assurances amount to nothing at all. But quite apart from that, there is a more central point.
It is true that as yet there is no evidence that any of the CIA planes going through Shannon have had terrorist suspects on board. But it has been established beyond question that Shannon has been one of the "stopover points" for flights on their way home from ventures that have involved the kidnapping of suspects and their transportation to centres where they have been tortured, or at least subjected to cruel and degrading treatment. The Marty report published last week makes this point.
Take, for instance, the case of Abu Omar, an Egyptian.
At midday on June 17th, 2003 Abu Omar was abducted in the middle of Milan. He was taken to a military airbase at Aviano in Italy and then to another airbase at Ramstein, Germany, and from there to Egypt, where he was tortured.
An Italian judicial investigation established the abduction was carried out by the CIA and proceedings have been issued against 25 American agents and arrest warrants have been issued for 22 of these. The plane involved in this criminal enterprise flew through Shannon on its way home to the US, following this abduction.
So what further "evidence" do we need? A plane involved in criminality stops off at Shannon for refuelling on its way home from its criminal enterprise. It is as though a car involved in the kidnappings was assisted on its way by an accessory. The very assistance itself is a crime.
The Irish authorities do not have to board the aircraft for "evidence" or "proof" - we already have all the evidence we need.
In the Dáil debate that is due to take place on Shannon, note the evasions and fudges and the now mantra-like repetition that the Americans have assured us nothing untoward is going on.
The reality is we are complicit in criminality and there is all the evidence we need to establish that.
Note also the evasions of the Opposition parties. Fine Gael is not a bit perturbed by this. Labour and the Greens are perturbed and it is their evasions and fudges that will be the most interesting. Of course, they will condemn what is happening, and of course they will demand to know what is going on, and of course they will want the CIA stopped from using Shannon for these purposes. But there will be a reserve in what they say. No promises that if elected to government they will ensure that Shannon will not be used for these purposes. Yes, they would like that, but a precondition for participation in government? No way. Principle goes only so far.
When pressed on the airwaves they will tell us they are not going to negotiate the terms for participation in government in public, although on a few other issues they will be prepared to be quite adamant on terms, like no new taxes.
A fundamental shift has occurred in Irish foreign policy in the last five years. Previously our position was we refused even overflight permissions to aircraft on military operations and exercises. Now we allow such aircraft to use our airports as well as our airspace.
But not only that, we now facilitate criminal enterprises as an accessory.