Ireland was spared a major humiliation three years ago by fortune, writes Vincent Browne
We had been on the UN Security Council until the end of 2002 and then, as luck would have it, our tenure there expired. We were spared the excruciation of what has been called the "global crisis" of February 2003. This was when the United States was threatening, bribing and cajoling the nations on the Security Council to vote for a resolution specifically authorising the invasion of Iraq.
Canada and Mexico, America's nearest two neighbours, were on the council. Both resisted American pressure and intimidation. Chile was also on the council at the time. It, too, resisted, in the face of threats of economic retaliation.
Turkey was in the greatest difficulty. It was/is a member of Nato - its ruling elite owes its position to American support. America wanted access to Turkish territory to enable it to invade Iraq from the northwest. The Turkish government caved in; the Turkish parliament held firm and refused.
We all know now what Ireland would have done had it been on the Security Council at the time. Remember there was no plausible case for war or invasion then. This is stated not just in hindsight, for the two heads of the weapons inspection teams, ElBaradei and Hans Blix, were asking for more time, and indicating there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - the pretext for going to war.
Neither of the weapons inspectors indicated any belief in the claim made by Tony Blair that Iraq had a capacity to launch a sudden pre-emptive strike. All the indications were that Iraq had been weakened to the point of exhaustion by over 10 years of sanctions and, as a consequence, posed no threat to anybody.
We all know Ireland would have caved in, would have gone along with its "close ally" and voted for an invasion in the teeth of an absence of any plausible rationale.
If you don't believe that, just look at what has happened since. In November 2002, when resolution 1441 was going through the Security Council, Ireland's representative on the council, Richard Ryan, stated that in Ireland's view resolution 1441 gave no authorisation for "further action" that would necessitate a further resolution.
But in the absence of such a further resolution, Ireland gave aid and facilitation to the invasion of Iraq through the Shannon stopover and did so on the basis of a lie. The lie being that it had always been Irish policy to facilitate such military involvements, when the exact opposite was the case.
When clearcut evidence emerged that Shannon was being used by CIA aircraft, which were involved in the criminal abduction of terror suspects and their transportation to centres where there was evidence that detainees were being subjected to torture, Ireland did not want to know.
Dermot Ahern went to Washington and had the temerity to raise this matter with Condoleezza Rice and was assured, according to himself, that nothing "untoward" was going on. It is obvious he did not put to Ms Rice the clear evidence that planes used for criminal abductions had gone through Shannon. He did not ask about the illegal abductions that were going on. He did not ask about reports of torture centres.
Ireland doesn't "do" inquiries of our "closest ally" apparently; it is content with "categorical" assurances simply that nothing "untoward" has been going on.
It's a little trickier now in the wake of the report of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly rapporteur, Dick Marty, on these criminal kidnappings. And this has been made all the trickier by the statement of the EU Commission vice-president, Franco Frattini.
Embarrassingly, Mr Frattini drew attention to that part of Dick Marty's report which stated: "it is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware [of the criminal abductions]."
Mr Marty said in his report that legal proceedings were in progress in certain countries which seemed to indicate that individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards. He said, in contrast to Dermot Ahern, it had to be noted that the allegations had never been formally denied by the United States.
Mr Marty "deplored" the failure of Condoleezza Rice to offer information or explanations for what was going on in her recent visit to Europe. He urged members of the Council of Europe, including Ireland, to commit themselves to establishing the truth about flights over their territories in recent years by aircraft carrying individuals arrested and detained without any judicial involvement.
Meanwhile, the Oireachtas has played dead on the issue, as have the mainstream media. Yes, there is to be an inquiry by the Seanad, but don't hold your breath.
A sea change has occurred in Irish foreign policy over the last few years. There is no longer even a semblance of independence. We are part of the coalition-of-the-willing, without a debate or sanction or acknowledgment. None of the Opposition parties thinks there is anything odd about this and none is committed to undoing any of what has been done. Pat Rabbitte did say at one stage that Labour would insist on stopping the US stopovers at Shannon . . . but watch that assurance melt away as well.