July 05, 2004
Louder than bombs
The newly formed Galway County Council did some soul-searching before approving a grant for the Salthill Airshow. According to the Galway Advertiser, a number of councillors were opposed to support for the show (15,000 euro), and presumably the show itself. Councillor Billy Cameron was quoted as saying that
we don’t want US war machines flying over Galway Bay.
Indeed, though these are also the war machines that enforced the no-fly zone in Iraq for a decade that protected the Kurds from being massacred. Funny – nobody complains about the German airforce sending planes over to the show, even though the Luftwaffe are the only airforce that actually bombed Ireland.
For all the chatter during the week that followed George Bush’s visit to Ireland, one of the two items on the Irish agenda got very little press. The Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the president Mrs. McAleese all lectured Dubya on their displeasure on the goings-on in Iraq – fair enough. But I wonder did any of them even blush a little when they brought up the other issue – the plight of illegal economic Irish immigrants to the US. Since 9/11, it’s become much harder for them to evade detection and deportation. Bush’s answer didn’t seem to get reported anywhere – maybe it was his turn to do a little lecturing and ask a simple question – why not treat Irish immigrants the same way Ireland treats its own immigrants – even the ones born there. There’s a slippery slope all around the high moral ground…
Posted by Monasette at July 5, 2004 12:56 AM