News Release

Bush and Blair in Belfast

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SIMONA SHARONI
Sharoni has specialized in Northern Ireland as well as the Middle East and can compare and analyze the two. She is a professor of peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics at Evergreen State College and executive director of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development.

MAIREAD CORRIGAN McGUIRE
A Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her work in Northern Ireland and co-founder of the Peace People, Mairead Corrigan McGuire has been on a liquid fast since the invasion of Iraq began. She is holding a silent vigil in front of the White House every day from noon to 2 p.m. She said today: “The visit by Bush to meet with Blair and their talking about the Northern Ireland peace process are hypocritical. Bush and Blair have started an illegal and immoral invasion and occupation over the Iraqi people.”
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MARY KELLY
A participant in the Shannon Peace Camp, Kelly has become well known in Ireland for allegedly taking a hatchet to a U.S. Navy cargo plane at Shannon Airport, causing substantial damage. Charges against her are pending. She said today: “Under our constitution, we’re not supposed to have uniformed armed forces in Ireland.” Kelly also cited the Nuremberg Tribunal, which declared: “Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore [individuals] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”
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DAVY CARLIN
Carlin is a representative from the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, the largest trade union in Northern Ireland, to the Stop the War Coalition of Northern Ireland. He said today: “Given that we’re trying to end 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, it’s really ironic that there’s a war summit in Belfast. Many of those politicians here who say they are anti-war will meet with Bush, and many in the community are appalled by this. Meeting with Bush puts Sinn Fein in a dilemma. Bush is trying to manipulate the Irish-American community by portraying himself to them as a man of peace. Words like imperialism, which once seemed out of fashion, now describe too many U.S. policies in the Mideast.”

EAMONN McCANN
Author of the books War and Peace in Northern Ireland and Bloody Sunday in Derry, McCann said today: “Now, every day is Bloody Sunday in Iraq.” McCann noted that the captain of the regiment that carried out the killings on Bloody Sunday (January 30, 1972), Mike Jackson, is now Chief of General Staff of the British Army. Today Jackson testified at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and is on his way back to Iraq.

BERNADETTE DEVLIN McALISKEY
A former member of the British parliament, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey has urged a boycott of U.S. brands. Earlier this spring she was denied entry into the United States.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020