Tag Archives: US military

Just Passing Through

Bodger at 10:13 am January 27, 2020

Great seeing US Troops from Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York during our stop in Ireland today! Proud of you and grateful for your service! God Bless Our Troops! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/t33rIXNFco

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) January 25, 2020

On Saturday.

Vice-president of the US Mike Pence, on his way to the US, posed for photographs with US soldiers at Shannon Airport where they made a refuelling stop before their onward journey to Iraq.

Meanwhile…

In Baghdad, Iraq last Friday…

The New York Times reported…

Throngs of Iraqis gathered on the streets of the capital, Baghdad, on Friday to protest the United States military presence at the behest of a leading populist cleric and armed forces with ties to Iran.

The demonstration came three weeks after the United States launched a drone strike in capital that killed the Iranian commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and a prominent member of the Iraqi government, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, with close ties to the Popular Mobilization Forces, some of whom are close to Iran.

Days later, at the urging of the Iraqi prime minister, the Parliament endorsed a measure demanding the expulsion of foreign forces from Iraq, which in the minds of most Iraqis meant American troops.

The protest on Friday was the first designed specifically to denounce the American presence in Iraq since the parliamentary measure.

Protesters Mass in Baghdad, Demanding U.S. Leave Iraq (New York Times)

Tens of Thousands of Iraqis mass in Baghdad to Demand Expulsion of US Troops, Hang Trump in Effigy (Juan Cole, Informed Comment)

Rockets ‘hit US embassy’ in Iraq capital amid anti-gov’t protests (Aljazeera)

“Culpable Or Complicit”

Bodger at 10:52 am January 6, 2020

US military planes at Shannon Airport

Further to the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani by a US drone at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, last Friday…

This morning on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke, presented by Cormac Ó hEadhra, Dublin MEP Clare Daly referred to the killing as a “catastrophic breach of all norms and the crossing of a red line”.

She went on to say Ireland is “culpable or complicit” when it comes to the actions of the US military, given its use of Shannon Airport.

Ms Daly added diplomatic assurances that there are no weapons onboard the planes are not good enough and that is why she and and fellow MEP Mick Wallace attempted to search a US military plane for weapons in Shannon Airport in 2014, They were subsequently arrested.

She said:

“We know from Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers, the US Army veterans who were in Ireland for most of last year, that they transited when they were in the US Army through Shannon and that they had weaponry on them.

“So there’s no doubt about it. Why else would they be passing through to the Middle East? Thousands of troops are not going on their holidays.

“Clearly they’re engaged in military action and the monitoring of that aircraft by local groups on the ground, Shannonwatch, Shannon Radar, would vindicate that…”

She also said that she believed Tánaiste Simon Coveney should strongly condemn the “unlawful, illegal action of the United States government”.

She added:

“I think, in response he [Coveney] should say that all permission of the US military, to transit through Shannon [Airport] is being halted until the matter is investigated further.”

Meanwhile…

On Thursday, at 7pm, outside the US embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance will hold a protest against a war on Iran.

They write:

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance along with a broad alliance of people from human rights to climate change activists and anti-war groups is calling for your support for this vigil outside the US Embassy in Dublin this Thursday.

Listen back in full here

“I’ll See What I Can Do”

Cleared For Takeoff

Bodger at 12:18 pm March 13, 2019

From top: Belfast International Airport( Aldergrove), Shannon, Co Clare; a fleet of Hercules C-130s at Shannon

How much are we a hub for chaos in the Middle East?

Dan Dowling archived flight paths of US military aircraft, and planes on contract to the military, landing on the island of Ireland from February 28 to March 6.

Dan writes:

At Shannon, the majority of planes landing are Omni Air International Boeing 767s and 777s on contract to the US military.

Between February 28 and March 7, a Boeing US Navy C-40 and a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III also landed at Shannon.

A Boeing 777 can carry 380 soldiers.

A Boeing 767 can carry 240 soldiers.

A US Navy C-40 cargo plane is the military version of a Boeing 737 with a capacity for 70 soldiers and cargo.

At Aldergrove [Belfast International Airport] fleets of Hercules C-130s were recorded landing.

The Hercules C-130 looks very similar to the AC-130 which is featured in a psychotic tweet by the US Department of Defence.

The C-130 is an old and accident prone aircraft. These planes should only land at military airports which have blast walls and other military infrastructure and not close to or at civilian airports.

Tracking a plane is only possible over land. The reason planes travelling to and from the USA are not recorded over the Atlantic is they have flown beyond the reach of transponders.

The reason military planes are not recorded over the Mediterranean East of Crete is these planes turn off transponders so as to not yield their position.

It is unclear why a plane would refuel in Ireland as kerosene is cheaper in Kuwait.

The cargo manifest of planes is also not easy to establish.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, March 2, Deir Ez Zor Syria was reportedly bombed with white phosphorus.

February 28

(flight details in hyperlinks)

AE11FA US Navy Boeing C-40

Middle East to Shannon

3B76AE French Air Force Airbus (Diplomatic)

Paris to Shannon to Prestwick

43C147 United Kingdom BAE146 (Diplomatic)

Denham to Dublin to Northolt

AE010D United States Gulfstream Jet (Diplomatic)

Washington to Belfast

N225AX Omni Air International Boeing 767 (Troop carrier on Contract to US military)

Colorado Springs Municipal to Shannon

Omni Air International Boeing 767 (Troop carrier on Contract to US military)

Shannon to Kuwait

Omni Air International Boeing 767 (Troop carrier on contract to US military)

Shannon to Naval Air Station North Island San Diego California

Omni Air International Boeing 767 (Troop carrier on contract to US military)

Shannon to Kuwait

Omni Air International Boeing 777 (Troop carrier on Contract to US military)

Shannon to Campbell Army Air Field, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

AE1440 Hercules C-130j

Belfast to Naples

AE1162 Hercules C-130J

Belfast to Naples

Hercules C-130J

Belfast to Athens

Hercules C-130J

Belfast to Athens

March 1

United States Gulfstream Jet (Diplomatic)

Belfast to Washington

USAF C-146A (rapid, intra-theater mobility for special operations forces )

Reykjavík to Shannon

Omni Air International Boeing 767 (Troop carrier on contract to US military)

Shannon to Fort Hood Killeen Texas USA

Omni Air International Boeing 767 (Troop carrier on contract to US military)

Shannon to Sal Cape Verde

via/via