US embassy cable - 05DUBLIN1398

UNCLAS DUBLIN 001398 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, MOPS, EI, FAB5 
SUBJECT: FAB FIVE TRIAL RESET; SEVERAL PARLIAMENTARIANS 
ENDORSE FURTHER ATTACKS ON U.S. AIRCRAFT 
 
REF: DUBLIN 1372 
 
1.  (U) On November 11, Judge Desmond Hogan reset the trial 
of five anti-Iraq war protestors accused of damaging a U.S. 
plane at Shannon Airport (the so-called "Fab Five") for July 
5, 2006, at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.  Hogan stepped 
in for Judge Donagh McDonagh, who recused himself from the 
proceedings on November 7 after defense lawyers argued that 
he would risk perceptions of bias for having attended a 
mid-1990s Texas conference addressed by then-Governor Bush as 
well as President Bush's inauguration in 2000 (ref A).  (The 
trial had collapsed the first time in March of this year when 
Judge Frank O'Donnell withdrew the case from the jury without 
explanation.)  In setting the new date for the trial, Judge 
Hogan cited statements by the defense lawyers that the 
proceedings would take ten working days. 
 
2.  (U) On November 10, several opposition members of the 
Irish Parliament had jointly called for charges to be dropped 
against the Fab Five, with several members expressing support 
for further attacks on U.S. military aircraft.  Sinn Fein MP 
Aengus O'Snodaigh said he would fully endorse such actions 
"if they were to occur tomorrow," and Independent Senator 
David Norris said that further attacks would not "grieve him 
at all."  Norris elaborated that the Irish Government 
appeared to consider "a dent in a death machine" as more 
significant than the "slaughter of innocents."  Independent 
MPs Tony Gregory and Finian McGrath argued that additional 
attacks would be as acceptable as the previous one, though it 
would be preferable for protestors to chain themselves to 
U.S. aircraft.  Green Party MP John Gormley and Labor Party 
MP Joe Costello added that the possibility of future 
imprisonment for the Fab Five was a "disgraceful 
criminalization of peaceful dissent." 
 
3.  (SBU) Comment: Post intends to protest to the political 
parties and individual parliamentarians involved in voicing 
support for further violence against U.S. military aircraft. 
We will also convey concerns to the GOI.  Septel will report 
mounting domestic pressure on the GOI to randomly inspect 
U.S. military flights in response to rumors that USG aircraft 
transiting Ireland occasionally carry terrorism suspects to 
Guantanamo and rendition program sites.  In calling for 
charges against the Fab Five to be dropped, several of the 
parliamentarians listed above cited these rumors as well as 
continuing high numbers of U.S. troop transits through 
Shannon. 
KENNY