Police state

In Sandino’s in Derry last August 2, a public meeting called by the local Anti-War Coalition heard Joshua Casteel, a former US Army interrogator at Abu Ghraib, and Iraqi lawyer Hani Lazim outline their views on the Iraq war.

The news from Lebanon lay heavily on the minds of the 70-strong audience. Every day brought reports of Israeli attacks, allegedly on Hizbollah positions but, as was clear from the news footage, bringing death and agony to terrified civilians. Rocket attacks by Hizbollah on Israel were also killing civilians, if on a significantly smaller scale.
Some incidents stood out. Ten days before the meeting, two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances had been targeted by the Israeli air-force near the village of Qana in the south of the country. By astonishing luck, there were no fatalities; five medics were seriously wounded. The United Nations expressed “shock” but not condemnation
Two days later, Israeli forces attacked a UN observation post in Khiam Village. An Austrian, a Canadian, a Chinese and a Finn were left dead. UN headquarters in New York issued a statement expressing “distress”. But, again, no condemnation.
On July 30, three days before the Derry meeting, Israel returned to Qana. A precision-guided “bunker-buster” smashed through an apartment building and exploded, killing more than 50 people, a majority of them children, who had huddled in the basement for safety.
By the night of the meeting, the scale of the slaughter and the fact that the victims had not been combatants but unarmed civilians of all ages was apparent. Pictures of the bodies of babies being brought out from the rubble in dripping bundles had led the television news.
Discussion after Joshua and Hani had spoken centred on the possible involvement of Raytheon. I made the point that Raytheon was the biggest manufacturer of Guided Bomb Units in the world, and had close commercial and ideological relations with the Israeli Defence Forces: there was at least a possibility that the company had supplied the munitions for the slaughter at Qana.
Even without evidence of direct involvement in this particular atrocity, there was no doubting the company’s general complicity in Israeli aggression and in the supply of the category of bomb used in Qana. By the end of a meeting, the question was not whether we should take action to highlight Raytheon’s role, but what action should be taken. The meeting voted to picket the Raytheon plant on August 9 and, if possible, to occupy and try to “decommission” the premises. In the event, nine of us managed to gain entry. Computers and papers were hurled from the windows. The mainframe was disabled.
After eight hours, men from the PSNI broke down the doors, which we had barricaded, and arrested the nine of us. We were charged under emergency (“terrorist”) legislation and remanded to Maghaberry Prison. The High Court released us on bail two days later.
Last month came evidence that Raytheon product had indeed been used in the Qana killings. The evidence can be viewed at www.tyros.leb.net/qana2, which displays a close-up photograph of the fuselage of a bomb retrieved from the Qana carnage. The markings identify a Raytheon bomb – MK-84 guided bomb unit BSU-37/B.
We expect to be given a date for the Preliminary Examination of the case on April 5. We may then also discover whether the State intends to grant a trial before a jury or refers the case for hearing under “terrorist” legislation in a no-jury tribunal.
Meanwhile, the Irish Anti War Movement has launched a campaign for the charges to be dropped.