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The documentary 'Why We Fight' is a thought provoking reminder of the violent nature of the world we live in. From the perspective of faith in Jesus Christ we know that violence is not part of the solution, it's part of the problem. However this excellent documentary illustrates very clearly how pervasive and powerful the 'business' of violence has become and the challenge this presents to those of us who would wish to witness against such violence.
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Bradley Manning is a 24 year old US soldier who is in detention in the US charged in connection 'with the leaking of a video of a helicopter attack in Iraq' by the US army. The video can be seen below and is quite graphic. A particularly shocking aspect of the incident was the shooting by the US helicopter of a van which came to assist the injured (the van appears at 6mins 26secs in the video). Two children were sitting in the front seat of the van. Although they were seriously injured they survived the attack. The whole incident is an example of the appalling lack of respect for human life which pertains in the Iraq conflict.
Bradley Manning is to be congratulated for his bravery in exposing this appalling illustration of how the destruction of human life has become so routine in Iraq. His efforts on behalf of innocent victims of violence should be applauded and his continued incarceration is a serious injustice against him and the memory of all those killed in this attack and indeed all such attacks in Iraq.
The central symbol of Christianity, the crucifixion, has endured down the centuries as an unambiguous reminder that Jesus Christ took his place firmly alongside all innocent victims of violence. In so doing he unearthed the deep seated structures of violence that remain rooted in human culture right up to our own day. The silence around these ongoing acts of violence in Iraq, as illustrated in this video, provides a telling comparison between the crucifixion 'outside the walls of Jerusalem' of the innocent Jesus with the ongoing slaughter of civilians which continues 'beyond the radar' of mainstream media today. Bradley Manning's exposure of this violent incident is firmly within the Christian tradition of uprooting such violence from human culture. He deserves our full support.{jcomments on}
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(See Article: Clare Champion)
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has defended the use of Shannon Airport by US troops in the wake of the Nice attack writes Irish Examiner political reporter Elaine Loughlin.
Mr Donohoe said that a careful response is needed to terrorism such as Thursday’s attack which killed 84 people in Nice.
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a lorry through crowds who had gathered Promenade des Anglais to celebrate Bastille before he was shot dead by polic
Mr Donohoe said The Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald met the Garda Commissioner on Friday and added that the Gardai are well prepared to tackle and prevent such attacks here.
“It’s so important now that the response back from all of us isn’t a cycle that can harden the worst impulses and lock us into a cycle where this happens again and again,” he told RTE’s The Week in Politics programme.
“The kind of terror that we are now facing is the everyday, the truck, the car, something that is part of our everyday life.”
However, AAA-PBP TD Clare Daly said the continued use of Shannon Airport by US troops means we are also a terrorism target.
“I do think our culpability by allowing US military on an almost twice daily basis to transit military hardware, it’s soldiers across the Middle East to wreck destruction in those areas, does make us complicit in those actions, does make us complicit in the destabilisation of the Middle East.
“And in that sense we would be a target as well,” she said.
But Mr Donohoe: “We have always been very clear and successful governments have been very clear on the importance of our neutrality and that that Shannon Airport and its use is not in any way incompatible with that.”
