The Murray Air revalation that seems to have gone un-noticed

It seems to taken for granted that US planes land at Shannon with armaments but if you go out there I doubt if you'll see them parked at the Terminal buildings next to the passenger jets. Not excusing their presence for a moment however to keep things in context re safety it's more likely they're the ones parked some 800m away between the Main Runway and Access runway. I've seen USAF Transporters in that area of the Airport at times. Even in the event of a crash landing it's doubtful that an entire cargo would be activated to explode - these armaments need to be charged first so they're not carried as live ammo. Also as both extremes of the runway are far away from the Terminal, any crash would hardly cause the reinforced glass to shear. afaik airports install extra thick glazing to lessen impact of engine noise anyway, of the shatter type that breaks into beads upon impact. In the event of any plane actually crashing into the building, well then glass is the least of your problems, and it's a little alarmist to imagine an American Air Force packed with explosives doing a BinLaden job on Shannon, but I'm sure there are other contenders for the job.

Concerned: It strikes me as a bit rich when Gerry Adams and his supporters rattle on about Irish neutrality. ffs if they ruled the roost they'd have had us at war with Britain (and NATO by extension) years ago. The only airfield we'd have been left with would have been Coonagh's grass strip. Wouldn't have to worry about the glass in Shannon then.

And a lot of the lads in the GPO (and Bolands Mills, etc. too) went on to take the highest public offices in the "freestate" and were more than happy to swap one master for another - in that case The Church - for long enough.

i would say it would not survive a low flying kite
there we go we get jobs we lose our Neutrality sold to the highest bidder
but don't worry people look at how great we are doing if the lads in the gpo could see everything that the freestate goverment have done untill now the would have gone home or went looking for jobs abroad. we have swoped one
master for an other, sold our souls Looked the other way when we have seen what we did not like, covered our ears when we heard something we did not want to hear,and refused to speak out when we needed to.we are my friends
a beaten people treated like the three stooges how long must we take this
we are a three tiered class society .

That of course should say jet.

Mickeys Mickey,

I dare say the terminal building would survive a crash from a civilian passenger get either.

The terminalbuildings are not designed to take a blast if on of the explosive laden plans crashed.

come on people, get with the winning team, its not about right r wrong, lets just help uncle sam stick it to those A-rabs, its a war..of some kind, actually im not really sure that its technically a war but so what. We cant go against these guys, theyd just walk all over us…

Shannon was certainly designed with a military purpose in mind, never fool yourself on that one. Remember that Charles Lindburgh picked the site - a USAF officer as well as renowned flyer. The Americans had very few re-fuelling stops on the edge of Europe, particularly at the onset of the Cold War - subsequent forays into the Mideast now put it a the halfway point for air movements. To this day NASA designate it as an airport capable of an emergency Space Shuttle landing.

If an impoverished Irish government in 1944 had such faith in Shannon/Rineanna that they would build such an impressive runway system would it not have been prudent at the time or soon after to connect it to the rest of the country by modern road and rail network?. Yet up to the early seventies the road to Shannon still resembled a country road and even included that humpback bridge at Durty Nellie's which has been mercifully bypassed twice since!

If Shannon were ever threatened with closure as a civil airport (Dermot Mannion is not alone in wishing for that) the USAF would be in with a bid.

Mickey's Mickey,

Shannon doesn't have the longest runway in Ireland for no reason. Considering it was constructed while the world was at war, it's no surprise it is capable of taking large heavy military aircraft that need long runways.

No we should not be surprised but outraged. Shannon is a civilin airport and is not designed for military use.

We should be surprised? If half the American Army in Iraq is transporting via Shannon it defies logic that some armaments aren't passing through. Do we think Bertie gets to address the Joint Houses or that Intel and other US companies continue to invest in such a high-wage economy without some comeback?

Watched a film last night on More4 about how the likes of Rumsfeld, Cheaney, Condi and the Village Idiot conspired to turn Iraq into a backwater, ignoring advice left right and centre about how to re-instate order. Chilling what these people are capable of.

So what. Explosives are transported all the time, every day, all over the world.

You see, TV and newspapers are more concerned with Bertie and his bank account than they are by this.....Neutrality my hole!