According to the Guardian, the Irish government has announced that random inspections may be carried out on US aircraft. It stung the national sensibilities of my nominally neutral homeland to be accused of colluding with the US in the recent Council of Europe Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights draft report on its investigations of US extraordinary rendition (transport of suspects to torture centres) flights in Europe. After cleaners found a US marine in manacles on a US military charter flight at Shannon airport, a prisoner the government hadn't been notified of, the government will no doubt have felt they had no option but to make some kind of tough announcement about what they were going to do about it.
"Random inspections may be carried out on US aircraft, the Irish government has warned, after a handcuffed and manacled marine was discovered by cleaners on board a military charter flight at Shannon airport.
The transfer of the prisoner - deemed illegal because permission had not been sought in advance from Ireland's justice department - has aggravated the political row over CIA renditions of terrorist suspects through European airspace.
The US ambassador, James Kenny, was summoned to the Irish foreign affairs department to explain the failure to comply with regulations required under international law. He has been asked to produce a report on the incident...
The US ambassador insisted that there had been no intention to break the law. "Unfortunately permission from the Irish government was not sought for the transit of this person," he told Irish papers. "We regret this incident and are reviewing procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."
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