Highway to Gitmo

Sunday's Washington Post reports that the CIA is secretly removing detainees from Iraq to other countries for interrogation. This practice probably breaks the Geneva convention. It is rationalised by a supporting memo from the US Justice Department, which in the past has produced memos justifying torture. While some of the other memos have been dismissed as some overeager lawyers just thinking outside the box about stuff that is never actually applied, in this case:

One intelligence official familiar with the operation said the CIA has used the March draft memo as legal support for secretly transporting as many as a dozen detainees out of Iraq in the last six months. The agency has concealed the detainees from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other authorities, the official said.

It's not known where the detainees are being taken. One possibility is that torture is being outsourced -- they are being sent to a third country where those pesky human rights don't get much attention. But another is that they are moved to Guantanamo Bay. If so, the flights from Baghdad to Cuba would, like many military flights, likely stop at Shannon. One wonders what steps the Irish government is taking with regard to ensuring it is not a party to violating the Geneva Convention with respect to these specific detainees. Or does the Irish Department of Justice accept memos from their US counterparts as settling the question?

UPDATE (Oct 26): This article from Tuesday's New York Times confirms that it is now Bush Administration policy that the Geneva conventions do not apply to non-Iraqis detained in Iraq on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. The spirit of the new policy is best captured by this quote

a Justice Department official said separately, "No matter what the provision is in the Geneva Convention, they are subject to legal interpretation."

So the question remains for the Irish government: if these detainees are passing through Shannon on the way to Gitmo, what is the Irish position on whether the conventions apply?

FURTHER UPDATE (Jan 2nd 2005): Here's an article from the Sunday Independent (reg. req'd) that details the specific grounds for believing Shannon to be implicated in the Gitmo abuses:

If you're passing through Shannon airport, keep an eye out for a Gulfstream 5 jet. You might just run into N8068V, or whatever it's calling itself these days, and thereby get a glimpse of one of the less savoury elements of Irish foreign policy.