Pitstop Plowshares Granted a Mistrial 
March 2005

Brian Buckley-Catholic Worker on the scene in Ireland

     On Day Six of the Pitstop Ploughshares trial, the group of 80 Irish and foreign supporters gathered again at The Spire in the city center, known to locals as the The Stiffy in the (River) Liffy, for the hour vigil and then processed behind the Japanese monks to the courthouse. Testimony from Shannon Airport security officers, a US Navy Commander, one defendent, and much fluffy legalese was heard in Week One. The wigged barristers invited testimony that justified destruction of property "when it prevented loss of life and further destruction of property." The circumstances in Iraq that led the defendents to hammer on and subsequently disarm the US Navy plane was reluctantly permitted. Ciaron O'Reilly spent four hours on the stand where he built his case on his formation as a Christian pacifist and the genocide of Iraq. He was working in Dublin with the homeless and heroine addicts* when he realized that the civilian airport in Shannon was openly being used as a refueling station for the US military campaign against Iraq. Ireland's complicity in the invasion of Iraq violates international law and its own constitution that claims "neutrality in war among nations." Ciaron was handed the pickaxe that he used and registered the significance of the agricultural tool as an agent in the process of beating swords into ploughshares. The judge repeatedly objected to references to the bible, to the use of Shannon airport by the US military and the amount of people who were killed in Iraq during sanctions and the first Gulf War as irrelevant. The jury was sent out several times so that the judge could rein in the testimony. "This court will not be used as an arena for a larger anti-war agenda!" he bellowed several times.
      The prosecutor's cross examination sought to peg Ciaron as an ego maniac and a demagogue hell-bent on changing public opinion. Ciaron repeatedly conveyed that as a Christian pacificst his faith led him to act out of love for the voiceless. He was not there to change people's minds, "that's up to the holy spirit."
On the grounds that the judge did the job of the prosecution with his repeated objections, abdicated his impartiality and thereby influenced the jury, the defence filed for and were granted a mistrial. The two year case will be heard by a new judge and jury later this year.
      That night we celebrated at St. Catherine's Church where 30 of us (locusts) had been staying. Therese Grady read a letter from Sue Frankel-Streit, Ciaron's former co-defendent in the ANZUS Ploughshares, reminding us all "that the victory is won, the victory is in the struggle."