U.S. Embassy aware of Shannon as terrorist target since 2006

MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 4:58 AM

Updated Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 5:03 AM

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U.S. troops rest in Shannon Airport

The American Embassy in Dublin once categorized Shannon Airport as a target for possible terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists since 2006, a WikiLeaks cable has shown.

They documents also show that the embassy recommended finding an alternative transport hub to Shannon, if public and political opinion made it a less attractive location for U.S. operations.

The cables were entitled “Emerging constraints in U.S. military transits at Shannon” and were given “classified” status by the then U.S. ambassador to Ireland, James Kenny, who sent the memo to several U.S. military and political centers in America, Europe and the Middle East.

The recently released WikiLeaks of confidential U.S. correspondence is thought to include over 600 cables from the U.S. Embassy in Dublin.

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Watereskhill | Dec 09, 2010, 10:58 PM EST

What a daft Article. If Islamic extremists have designs in Ireland to make a statement with bombs and whatever they will target Dublin the capitol for worldwide attention. Not Shannon--an estuary without a Consulate or centre of Commerce.

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Padraig8 | Dec 08, 2010, 02:13 PM EST

Shannon is a target of the Irish government due to the money spent on Dub airport. We the people who prefer the west of Ireland are not happy with this attitude. All of my family prefers Shannon to dublin, it is more convient to the places we like to visit. Clare, Limerick,Kerry,Cork ,Mayo, Galway who could ask for more?

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thomregister | Dec 08, 2010, 09:26 AM EST

Shannon is our entry port of choice when traveling to Ireland, thus this is especially concerning. It is, without a doubt, my favorite oversees airport because of the convenience and it's centralized placement within Ireland. It was a comfort as well as giving us a sense of National pride as an American to see and speak with our military there who were in transit during our last visit. I would hate to rearrange our future flight plans to accommodate this unfortunate situation. Please keep us posted, but for now we shall continue to make Shannon our airport of choice.

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