Saying, "But Bush gave me his word" is meaningless. When ANYONE says it.
There is no such thing as a reasonable expectation for honesty from a known liar - no matter what title the liar holds.
Hiding behind "assurances" (I took his word for it), when information to the contrary was out there, in no way erases culpability..
It's no different than when the US claims they were given assurances that no one would be tortured in Egypt, Morocco, etc. (after being sent there by the US with the use of extraordinary rendition)
You don't send people to known torturers and then claim as a defense, but they gave me their word they wouldn't torture.
And you don't accept "assurances" from a country ALREADY KNOWN for using extraordinary rendition. (in order to disappear people and torture them)
And it's not just Ireland....
from 2002November 2004"The report reveals that the since October 2001, the plane has completed at least 72 operations in over 30 countries. It has a special landing permit at military bases all over the world and is also afforded free passage in international airspace.
The plane’s routes always follow the same pattern. After take-off from its home base in Smithfield, North Carolina it makes a short stop at Dulles International Airport in Washington, close to the CIA headquarters and Pentagon.
After crossing the Atlantic it makes stops in places such as Shannon, Ireland, Frankfurt, Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic"
list of countries involved in extraordinary rendition* Ireland
Amnesty International today revealed that six planes used by the CIA for renditions
have made some 800 flights in or out of European airspace including 50 landings at
Shannon airport in the Republic of Ireland.
...
GulfstreamIV, call sign N85VM (Later re-registered as N227SV), the plane that took
Abu Omar to Egypt from Germany after his kidnapping in Italy, turned around and
flew to Shannon. ...
Amnesty International is publishing the information after a challenge by the Irish
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern on Thursday last week. Asked about CIA planes
using Shannon airport, the Foreign Minister said, "If anyone has any evidence of any
of these flights please give me a call and I will have it immediately investigated."
On 17 Feb 2003, for instance, the Gulfstream IV, N85VM took Abu Omar from Ramstein
to Cairo, then turned around and flew to Shannon, arriving at 0552 on the 18th.
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGAMR511982005