The Irishman behind Saddam’s Bunker
A construction engineer from County Antrim has approached the British Defense Ministry with blueprints of Saddam Hussein’s underground bunkers in Baghdad, saying that he was part of a Swedish company which built the bunkers in the mid-1980’s.
The engineer, who wished to remain anonymous, said that about 25 bunkers, including Saddam’s private family bunker, were built beneath the streets of Baghdad with the capacity for several thousand people, all of them built to sustain any nuclear or chemical attacks on the city. The engineer gave 100 pages of detailed documents to the U.S.-led military command.
Meanwhile, almost seventy percent of the people in the Irish republic believe that the U.N. was right to sanction military force against Iraq, according to a survey taken by the Dublin-based Irish Times. The support for the U.N. resolution did not translate into a call for arms however, as only twenty-seven percent believed that Ireland should forego its official neutrality and join the fight.
Despite their commitment to neutrality, the Irish government did show its support for the U.S.-led coalition by allowing American warplanes to land and refuel at Shannon Airport on their way to the Gulf. Politicians and the general public were quick to denounce the Shannon landings because they felt that the landings made a mockery of the country’s neutrality, although Charles Haughey’s government responded with a denial that the landings were a threat to Ireland’s military neutrality.
End of the Irish Mile?
An Irish tradition of sorts was interrupted recently at the annual Milrose Games at Madison Square Garden when an Algerian runner beat out County Cork’s Marcus O’Sullivan in the coveted Wanamaker Mile.
O’Sullivan won the past three Wanamakers. This year, however, the Algerian, Noureddine Morcelli, narrowly beat O’Sullivan with a time of 3:53:50, the second fastest time for the Wanamaker.
The fastest Wanamaker time still belongs to another Irishman, Eamonn Coughlan, who posted a time of 3:53:00 in 1981.
Ironically, Coughlan fired the starting gun for the start of this year’s race. For several years the now-retired Coughlan combined with O’Sullivan to dominate the Wanamaker, with eleven wins between them since 1977.
“Don’t worry,” says O’Sullivan, who will give it another shot next year.
And if he can’t do it, watch out for another Irishman, Frank O’Meara, who finished fifth in this year’s Wanamaker.
Madonna’s Bra Reels In $4,000 for Irish Charity
Project Children, the charity group which brings out hundreds of young kids from Northern Ireland for peaceful summer holidays with American families every year, had a fundraising celebrity auction in Atlantic City, New Jersey, recently.
The hottest item at the auction? Undoubtedly it was a flashy brassiere from none other than pop star, Madonna, which sold for a hefty $4,000.
Other donated items were Michael Jackson’s sneakers, Lucille Ball’s high heels and a New York Giants autographed football. The auction, held in Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal casino, was a roaring success, raising more than $25,000.
Project Children, an organization started in the mid-70’s by New York-based County Corkman Denis Mulcahy, hopes to use the money to help give holidays to almost 1,000 kids, both Protestant and Catholic, who are from the battle-torn areas of Northern Ireland.
New York Picks a Woman Grand Marshal
For only the second time in its 230-year history, the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade this year will be led by a woman, namely Mary Holt-Moore, a teacher and mother of eight.
Holt-Moore was born in New York to Irish parents, and she has been active in Irish community affairs in New York for many years.
She has been particularly active in the Irish language movement, as she is president of the Bronx, New York Gaelic League and is a teacher of the Irish language. On the night in late January when she was announced as the Grand Marshal, she even gave her acceptance speech in Irish, followed by the English translation. She is also very outspoken in her support of causes such as that of Joe Doherty, Dessie Ellis and the Birmingham Six case.
Two years ago Holt-Moore narrowly lost the honor of being Grand Marshal to Dorothy Hayden-Cudahy, who was the first woman to lead the parade on Fifth Avenue.
In other parade news, the San Francisco parade committee named Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams as their Grand Marshal, although of course that title can only be an honorary one as the U.S. State Department has barred Adams from entering the country for years because of his connection with Sinn Fein, which is the political wing of the IRA.
Famine Memorial in Boston
The first memorial in the United States to be dedicated to the victims of the Irish famine is being planned in Boston, Massachusetts— arguably the largest settling place for those refugees seeking a new life.
Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn says that the proposal, dubbed the “Great Hunger Memorial Project,” includes plans for a statue in downtown Boston near Faneuil Hall and a memorial on Deer Island in Boston Harbor.
Between 1845 and 1850 more than 4,000 famine immigrants were buried on the island.
The project got a big fundraising boost from the makers of the new Northern Ireland-based film Hidden Agenda, who donated the proceeds from the film’s Boston premiere.
Flynn announced that the project would start construction soon, hopefully within the coming year or two.
Pope Honors Irish Martyrs
Seventeen Irish people who were executed by the British because they refused to renounce their Catholic faith were approved for beatification by Pope John Paul II recently.
The seventeen included a Dublin widow, a baker, three sailors from Wexford and several priests and bishops who refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, which recognized the King of England as the head of the church.
They were tried for treason and executed in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Beatification is the official papal declaration that a person is among the blessed in heaven, and it is the first step towards sainthood.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the March 1991 issue of Irish America. ♦
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