July 11TH Philadelphia & Boston
The American Brexit Committee has begun Phase II of alerting key Members of Congress to their concerns for Ireland, all 32 counties, and for the success of the peace process (see attached). The election of Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister would raise the odds that a No-Deal EU exit is likely and the threat to Ireland’s economy maximized. “Unfortunately,” noted Boston attorney Jim Cotter, “the American press Brexit reporting is so preoccupied with British politics that there has been minimal coverage of the threat to the daily lives of all the people of Ireland and to the peace process.”
New Conservative leadership will intensify efforts to obstruct the Stormont House Agreement and other aspects of the 1998 Belfast Treaty. The British Ministry of Defense, which actually runs Northern Ireland as a colonial garrison, will: (1) shut down legacy investigations and deploy an even greater number of “national security vetoes” of requests for information; (2) adopt a blanket amnesty for police, Army and MI-5 security forces involved in killing of civilians in N. I.; and (3) renew the militarization of the partition border and (4) shut down Operation Kenova documenting British double-agent murders in N. I.” Stated former National AOH President Joe Roche of Maryland: “Unless the United States and the European Union raise their voices in opposition, all this is will come to pass.”
The current stress on the ‘so-called’ special relationship is long overdue. This Administration is not obliged to bail out the British from their Brexit folly and should focus on the MACA and EU trade deals which will be far more beneficial to Americans. U. S. leadership will suffer irreparable damage if it throws long time ally Ireland under the Brexit bus with a harmful US-UK trade deal and a tolerance of corruption of the Irish peace process. Chairman John Corcoran concluded: “Congress has adopted two laws, the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act and the U. S. Global Magnitsky Act with which Members can insure a measured review of the merits of any US-UK trade deal and permit the sanction of individuals like former Defense Minister Liam Fox and others who have conspired to commit or cover-up lawless killings in N. I.”
For further info please contact John Corcoran at 215-280-3711 or Mike Cummings at 267-766-5028
Attachment: Letter to Members of Congress
July 12, 2019
Honorable Michael McCaul, Ranking Member
Committee on Foreign Affairs
U. S. House of Representatives
RHOB-2001
Washington, D. C. 20515
Dear Representative McCaul:
This is a follow-up to our earlier letter of March raising questions regarding the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act. We share the Speaker’s concerns for the Irish peace process and the consequences of Britain’s failure to respect the obligations of its treaties and agreements.
The Conservative government still opposes the proposed EU-UK withdrawal agreement and the so-called” Irish back-stop” provision. Many of the Conservative MP’s despise the 1998 Belfast Treaty as “outliving its usefulness. Their political partners, the N. I. DUP never agreed to sign the Good Friday Agreement. Together they are supporting a unilateral action to grant amnesty to security forces involved in killing civilians in N. I. That contradicts the 2018 White Paper on the Good Friday Agreement and successor pacts like the Stormont House Agreement.
In London recently President Trump urged a no-deal Brexit and claimed that “14 sections of the US-UK trade deal…” are already complete. Clearly the President is uninformed or does not care about the devastating effects of a no-deal Brexit on Ireland’s economy, budget and the peace process. Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donahoe recently explained that a UK no-deal exit from the EU will require the Government to borrow 5 billion Euros by October 31st for a fiscal year which was to have a 1.2 billion Euros surplus. Britain has already threatened Ireland’s Tanaiste Simon Coveney with post-Brexit plans to prefer Brazil beef with tariffs and quotas on Irish beef. Their economic bullying of Ireland is just beginning.
Americans must know just how businesses, consumers and taxpayers will benefit from President Trump’s proposed US-UK trade deal which could be submitted to Congress as soon as November if a no-deal Brexit is Britain’s option. The Administration’s priority rush for this deal is curious. America already buys far more British goods than the UK spends on US goods. As a policy and practical matter, Americans would derive greater benefit, and sooner, if Congress were to ratify the USMCA (NAFTA) trade treaty and agree to a new EU-US trade deal. President Trump shelved a pending EU trade deal upon taking office for no apparent reason other than it was negotiated under President Obama.
Brexiteers, exalt the slim Brexit referendum 52%-48% result as the “will of the people” and must be followed without concern for consequences. N. I. voted 56% to 44% to REMAIN in the EU but the Conservatives are fond of dismissing Irish elections and never speak of it. Also ignored is the 2018 report of economist Gunther Thumann, Brexit and the Future of Ireland, Uniting Ireland and Its People in Peace and Prosperity, which documents how the British and Irish taxpayers would be better off if Ireland was re-united and remained in the European Union.
Britain’s pernicious efforts to undermine the Irish peace process and promote political instability are even more troubling. Their Ministry of Defense has used legal gymnastics to delay and obstruct every request for information on British security services killings in N. I. particularly the hundreds of killings that were not given any semblance of an investigation. The Human Rights Act of 1998 will also be on the chopping block.
Former Shadow and Defense Minister Liam Fox (2005-2011), now Trade Secretary, worked at ground zero for the cover up of security services crimes including the no-warning bombing of Dublin and Monaghan shopping centers, a slaughter without equal in the entire conflict. Despite promises made in treaties, Britain is still using “national security “ vetoes, Gestapo like raids on journalists’ homes and press-release ready non-binding agreements to bury the truth.
Does the so-called ‘special relationship’ require America to save the British from their Brexit folly? Should the world’s 5thlargest economy be rewarded with a “phenomenal” U. S. trade deal while it promises to bully Ireland? The facts of Brexit matter little to the Conservative Party and its leadership who wish to live in the past, ignore democratic votes and dismiss Treaty obligations with impunity. But Members of Congress can use the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act to affirm tangible and positive trade benefits for the American people and the U. S. Global Magnitsky Act to hold Britain accountable for its legacy of violence, cover up of crimes and obstruction of justice in N. I.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Murphy
Former National President of the AOH
Bardonia, New York 10954
upkerry@optonline.net
americanbrexitcommittee.com 267-766-5028
Michael J. Cummings
201 W Evergreen Ave , Apt 715
Chestnut Hill, PA 19118
267-766-5028
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