Volunteers are being sought to join Ken Meyers and Tarak Kauff, two former members of the US military, and now members of the US Veterans for Peace group, on the first leg of a peace walk from Limerick to Galway.
Volunteers are sought to join Mr Meyers (82 ) and Mr Kauff (77 ) for 10kms on part of the Limerick to Galway first leg of the walk. The walk begins this Saturday in Limerick and will conclude in Malin Head, Donegal.
The two former US soldiers came to prominence when they entered Shannon Airport on St Patrick’s Day in a bid to search a US warplane. The two were initially held in Limerick Prison for two weeks, then given bail. However, almost six months on, Mr Meyers and Mr Kauff remain in Ireland as the State prosecution insists if they are allowed go home they will not return for their trials.
However Galway Alliance Against War spokesperson, Niall Farrell, questions this assertion. "An important part of any such peace action is the actual trial itself, where the defendants use it as a platform to raise the wrongs being committed by war," he said. "So Mr Meyers and Mr Kauff would be determined to return for any trial. Besides in any similar cases involving Irish citizens there was no ban on the freedom to travel. So the two men are virtually US hostages of a vindictive Irish State.”
As it may take three years for their case to come to trial, the confiscation of the pair’s passports means they may end up celebrating their respective 85th and 80th birthdays in Ireland.
Those interested in joining the two peace activists for part of their journey should contact [email protected].
