Intelligencer

Hagel Slams GOP Bill

Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska was not only debunking the Iraq war on This Week on ABC last Sunday.

Hagel is a maverick Republican in the John McCain mode, and his outspoken comments on the mistakes made in Iraq were revealing to say the least. As a decorated Vietnam hero they carried extra weight.

Hagel also fired a shot across the bows of members of his own party who are trying to introduce a new immigration bill that would be very restrictive.

The Cornyn/Kyle bill would force all undocumented to register, agree to be deported and then possibly return legally as a temporary worker under a new program.

Sounds absurd, and as Hagel pointed out, rounding up and deporting 11 million or so people would probably cost about $200 billion — not exactly a sum that the bill’s sponsors, Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator John Kyl of Arizona, especially want to talk about.

Hagel says he intends to reintroduce a bill he filed last year, which would closely resemble the McCain/Kennedy bill currently before Congress which would have no deportation provision. Hagel made the point that the view of the White House is still unknown on this legislation, but that it is time for them to make their opinion public.

Hagel is a candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination for president, but like McCain may be far too independent to actually win it. If McCain does not run as a third party contender, however, rumors are that Hagel might consider it. It is an interesting thought.

Mo In Financial Need

The late Mo Mowlam ended up in dire financial straits shortly after leaving politics. When she left the cabinet of British Prime Minister Tony Blair she soon after gave up her seat in Parliament and then found that her husband, an attorney, had also lost his job.

Mo’s memoir, which she had hoped would be a bestseller, did not do that well, leaving her very financially strapped.

Suffice it to say that some leading Irish Americans became aware of her plight and agreed to help. Their names cannot be mentioned, but they were more than generous in helping Mo out of her financial fix.

Incredible when you think of it, Irish Americans helping a former British secretary of state out of financial difficulty. Yet, that was Mo. She made friends in the most unusual places.

How They Got Home

Well-grounded speculation on how the Colombia Three got to Ireland has been circulating in the past week or so.

It appears they were in Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has no love for his close neighbors in Colombia and would never have extradited them. When they decided to return to Ireland they supposedly took a flight to Cuba, then transferred on to a flight to Spain.

From Spain it is believed they took a ship to the west of Ireland where they were dropped off on the West Coast somewhere. From there they apparently lived quietly for a time, until the IRA statement on putting arms beyond use, and then decided to go public.

They have clearly succeeded in their primary aim of being able to stay in Ireland for the future. Whoever was handling their travel plans and eventual reentry into Irish society did it very well.

US Blocks Colombia Extradition

Talk of the Colombia Three raises an interesting question about whether the U.S. would actually extradite someone to Colombia, given the system of justice down there.

We don’t have to look very far for the answer. Recently an Army sergeant was accused of running a major drugs operation in Colombia and the authorities there sought to bring him back as he had returned home with his unit.

Sorry, but no dice was the response of the American authorities, who said they would deal with the issue in their own way. They even claimed the soldier had diplomatic immunity. Colombians were not pleased.

After all, they extradite suspected drug lords to America on a regular basis but it is clearly not a reciprocal arrangement. Even the Bush administration appears to have second thoughts when it comes to Colombia justice.

Remembering Irish Heroes

The annual commemoration of the role of the Irish in the Revolutionary War takes place on Sunday, August 28 at the archway inside Greenwood Cemetery beginning at 11:30 a.m. The cemetery is located at 5th Avenue and 25th Street in Brooklyn.

The new consul general of Ireland in New York, Tim O’Connor, will be participating in the ceremony, which also features a tribute to Matilda Tone, wife of Wolfe Tone. She is buried in the graveyard.

There will also be a recounting of the Battle of Brooklyn, the largest engagement of the Revolutionary War, where George Washington’s army barely escaped to fight another day.

The event is organized by the Brooklyn Irish American Parade Committee and will also feature historian John Ridge and other contributors. All in all an event well worth attending.