The Irish Cretins Brigade

The Irish Examiner (registration required) reports that the cretin brigade in Ireland is upset that the prime minister, Bertie Ahern, is traveling to the US for St. Patrick’s Day and will meet Bush. Bertie offers them a polite version of “drop dead”.

“I will be at the White House,” Mr Ahern told the Dáil.
“I respect the United States, I respect their President, I respect what they stand for in the free world. I appreciate what they do for this country. I appreciate the friendship they have and also that of the United Kingdom.”

He said however that he differed on the subject of war and would set out his point of view accordingly. “I stand with the United Nations as I have done since I met Kofi Annan,” he added. “But I will not insult the United States.”

The Examiner provides few details of the cretin brigade, other than noting:
Representatives of the NGO Peace Alliance, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and the Irish Anti-War Movement called for the action at midday on “Day X”.
“Bush and Blair have provided no justification whatsoever and their failure to provide any justification for the war drive confirms the view held by many across the world that this is a war simply for oil and for US power,” said IAWM director Richard Boyd Barrett.

The Examiner does not note that Barrett is a member of the Socialist Workers Party. Part of the reason Bertie Ahern does not worry about him is that in the last parliamentary election, Barrett did so badly he lost his deposit.
The Irish Independent (registration required) notes that John Gormley, chairman of the Green Party (the one that approves of the corner shop cheating its employees), joined the chorus, denouncing the US as a warmonger. The Greens are less of a joke. They have six of the 166 seats in the parliament. But Ahern still said drop dead. Go Bertie.