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Date Posted: 00:50:43 01/17/03 Fri
Author: US COAST GAURD acting like the TALIBAN????
Subject: Heard this in the IRISH VOICE!

Sinn Fein Tattoo Linked to Al-Qaeda?
By Debbie McGoldrick
IS Sinn Fein somehow linked to al-Qaeda? The U.S. Coast Guard allegedly thinks so, according to an outraged Irish American who was recently discharged from service because he sports a large Sinn Fein tattoo on his left forearm.

Justin Walter, 26, originally from Astoria, Queens but now resident in Arizona, received his discharge order from the Coast Guard last month. Coast Guard officers at a Cape May, New Jersey base allegedly told Walter that the tattoo was unacceptable because Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland’s largest Nationalist party, is involved with al-Qaeda and is also dedicated to overthrowing the British government.

“I was basically called a terrorist in front of other recruits,” Walter said in an exclusive interview with the Irish Voice. “My tattoos are nothing more than a display of Irish pride, but the Coast Guard thinks otherwise.” What galls Walter even further is his prior record of military service before enlisting in the Coast Guard. Walter was a member of the U.S. Army reserves for six years and was honorably discharged after his term ended in August of 2001. The Sinn Fein tattoo, and the other Irish tattoos on his arms and hands, never posed a problem for Army officials, he says.

“No one ever said anything in the Army,” Walter says. “Lots of others also had tattoos and it wasn’t a problem at all. It was a total non-issue.” Commander Jim McPherson, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., disputes Walter’s version of what happened in Cape May, and says Walter was discharged because of the size and number of tattoos he had.

“This is what he was questioned about,” McPherson told the Irish Voice. “The tattoos are very large.” McPherson also denied that any Coast Guard officials said that Sinn Fein was linked to terrorism. “I don’t think anyone could make that kind of connection,” he said.

McPherson said that there are no blanket bans against tattoos in the Coast Guard, but there are provisions about the size and number of tattoos a recruit can have. “And that’s what the problem was here,” he said. “It was a judgment call that was made at headquarters in Washington, D.C.” When asked why the Army didn’t question the Sinn Fein tattoo, McPherson said the requirements for the Coast Guard are different. “The Army recruits 77,000 people a year, while the Coast Guard only takes 5,000,” he said. “There are different standards in all areas. The Coast Guard requires higher education standards and is less tolerant of infractions. That’s because, as a law enforcement agency, we interact with the public much more than the Army.” Walter got the Sinn Fein tattoo, and a Celtic dragon etched underneath the words, in 1997. He chose the words Sinn Fein because he liked the English translation, “Ourselves Alone.” He also followed the Irish peace process and felt that Sinn Fein was the party most committed to making it work.

Walter never attended any Sinn Fein rallies or fundraisers in the U.S., nor has he ever had any contact with party officials. “I wouldn’t do that because I was in the U.S. military,” he explained. “It’s not something I ever had time to do. I never, ever gave a dime to Sinn Fein.” Walter grew up in a staunchly Irish household; his mother is from an Irish family in Manchester, England, and his maternal grandparents are from Co. Cork. All of them emigrated to New York in the 1960s.

The Walter family vacationed frequently in Ireland while Justin was growing up, and Justin’s Irish heritage has always been a source of great interest to him. There are still cousins and other family members in Ireland that he likes to visit frequently.

“I heard a lot of stories about Ireland while growing up,” Walter says. “Tommy Makem was a good friend of my grandfather William Ahern. I read lots of Irish books and had lots of Irish friends. I have a great love of my Irish heritage.” Walter got his first tattoo, an Irish flag on his left shoulder, while serving with the Army in Georgia in 1996. “Everyone was getting tattoos then, and I figured I’d never be ashamed to have an Irish flag on my body, so I got it,” he said. “Nothing was ever said to me by any Army officials.” In addition to the flag and Sinn Fein tattoos, Walter also has a tattoo of the word “Saighdiur,” the Gaelic word for soldier, which he got in 2001, on his right forearm. Around that time he also received small tattoos of an Irish harp on his left hand and a shamrock on his right.

Shortly after being discharged from the Army in 2001, Walter decided to enlist in the Coast Guard. The recruiting officer in Arizona photographed his tattoos and sent them up the chain of command to see if they were permissible.

Word eventually came back that the shamrock and harp tattoos would have to be removed from Walter’s hands, at his own expense, if he wished to proceed with his Coast Guard recruitment. Walter readily agreed to have the symbols removed through painful laser surgery that cost nearly $2,000 and left scars on his hands that he’ll carry for life.

“But I didn’t mind at all,” he says. “If that’s all they wanted me to do then I was all for it.” Walter received his order to report for Coast Guard duty in Cape May in December of last year. He says that he was immediately singled out during his first day of class by the chief in charge who wanted to see his tattoos.

“He took me to the back of the class and had me roll up my sleeves,” Walter says. “He said he would have to do further investigation about the Sinn Fein tattoo. I explained that photos had already been sent for approval before I arrived, but it didn’t seem to matter.” Shortly after this first encounter, Walter claims he was informed that research had been done about Sinn Fein on the Internet, with Coast Guard officials allegedly claiming the party was linked to the IRA, which in turn had connections to al-Qaeda and other terrorist activity. Walter was told that the tattoo would have to go.

“I tried to explain that Sinn Fein was a peaceful group that were not connected in any to terrorism,” Walter said. “If I had an IRA tattoo on my arm I would have understood their position, but Sinn Fein has been welcomed in the White House and has lots of political support here. If the White House can accept Sinn Fein, how come the Coast Guard can’t?” What followed were a series of meeting between Walter and Coast Guard officials, and the end result was that Walter was honorably discharged on December 13 because of the tattoo. “They gave me an honorary discharge because they didn’t want to affect my other years of military service,” Walter said. “But it was an awful experience. Just before I was leaving one of the company commanders accused me of putting terrorist s*** on my body.” When Walter returned to Phoenix he made contact with his recruiting officer, who was unaware of what happened in Cape May. Efforts were made to clear Walter’s enrollment, with the FBI and State Department contacting the Coast Guard to inform officials that Sinn Fein is not on the U.S. terrorist watch list. So far, Walter says, the Coast Guard has yet to respond, and at this stage he’s simply fed up.

“I would have liked to have gone back, and I was willing to cover the tattoo if I had to,” Walter said. “But the whole experience has really angered me. I’m an American who wants to serve my country, and I was denied that chance over showing pride in my Irish heritage. I’m just extremely upset.” Resigned to a future that doesn’t include the Coast Guard, Walter now plans on taking the entrance exam to join the police force in Sedona. “And I’m sure I’ll get a better welcome there,” he said. “Nothing could be worse than what happened to me in the Coast Guard. I felt like a criminal.”

Irish Voice

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Replies:

[> God Save the Queen. yeh, right -- big deal, 04:32:29 01/17/03 Fri


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[> Re: Heard this in the IRISH VOICE! -- Mick, 11:09:00 01/17/03 Fri

The I.R.A. have been known to train Gadiffis terrorists in Lybia,and also have had connections in Colombia in return for arms. When I was in Dublin in Nov I picked up a best selling book called "a secret history of the I.R.A. by Ed Moloney. Very good reading and would highly recommend it. Probably available in Borders, etc.


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