Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.03.2018, Blaðsíða 16

Icelandic Peace
Activist Vindicat-
ed 16 Years
After The Fact
Ástþór warned us, and we mocked
him mercilessly for it
Words: Paul Fontaine Illustration: Arna Beth
Icelanders were recently shocked
and appalled to learn that Icelan-
dic airline Air Atlanta had made
dozens of trips, from eastern
Europe to Saudi Arabia, deliver-
ing many weapons of war to that
country, including the interna-
tionally-banned landmines. This
was done with the knowledge and
the permission of the Icelandic
Transport Authority. The matter
was brought to light by Kveikur, an
investigative news show for public
broadcasting network RÚV.
While public outrage was high,
and both the Icelandic Transport
Authority and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs have both defended
the practice but said they would
be changing regulations, Ástþór
Magnússon—a long-time peace
activist and perennial presidential
candidate—actually brought this
matter to light in 2002. For his
troubles, he was arrested, interro-
gated, and then mercilessly vilified
in the media.
It all starts in Prague
In November 2002, NATO held a
summit in Prague. The hot topic
at the time was forming the “coali-
tion of the willing” in the run-up
to invade Iraq. Amongst those in
attendance were Davíð Oddsson and
Halldór Ásgrímsson, who were the
Prime Minister and Foreign Minis-
ter of Iceland at the time. Davíð and
Halldór offered tactical support
for the invasion, which Ástþór
said included using Air Atlanta
passenger planes to “carry troops
and weapons to the Middle East".
This wasn’t some closely
guarded secret deal made behind
closed doors, either. Icelandic news
reported on the day of the summit
that the companies Flugleiðir (now
Stoðir) and Atlanta had made a
deal with the Icelandic govern-
ment to rent out their planes to
NATO for military transport. Davíð
told Morgunblaðið at the time, “I
hope that these services will not
have to be used often, preferably
never.”
This deeply troubled Ástþór. He
sent an email to several airlines,
all the media outlets in Iceland and
several overseas, to all Icelandic
police stations, and to all minis-
tries and MPs, saying that by using
Icelandic passen-
ger aircraft fleet
for carrying weap-
ons and troops, "we
could expect that
an attack would be
launched against
t h e s e a i r c r a f t ,
because by doing
this , they were
changing the role
of these airlines
from being a civil
organisation to
being a part of a
war machine. And then we become
a legitimate target for attack by
the other party." And that’s where
things got complicated.
The arrest
"Within four hours, I was in jail,”
Ástþór told us. “I was in solitary
confinement for several days,
constantly being interrogated."
Charged under an anti-terrorism
law that was passed in the wake
of 9/11, his offices were raided
and his computers and other files
were seized, they were held for two
years. Ástþór says he learned from
someone close to the Prime Minis-
ter that the order had come from
his office.
Objections from around the
world began to pour in. After about
a week, Ástþór was released, but he
didn’t come out unscathed. Numer-
ous media outlets poured scorn and
ridicule on him, calling him "the
village idiot". Political cartoons
were drawn mocking him. But he
remained steadfast.
"I said I will eat my hat if you
find weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq,” he said. “And I've never had
to eat my hat."
The hypocrisy of
Parliament
"When I heard they were talking
about this latest case in Parliament,
I just thought it was so hypocriti-
cal,” he tells us. “There are people
in Parliament who
know ver y wel l
what's been going
on."
Since news of the
Air Atlanta weap-
o n s s h i p m e n t s
broke, the Icelandic
Transport Author-
ity at first went on
the defensive, argu-
ing that the ship-
ments were legal
because they were
not flying weap-
ons directly into a war zone (just
adjacent to one). However, The
Minister of Foreign Affairs has
offered assurances, first by deny-
ing a permit for another flight that
had been submitted shortly before
news broke, and then saying that
such permit applications will go to
the Ministry rather than the Trans-
port Authority.
Ástþór is not very impressed
with the government response so
far, believing that it simply does
not go far enough.
"I think it is ridiculous,” he
says. “First of all, Iceland should
not be a part of any kind of mili-
tary operation. Second, it should
be absolutely illegal for civilian
passenger aircraft to be fitted out
to get involved in this. I think the
response to all of this should be 'no
Icelandic aircraft should be carry-
ing weapons or participating in
any war.' We are putting innocent
people in mortal danger."
16 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04 — 2018
Not “the village idiot” anymore
Iceland's famous 'asshole bird' – also known as the flying drunk uncle
“I said I will
eat my hat if
you find weap-
ons of mass
destruction in
Iraq. And I've
never had to
eat my hat.”

ANIMALS OF ICELAND
The Arctic Tern
The wrong seabird to fuck with
Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Once summer comes, Iceland will
once again be graced by one of our
most problematic seasonal guests:
the Arctic tern. These birds take
the longest migration route of any
species, flying between Antarctica
and the Arctic twice a year. It’s in
the Arctic region, which includes
Iceland, where they come to lay
their eggs. Maybe this is why they
are supremely pissed off by the
time they get here.
All Icelanders have some expe-
rience with terns; in particular, of
being harassed by them. Woe to the
unarmed pedestrian who happens
to unwittingly stroll through one
of their nesting areas. Terns are
fiercely territorial and protec-
tive. If you happen to walk into
their hatching grounds, a tern will
soon circle closely above you, issu-
ing warning screams. Even if you
immediately turn around and walk
back the way you came, it might
still dive at you and try to peck you.
The miracle of nature that such
a tiny creature can fly for thou-
sands of kilometres notwithstand-
ing, they are some of the meanest
motherfuckers you will ever cross.
This is especially a problem in
some villages in the countryside,
such as Rif in Snæfellsnes, which
become positively overrun with
terns every summer.
Fortunately, they’re also not
very bright. If you must walk
through one of their nesting areas,
you can open an umbrella, or
raise a tent pole or walking stick
above your head, and the tern
will attack that thing instead of
your head. Suckers.