BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Outraged by an IRA offer to shoot a group of suspected murderers, Britain and the United States demanded Wednesday that the guerrillas disband and take the gun out of Northern Irish politics.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said the offer defied description while a U.S. envoy added: "it's time for the IRA to go out of business."
Their condemnation came as police said they had arrested a man over the crime which has unleashed a wave of fury against both the IRA and its political ally in the republican movement, Sinn Fein.
Ten people have previously been arrested and released without charge over the killing of 33-year-old forklift driver Robert McCartney in a Belfast bar fight in January.
Potentially the biggest loser in the furor over the murder and a huge bank robbery blamed on the IRA is Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's largest nationalist party which has been widely condemned for failing to distance itself from the IRA.
Its critics say the idea of a political party with what many regard as effectively an armed wing is increasingly unacceptable in a 21st century democracy.
Tuesday's demands from Blair and U.S. special envoy to the British province Mitchell Reiss are yet more blows to its democratic credentials.
"It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated," Reiss told BBC radio. "You can't sign up for the rule of law a la carte."
London and Dublin say there can be no progress on restoring the province's regional government -- set up under a 1998 peace deal to share power between divided Protestants and Catholics -- until the issue of IRA criminality is resolved.
Home rule was suspended in 2002 when unionists, who support ties to Britain, said they would no longer sit in government with Sinn Fein until the IRA got rid of the weapons which sustained its three-decade campaign against British rule.
STARK CHOICE
Blair condemned the republican movement when he addressed the British parliament in his weekly questions session.
"The IRA statement yesterday frankly defies any description, it was a quite extraordinary thing to say," he told legislators.
"There is a stark choice facing republicanism. They can either embrace the democratic and peaceful route or be excluded from the political process," he added.
The family of the murdered man has mounted a highly effective campaign for the killers to be brought to justice, accusing the IRA of intimidating witnesses and cleaning the bar of evidence.
In a further sign of U.S. displeasure, the family has been invited to the annual White House celebration of St Patrick's Day in Washington this month while the province's political leaders -- for the first time since 1995 -- have not.
The IRA did not specify whether it intended to kill or merely wound those suspected of McCartney's killing, but Northern Ireland's police chief Hugh Orde said he had no doubt they had murder in mind.
"We just need to look at the history of the IRA -- they were saying they would kill people," he told reporters.
for some odd reason, while the word "Ganya" was still just a thought-dropping in my head, I thought it'd only be four letters. But apparently it's five. yep.
Yeah.
I have been following this story for a few weeks now.
They have had Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein and others giving speeches on C-Span for the last weeks.
Gerry is giving the ole "peace and security" speech that we've been bombarded with in the US since 9-11. It seems "peace and security" is the mantra of today and, alas, the end times. Kill people in the name of peace and security...kind of an oxymoron doncha think?
This story has been way more interesting than US politics of late....or maybe I am just bored with it.
My friend is Irish so I enjoy getting her take on it.
She says the IRA and Sinn Fein are Roman Catholics who have been mucking up the country for a LONG time.
Now they want "peace and security," unity of Ireland and all such manner of stuff.
Gerry Adams was calling for the southern Protestants and Unionists to bow down in the name of "unity." That's what I've been feeling in the secret thread of Phil and Rel....bow down to heresy in the name of unity. Over my dead body.
Ireland is a big mess and the IRA are one of the main cuases of it, the problem is that the IRA is in three parts the political side which is Sinn Fein and 2 military sides the IRA and the much feared real IRA. These guys took great delight in killing British soldiers in the 80s and then got all upset when the British soldiers decided to hit back.
The IRA will never disband because they hold to much fear and power in certain parts of the country and it is not just terrorism they are into, they have other crime things going on such as bank raids, money laundering, drug dealing and prostitution to name but a few breaking all that up is a tough mission.
Taking on the IRA is even tougher they are well trained, well armed and have strong bleiefs about Irealnd and the UK. So the hope that they will vanish in to the night is not going to be a reality
The reason that the Irish struglle was so quiet for many years was down to the good friday agreement of 1998 which promised a devoloved Irish government, the removal of UK forces and the release of all paramilitary prisoners.
Under the agreement groups such as the IRA had to dismantle all the weapons that they had and this had to be confimred by an independent body. unforuantly there has never been confirmations of the destruction of weapons which has led to distrust amongst the political parties towards Sinn Fein ( a legitimate party with seats in Ireland and England) who have ties to the IRA. Because of the falling out distrust between parties and lack of efforts towards peace by the IRA the devolved government was suspended by Tony Blair and has yet to be put back in to full power.
The IRA are struglling for an independent unified Ireland the truth is that it is not going to happen, recently the IRA have said they wanted peace and have given the names of some members to the police and picked out those that killed people without orders.
The IRA were fighting the UK army that was based in N.Ireland and they were very effective they used roadside bombs, snipers, streeet fighting and drive by shootings. The IRA also took the attacks to the UK mainland with bombing raids normally on targets that would damage the UK financially they mostly always gave bomb warnings as they realised that civilian deaths would result in a lack of support that they got from some people. The most audacious attack that they IRA tried was a mortar attack on a hotel that the British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher was staying in luckily she was in another part of the hotel at the time.
The IRA also fought with other parmailitary groups in Ireland. This is because the IRA was a catholic group fighting for independance and they fought protestent groups fighting to stay part of the UK.
You are right that a lot of terrorists ( from all groups ) went to jail but as part of the good friday agreement they were all released. Some real nutcases like the Protestent Johnny "Mad Dog" Adiar ( who like to nail people to posts for being catholic) were out on the streets despite warningd from the police, army and MI5 that it was a dangerous situation it went ahead.
I hope I was able to answer the questions you asked and I hope it made sense. The truth is Ireland is very complicated historically, relfiouly and politically. I lost a good friend in Ireland during an ambush and I found myself questioning why he died for what cause ( i still am unsure about why). One thing I strongly believe is that Ireland should serve as a warning about what could happen in Iraq you have all the same elements i.e. relgious divide, historical problems, invading forces and Iraq would be a lot worse.
I agree, Ireland is very complicated.
Your statements helped alot.
My Irish friend says that Sinn Fein, the IRA, the roman catholic faction has caused trouble for quite some time. How long has that been? I haven't seen my friend in a couple of weeks to ask her.
[My manager was in Ireland a few of weeks ago. They stayed in S. Ireland though.
His girlfriend told me last evening that while they were in the pubs in Ireland, the robbery and such were discussed very vocally amongst them.]
The terrorists who were released? Even now, they are amongst society at large?
Why does the IRA want to secede from the UK? Is it because the UK is mostly Anglican...and so for religious reasons?
Yes, I agree, there is alot to be learned from the situation in Ireland for current and possibly future situations. What a mess!
I think the IRA have been active since the 60s but as you know it calmed down a bit due to the good friday deal and since maybe November last year it all seems to be starting up again.
The bank robbery was a shocker bacuse nobody thought that even the IRA would try something like that. Did you know that was the biggest bank robbery in UK history
As for the guys that were released all of them are still out walking the streets. for example Johnny Adair now lives in the west of Scotland but the majority are still living inareas where they caused so much trouble and msiery for people.
I would not be shocked in the least if relgion had a part in the IRAs motivation for an independent Ireland, but I think it is the same arguement as Wales and Scotland have presented and that is that they just want to be independent from what they see as English rule.
No, I did not know that it was the biggest heist in UK history.
I suppose terrorism takes big money to operate...and without major donors possibly this was an expedient way to acquire funds.
Stating for the record so that there is no misunderstanding:
This thread was intentioned to be about the IRA and recent events.
I do not support the terrorist actions of the IRA nor do I support any violence that came by way of S. Ireland (Adair et al).
I do not understand this conflict whatsoever, it makes little or no sense to me.
So called Christians of either side, killing in the name of Jesus, that is the work of the devil and not Yahweh, the Almighty God. Killing one another in such a manner brings reproach to to the name of Christ.
I would suppose that if one were to research the origin of such brutality on both sides, it would be akin to trying to find such an origin of fighting between the Hatfield and McCoys in the S. USA.
Lodgebo brings up a good point, however. People could learn from this Irish conflict in the area of the current Iraqi conflict.
Killing people over beliefs is insane and should not be supported.
The Irish conflict became political as well, and chaos seemed to have ensued.
I am hoping this nonsense does not flair up anymore, that is my prayer.
03-09-2005 03:21 PM
