IRA

Fire of Liberty

On St. Paddy's day, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the IRA and its political arm Sinn Fein. I your not aware, the White House and Congress have decided to snub Gerry Adams, the public face of the vile Sinn Fein. After some ten years of dealing with the supposed peacemaker, Mr. Adams, the leadership in the US have decided that they can't deal with a political entity that dabbles in terrorism. This disgust within the White House and the halls of Congress has been prompted by several events. The most notable event is the disembowelment/murder of Robert McCartney by IRA members outside a pub in Belfast that the IRA and Sinn Fein has moved heaven and earth to prevent the killers from coming to justice. You know that the IRA is putting the squeeze on the 70 witnesses in the pub especially when no-one in the group has come forward to identify the killers. You also have the most recent news that the IRA conducted a $50 million bank heist along with revelations that the terrorists also have laundered a substantial sum of money.

This outrages have cost Sinn Fein and the IRA a chief friend in the US which is Senator Edward Kennedy. According to this article in The Times, Sen. Kennedy refused to meet with Mr. Adams but met with the five sisters and wife of the slain Robert McCartney. The meeting also prompted Kennedy to offer a word of advice to Mr. Adams and his compatriots in the IRA. Take a look:

After meeting the six women, Mr Kennedy said that their presence in Washington "sends a very powerful signal that it's time for the IRA to fully decommission, end all criminal activity and cease to exist as a paramilitary organisation".

He told a news conference: "No political party can also have an armed unit that continues violence and criminality.

"We would certainly hope that the leadership of Sinn Fein... understands what an albatross the IRA is on them and for the cause of peace in Ireland."

But he dismissed a suggestion that Mr Adams should now be treated like the late Yassir Arafat - as an unreliable peace partner - adding: "There's a time to hold 'em and a time to fold 'em and we're overdue in term of a disbandment of the IRA."

While Senator Kennedy called for the disbandment of the IRA he still left open the door to dealing with Sinn Fein. I guess he doesn't want to offend the Irish crowd in Boston who vote for Kennedy and possibly support Sinn Fein. The only problem is that Sinn Fein can't survive without the IRA and vice versa and you can only eliminate the whole blood-cult of terror by cutting off the political and militant heads of these groups. The less you appease these people the better. Its amazing how Kennedy can say something positive on dealing with terrorism one moment and in the same breath provide succor for Sinn Fein. I guess that's why he's a politician and I'm not.

Also check out these following articles here and here on the President's visit with the McCarthy sisters and the widow of Robert McCarthey as well as the growing discord within the US and Ireland towards the IRA. Good stuff.