March 3, 2005
COME BACK GYPO NOLAN, ALL IS FORGIVEN:
Adams hands names of seven murder suspects to the police (David Sharrock, 3/04/05, Times of London)
FIVE working-class women demanding justice for the murder of their brother by the IRA last night wrung an unprecedented concession from its political wing when Gerry Adams announced that he had handed over the names of fellow republicans to a police body.The Sinn Fein president — named in recent weeks by the Irish Government as a member of the Provisional IRA’s seven-member ruling Army Council — said that he had passed the names of seven party members to the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland.
The move comes after allegations by the sisters of Robert McCartney, 33, that the Roman Catholic father of two children was murdered in a pub by members of the IRA who then warned witnesses to stay silent.
The McCartney sisters have refused to be silent, despite their roots in the close-knit republican stronghold of Short Strand, East Belfast, and called publicly on the IRA to give up the killers. On Sunday they staged the first demonstration in the community against the IRA’s paramilitary rule of law.
The family pressure, widely supported at republican grassroots level, on Sinn Fein and the IRA to take action against members who have been tarnished as common criminals by their actions brought a breakthrough last night: the acceptance of the authority of Northern Ireland’s policing arrangements for the first time.
Until now that had eluded the best efforts of Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, and even intense political input from the United States.
In a statement Mr Adams acknowledged the profound damage to the republican cause wrought by Mr McCartney’s murder a month ago.
It's a fitting end for Mr. Adams that the first decent thing he's ever done is inform on his friends.
Meanwhile, the President offers up an exquisite twist of the knife, Sinn Fein suspends seven over killing (Thomas Harding, 04/03/2005, Daily Telegraph)
Last night, the momentum for a meeting between Mr McCartney's family and President Bush was growing.Posted by Orrin Judd at March 3, 2005 10:25 PMThe US media, including CNN, the New York Times and Time magazine have picked up on the story of Mr McCartney's murder, increasing expectation of a White House meeting with the president.
A White House spokesman said it would be advisable for the five McCartney sisters to get visas.
It was revealed yesterday that the White House has cancelled all political invitations to its annual St Patrick's Day celebrations in Washington later this month in response to allegations of IRA involvement in bank robberies, money laundering and murder.
The move is being seen as a snub to Mr Adams, who makes the most of his high-profile trips to Washington. He will still travel to the capital but, to avoid possible confrontation over visas, Sinn Fein has announced that there will not be any of the fund-raising galas that normally accompany the trip.
How much did he get paid? My guess is that he is so craven, he did it for a bottle of Jamesons.
Posted by: Bart at March 3, 2005 10:35 PMi always found it disgusting how the british govt allowed the ira to stay in business as long as they only murdered "little people". but oh ho as soon as the ira went after the torie leadership, all of a sudden its bodies everywhere and a lesson well learned. every bad situation creates benefits for one group or another, and for some reason the british govt decided leaving the ira in place was "a good thing". the british herd took it calmly as they always do, and more shame on them for it.
Posted by: cjm at March 3, 2005 11:06 PMOne of the things rarely commented on is the dearth of major attacks by the IRA in the days since September 11. My guess is the romantic idea some held towards terrorists collapsed about the same time as Tower 1 did, and the IRA's style of high-profile bombings suddenly could no longer be justified by whatever actions the British had taken.
That's left the IRA with only low-profile thuggery to exist on, unless they want to turn back the clock and risk being lumped into the same boat as Islamic extremists. Not a good strategy, especially if you get a lot of your money from donations in the United States, which leaves Adams with the option of either cooperating with authorities or become the Yassir Arafat of Belfast, isolated and cut out of the political loop.
Posted by: John at March 3, 2005 11:08 PMWho's got Adams in the dead pool?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 4, 2005 1:17 AMThe IRA has not launched any major attacks since they voluntarily initiated their cease fire in 1994. Almost all progress in the peace process since then has come by initiatives of Sinn Fein/IRA.
These facts are not inconsistent with OJ's own views on Soviet support of terrorism nor the politics behind negotiations. However, it is to the IRA's credit that they are obviously committed to the peace process (and take the lead in initiating it) unlike the Palestinians terrorists or ETA in the Basque country.
One thing noticeably absent in condemnations of the IRA is any indication that it has been the Loyalist terrorist groups are responsible for most of the violence in Northern Ireland, and has been since the 1980's at least.
Just to give an extent, here are some facts by the Police Federation of Northern Ireland from a report from Sep 9, 2004. http://www.policefed-ni.org.uk/040909b.htm
* Between 2000-2004, there were 37 attacks on prison officers and prison establishments. 5 were done by republicans (not necessarily IRA as there are various splinter groups) and 32 by Loyalists.
* 70% of all extortion attempts in 2003 were done by Loyalists.
* Dissident republicans did 114 terrorist incidents from Jan-Sep 2003. Loyalist terrorists did 160 acts.
* In terms of terrorists intimidating the local community to control them, republicans carried out 471 attacks between Jan 2000 and July 2004. Loyalists carried out 896.
The IRA gets the press so people blame the IRA alone. I think most of the opprobrium should go to the Loyalist terrorists, yet they get a pass mainly because few think or know they are responsible for most of the problem.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at March 4, 2005 12:13 PMdurnell, please cite an incident where loyalists blew up innocent people ? if not, then you are just another terror enabler.
Posted by: cjm at March 4, 2005 1:16 PM