← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Walter Yannis
Thread ID: 17339 | Posts: 14 | Started: 2005-03-16
2005-03-16 10:31 | User Profile
[URL=http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/42618.htm]New York Post[/URL] THE WAR IS OVER By PETER KING
March 16, 2005 -- FORGET the green beer, the funny hats and the shamrocks. This year, St. Patrick's Day will be a defining moment in the history of Ireland and the Northern Irish peace process. Very simply, this is the time when the Irish Republican Army must make the decision to stand down and disband once and for all. The man in the eye of the storm is once again Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein.
First, some context. Depending upon who you talk to, the struggle between the Irish and British dates back 800 years, 300 years, 84 years or 35 years. By any count, it has been too long and too deadly.
Northern Ireland was created in 1921 as part of the settlement ending a five-year war that saw Ireland's remaining 26 counties obtain their independence. The British retained the northern six counties, but Northern Ireland was a contrived entity with no cultural or geographic basis. It just happened to be the largest area of Ireland where the British had a majority of support.
The pro-British residents of Northern Ireland were primarily Protestant ("unionist" or "loyalist"), while the people who wanted unification with the government of Ireland were mainly Catholic ("nationalist" or "republican"). So this was never a "religious" war in any doctrinal sense.
Yet Northern Ireland was a "Protestant state for a Protestant people." From 1921 to 1968, Catholics were second- or third-class citizens ââ¬â effectively denied the right to vote, to housing and to jobs.
Inspired by the American civil-rights movement, Northern Irish Catholics demonstrated peacefully for their civil rights in 1968. They were not demanding a united Ireland, and there was no IRA. But they were met by force of arms ââ¬â both from loyalist gangs and their allies in the police.
The IRA soon emerged to protect the Catholic community. The British Army came into Northern Ireland to stem the violence but soon became identified with the Unionist majority.
Thus began a 25-year war. And while there were murders, atrocities and human-rights violations on all sides, the security forces and the loyalist paramilitaries caused more civilian casualties than did the IRA.
I first met Gerry Adams in Belfast in 1984, soon after he took over the leadership of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Republican movement. He told me then of his intention to achieve a political and diplomatic solution.
This took extraordinary courage and leadership ability. Despite being shot and badly wounded by loyalist paramilitaries, Adams persevered ââ¬â and in August 1994, the IRA declared a cease-fire so that talks could begin with the British and Irish governments and the Northern Irish political parties.
The result was the April 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which established a democratic process in the north guaranteeing rights to all sides. The clear understanding was that as the political process went forward, all paramilitary groups would disband.
Progress was slow, primarily because Unionist leaders such as David Trimble and Ian Paisley were reluctant to create the necessary institutions.
During this six-year period, officials in both the Bush and Clinton administrations uniformly said that Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein were honest and up front in their dealings. Though a Northern Ireland government is not yet in place, Sinn Fein is the majority nationalist party and will be a major part of any government that is formed.
Just as importantly, extraordinary progress has been made in the quality of life.
When I first went to Belfast 25 years ago, it was a dark, gray besieged city. Some Catholic areas had unemployment exceeding 80 percent. Today, Belfast has luxury hotels, fine restaurants, a hockey arena and a growing economy. Significant police reforms have been implemented. The majority of college students are Catholics who are well-prepared for Ireland's Information Age economy.
The British, Irish and American governments are pledged to guarantee this progress. All that remained was for the IRA to decommission its weapons. Last fall, it appeared that progress was being made and by December a final agreement was tantalizingly close.
Then, out of left field, the IRA pulled off a $50 million bank robbery ââ¬â followed by the brutal murder of an innocent Catholic by IRA men in a Belfast barroom brawl.
This has caused me and other concerned Irish-Americans to conclude that the IRA must disband without delay. So much has been achieved in Northern Ireland and there is no place for a private army in a burgeoning democratic society.
No one has done more to advance the peace process or has acted more courageously than Gerry Adams. But, now, all that has been attained is being put at risk by an unreconstructed minority who can't put down the gun and replace the bullet with the ballot.
Gerry Adams can't allow these hard men to deny the people of Ireland the society of peace and justice for which he and others have struggled so valiantly. He owes it to himself and the cause of Irish freedom to call upon these remaining IRA fighters to disband and go home.
The war is over ââ¬â there is a new Ireland north and south. It is only when the IRA accepts this reality that we will truly be able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) represents parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties.
2005-03-16 14:14 | User Profile
This saddens me, the inexorable demise of the IRA. From what I've been told, one of my ancestors was a co-founder of the IRA.
2005-03-16 14:22 | User Profile
Given the number of non-white immigrants streaming into Ireland these days, the Catholics and Protestants had better forget their differences pretty damned quick. Unity is the key here.
2005-03-16 15:45 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Stuka]Given the number of non-white immigrants streaming into Ireland these days, the Catholics and Protestants had better forget their differences pretty damned quick. Unity is the key here.[/QUOTE]
I think the Irish are quickly learning that their destiny is "dark" if they don't pull it together.
2005-03-16 15:58 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Jack Cassidy]This saddens me, the inexorable demise of the IRA. From what I've been told, one of my ancestors was a co-founder of the IRA.[/QUOTE] I've been told that today's IRA is little more than a Marxist front organization.
2005-03-17 18:14 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Stuka]Given the number of non-white immigrants streaming into Ireland these days, the Catholics and Protestants had better forget their differences pretty damned quick. Unity is the key here.[/QUOTE]
This is what I find most depressing about this conflict. It's white-on-white. Whites will always have their differences amongst themselves, but we now need to unite for power across the globe against the rising tide of color and its Semitic helpers.
2005-04-02 07:38 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Jack Cassidy]This saddens me, the inexorable demise of the IRA. From what I've been told, one of my ancestors was a co-founder of the IRA.[/QUOTE]
Oh Dear.
You must now feel isolated - do you not?
I take it - you are indulging in thick Irish humour. Is that correct?
Mentzer
2005-04-02 07:42 | User Profile
Peter King
He remains on a wanted list.
He is not safe. And he is aware of it.
2005-05-19 13:32 | User Profile
I would be extremely careful if I were you Mentzer. America is Irish Catholic terrirtory, and is EXTREMELY pro IRA. Here in New York, Loyalist filth and thier supporters are made to scream before they die (which usually takes days)
The Westies were IRA supporters and so are most of the NYPD, Firemen, Steelworkers, and us Teamsters.
Peter King is 100% safe from any harm. Anyone stupid enough to even attempt to harm him would pay a heavy price as would thier families.
The IRA are heroes who have kicked British and Loyalist ass for 30 years, just as us Marines have and still are kicking Al Qaida ass all over the world.
You best watch your mouth, bitch...otherwise you will end up in a friggen Lime Pit.
Mentzer is just another inferior scumbag Nazi cocksucker who takes it up the ass from his fellow Klansmen. The Irish Catholics of America have a rich and proud tradition of killing Racist filth, it is one of the funnier things to do in life. My Grandfather killed Nazi scum wholesale as a member of Patton's 3rd Army....and that tradition should continue here in America...Mentzer and his family should be the first to die screaming.
2005-05-19 13:59 | User Profile
Hell' Kitchen, [QUOTE]You best watch your mouth, bitch...otherwise you will end up in a friggen Lime Pit.[/QUOTE] I don't give a damn about what your ancestors did or how many people in N.Y. may support the I.R.A. You will not come on the board and threaten other members. If you presist I will throw [I]you[/I] in a cyber lime pit.
You have been warned.
2005-05-21 19:05 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Hell's Kitchen] The Westies were IRA supporters and so are most of the NYPD, Firemen, Steelworkers, and us Teamsters.[/QUOTE]Westies what a bunch of pathetic fools and weaklings. I am more scared by a bunch of Lithuanian grandmothers with brooms. The Irish have been kicked out of the Westside, it's now Little Israel. More and more, Israelis are coming every day, I think they're all escaping IDF service. There's more Hebrew magazines and newspapers on the news stands than ones in English. Jewish organized crime runs the rackets. North of 96th St. their favorite racket is driving out old black tennants in rent controlled buildings and 'gentrifying' the building and charging huge rents to the new tennants. One Jewish gangster was called a 'wimp' by his boss for not punching out an old black lady. He ratted out his boss to the cops because of this insult. A tactic the Jews use to drive the old blacks out is wait until they go shopping and put vicious pitbulls in their apartment. Selling club drugs to white kids and using Eastern European women as sex slaves are two more big businesses for the Jewish gangsters. Steelworkers and teamsters two more groups of weaklings and dumbasses. They let a bunch of Jewish and Sicilian gangsters run their unions and make off with their pension funds. All kinds of stories about how the steelworkers and teamsters, scammed off of work on the WTC site. Haven't seen an Irish cop in recent years, they seem like they're all Hispanics now. There are probably as many Germans and Poles in the FDNY as Irish. Yorkville on the Eastside, which used to be German has now been overrun by Jews as well, though the Germans never claimed to have such 'tough' protectors as the Westies. Actually the Westies got beat up by blacks pretty frequently. There aren't any good beer halls or restaurants left in Yorkville, it makes me sad. In regard to original idea of the thread, I know in Ireland, support for the IRA is dying out because they won't drop all of their Marxist/Multicultural crap. Why fight a war for a country if you are just going to give it up to someone else.
2005-05-22 03:48 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Hell's Kitchen], just as us Marines have and still are kicking Al Qaida ass all over the world. [/QUOTE] Mister, if you are really a Marine, you have just embarassed the Corps rather badly with the spewing of garbage you indulged in. Do yourself a favor, and spend more time being a professional, less time being a hate filled person.
Angeleyes
2005-05-22 04:17 | User Profile
I don't know why but when I read a post by Angleyes I feel like tapping the righ side of my nose with the pointing finger of my right hand.
Bene mi amici, bene.
2005-06-20 11:31 | User Profile
The disgusting thing is that you view the IRA as a union of struggle against British Oppression. The British upper classes oppressed their own people, the lower classes of Great Britain had it far worse than those in Ireland.
The IRA, PIRA, etc. (even possibly the IRB) were just criminal organisations, gangsters hiding behind the guise of freedom fighters. They destroyed buildings so they could get the building contracts, they made political points with other people's blood, and they dealt in drugs, etc. Sinn Fein funds these people, who have nothing to do with Ireland but have everything to do with drug trade coming from columbia. My maternal great-grandparents and further back were members of the IRA, and that does not make me miss the PIRA or whoever we've got now dispanding. They are murderes, thugs, terrorists and any other word you wish to use to describe their less than honourable actions. They bombed pubs and people who had nothing to do with them, men and women on a search for violence. Everytime I hear of them glorified it sickens me.
America funds the IRA (an IRA bomb found under a school near where I live), many Americans claimed that the IRA were fighting a good fight, where they were nothing more than mere terrorists, and as soon as there's a cyanide attack on a couple of towers the whole world has to know about it, what about the terror that have faced but never backed down to over hear.
To sum it up, do not glorify an aggressive fraudulant group who the Irish government do their best to not associate with.
Thank you.