Daily Ramblings:
Maybe Someday ...03/09/2005 10:43:06 am
Right Wing Bob, being
of Irish extraction, follows the news from the auld
sod reasonably closely. The Northern Irish peace deal
(negotiated with heavy involvement from President
Clinton back in 1998) has plowed its crooked and excruciating
path for seven years now. Though the situations are
certainly different, I can't help seeing parallels to
the Palestinian/Israeli circumstance, in that
everyone shook hands and smiled over a peace deal
that was only agreed to because the fundamental
points of difference were glossed over - in classic
Clinton-speak fashion (i.e. using words that allowed
everyone to hear what they preferred to hear).
So for years now it's been a case
of wondering when the crunch would come.
Specifically, wondering when there would be a
decisive clash between those who oppose the IRA (and
thought that the IRA had agreed to abandon their
arms) and the IRA themselves (and their supporters),
who only signed onto the agreement because they
interpreted it as allowing them to continue forever
as essentially the same entity.
So there was the farce of
"decommissioning" (of weapons), which
dragged out until finally reaching a breaking point a
few months ago. The IRA "agreed" that their
weapons would be put "beyond use," and
agreed that this would be witnessed by experts
employed for that purpose, but would not agree to any
photographic evidence of the event, saying that this
would amount to "humiliation." The opposing side, the Unionists
(those that want NI to remain part of Britain
forever, while the IRA want Britain out) said that
the lack of any physical evidence of such a crucial
event was unacceptable. I suppose that you could
criticize both sides for fetishizing the photos ...
but really ... how unbelievably absurd that it would
come down to this. (And funny, from a distance, for
sure.)
Since then there was a bank heist, alleged to be carried out by the IRA,
which drove another nail into the whole thing.
And now the situation has
culminated in this: On January 30th, a man named
Robert McCartney was stabbed to death in a pub, allegedly by drunken
IRA men. His family -
erstwhile supporters of the IRA's cause - mounted a
campaign in the media to bring his killers to
justice.
The pressure has been rising and
rising on the IRA, and in particular on their
"political wing," the party called Sinn
Fein, led by one Gerry Adams. The IRA stated that
they had "expelled" the alleged murderers
from their organization. Yet, they were accused of
engaging in a cover-up of actual evidence that could
be used against them in court - including engaging in
intimidation of witnesses.
So, the IRA, apparently wilting
under all this negative press, yesterday made what
they must have felt was a pretty big concession. They
offered ... to shoot
the guys who allegedly
stabbed Robert McCartney (... pause for rim shot).
Today, the Bush administration's
envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, demanded that the IRA
disband: "It's time
for the IRA to go out of business."
As much as I dislike it, there's
only one word that comes to me right now: DUH.
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