The IRA

[Ducado]

Perhaps you can go to Iraq or Afghanistan and come back with that respect for the dedication of Al Qaeda etc.
They were cowards. Not really freedom fighters. For all their pride in bearing arms they did it in the most cowardly and sneaky way.
Warrington. Omagh. Many places. A shame you see what you heard from Republican arseholes as true but the British version has to be some sort of propaganda.

And there are still some who hold the view that killing is a justified action. I feel for all those who suffered at the hands of the scum.

Actually, The Taliban are a very effective force in Afghanistan.

I'm trying not to make value driven judgements here.

The record of the Loyalist paramilitaries is objectively worse than that of PIRA in terms of deliberately targeting civilians.

The number of non combatants killed, tortured and beaten by the RUC ,backed by the British Army, is vastly under reported and absolutely shocking for a supposedly state sanctioned force.

Did The IRA committ atrocities? Yes they did. But in the context of a dirty war - on all sides, they were not the worst protagonists.

You have a very warped view of the troubles, you have a right to hold an opinion, however you really are on to a hiding to nothing coming on a British based forum, glorifying murderous cowards, for all you know some members of this forum might have been directly effected, or even lost a loved one, what would you say to the mother or farther of a child killed in a car bomb attack, would you still say the same things, if you had to look them in the eyes?

I doubt you would, you prefer to romanticise and sanitise.

Did you also know that PIRA were the main drug smugglers and dealers to the whole of Ireland and the remnants of the organisation are still at it?

 

[mammutly]

I think Adams and Maguinness deserve a lot of credit for bringing the IRA in from the cold

They had no choice, PIRA was bleeding to death, the flow of arms was slowing, Loyalists were getting stronger and better armed, also PIRA was compromised by the security services at a very high level number 2 in their internal security Freddie Scappaticci was a British agent, it was estimated that if things carried on like they were, PIRA would have been decimated and any hope of reunification or even better representation for Catholics would go with it, so they took the pragmatic way, which was the way the British and Irish governments wanted them to go.

The goverment commisioned review undertaken by General Mike Jackson reached a different conclusion. It described the IRA as "professional, dedicated, highly skilled and resilient". The review report makes clear that British government efforts by the 1980s were intended to destroy the IRA, not negotiate a political solution, but that the British campaign produced no final success "in any recognisable way".


You can read it here:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.vilaweb.cat/media/attach/vwedts/docs/op_banner_analysis_released.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.vilaweb.cat/media/attach/vwe ... leased.pdf</a>

 

[LongsightM13]

Some interesting comments which I think illustrate the power of the media and he way the troubles were reported in England. The record of The British Army in Ireland is of course littered with 'atrocities', but whilst troops were "murdered" the other side were merely "shot dead".

Think you'll find Ulster is part of the United Kingdom , Ireland is not.

No. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
'Ulster' is not and never has been part of the United Kingdom.
Ulster is one of the four ancient provinces of Ireland.
It includes the counties of Donegal and Monaghan, which are in the free Republic of Ireland.
Ulster existed long before invasion by a foreign nation, the plantation of Scottish protestants, vote denial, gerrymandering, the man who invented genocide and ethnic cleansing in the name of the English crown, Oliver Cromwell, and his spiritual daughter Margaret Thatcher.
Terrible atrocities were committed on all sides, including British soldiers.
Only an idiot or a hopeless bigot still refuses to accept Bloody Sunday was anything other than a state sanctioned slaughter. Even the government gas admitted as much.
For everyone on here who has a squaddie mate who was killed or maimed over there, there is a Catholic family with an equal grievance.
It is conveniently disingenuous at best, and pathetically dishonest at worst, to pretend that British soldiers and the loyalist paramilitaries they armed and provided so called intelligence to, were in any way less blameworthy than any other player in this awful tragedy.

 

[johnmc]

Id like to know how some people would react if they were subject to abuse from the authorities on a regular basis. Sit there and take it or try and fight back.

 

[Big G]

Some interesting comments which I think illustrate the power of the media and he way the troubles were reported in England. The record of The British Army in Ireland is of course littered with 'atrocities', but whilst troops were "murdered" the other side were merely "shot dead".

Hmmmmm

They were doing OK, whilst the state fought with one hand behind it's back, but when the hands were untied, they soon wanted to stop fighting, in fact the they sued for peace, the Loyalists were getting stronger by the day (aided by the state I must say) PIRA were bleeding to death, it was nasty and brutal but in the end it brought about peace

You pipped me to it. The Army knew the major players by name, and where most of them lived. We could have destroyed the IRA in an instant if we didn't play "by the rules".

Ive got 2 stories regarding the IRA.

1st is my cousin was a Captain in the Army doing his bit in Ireland, being ranked he got to see shit the general troops didnt, he said he was sickened to go into meeting with the IRA every week to discuss 'rules' and what this weeks targets and codeword was for a bombing,
Sad bad shit going on.

2nd was from a colleague, we had a job over in Ireland, due to holidays I missed out, seems I was lucky, My colleague was in a pub in some village in middle Ireland minding his own business having a pint after work when some guy come in and started rattling a tin about, punters were putting money in and when my colleague asked he was told 'Its for the cause', my colleague declined to give and in a short moment was advised in no uncertain terms to leave the village, so after being marched to his car he drove off into the night, and followed for around 40 miles before he was alone.
He said he thought that was going to be his last day alive.

 

[TCIB]

Yeah id build 3000lbs fertilizer bombs and indiscriminantly blow up chunks of the British isles, i mean isn't that the obvious and sane thing to do ?

 

[Forzacitizens]

there's no bother when they're asking for billions from us for their economy

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

2nd was from a colleague, we had a job over in Ireland, due to holidays I missed out, seems I was lucky, My colleague was in a pub in some village in middle Ireland minding his own business having a pint after work when some guy come in and started rattling a tin about, punters were putting money in and when my colleague asked he was told 'Its for the cause', my colleague declined to give and in a short moment was advised in no uncertain terms to leave the village, so after being marched to his car he drove off into the night, and followed for around 40 miles before he was alone.
He said he thought that was going to be his last day alive.

What your mate didn't know is that 'the cause' is an Irish euphemism for Oxfam. No wonder they chased him out of town the tight ****.

 

[johnmc]

Yeah id build 3000lbs fertilizer bombs and indiscriminantly blow up chunks of the British isles, i mean isn't that the obvious and sane thing to do ?

Not at all

But some people think some things were done without reasons. Tell me this, say the police came into your house, two soldiers held you at gunpoint whilst another punched your wife in the face. Imagine this was a regular occurrence and you couldnt complain to the authorities as they were the ones doing it. What would you do?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Yeah id build 3000lbs fertilizer bombs and indiscriminantly blow up chunks of the British isles, i mean isn't that the obvious and sane thing to do ?

Not at all

But some people think some things were done without reasons. Tell me this, say the police came into your house, two soldiers held you at gunpoint whilst another punched your wife in the face. Imagine this was a regular occurrence and you couldnt complain to the authorities as they were the ones doing it. What would you do?

Some people seem to have no understanding as to why the IRA effectively came back to life in NI in the late sixties. As I have already said earlier, the way Catholics were treated after partition was shameful.