Friends of Ulster- USA - A MINUTE OF SILENCE FOR EVERYONE?

Welcome

Home of the Ulster-Scots / Scotch-Irish in America.

More Irish republicanmarxist ideology

A MINUTE OF SILENCE FOR EVERYONE?

If you are still shaken by the horrifying scenes of September 11, please
observe a moment of silence for the 5,000 civilian lives lost in the New
York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania attacks.

While we're at it, let's have 13 minutes of silence for the 130,000
Iraqi civilians killed in 1991 by order of President Bush Sr. Take
another moment to remember how Americans celebrated and cheered in the
streets.

Now another 20 minutes of silence for the 200,000 Iranians killed by
Iraqi soldiers using weapons and money provided to young Saddam Hussein
by the American government before the great eagle turned all its power
against Iraq.

Another 15 minutes of silence for the Russians and 150,000 Afghans
killed by troops supported and trained by the CIA.

Plus 10 minutes of silence for 300,000 Japanese killed in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki by the Atomic bombs dropped by the USA.

We've just kept quiet for one hour: one minute for the Americans killed
in NY, DC, and Pennsylvania, 59 minutes for their victims throughout the
world.

If you are still in awe, let's have another hour of silence for all
those killed in Vietnam, which is not something Americans like to admit.
The US went to another continent thousands of miles away and burnt tens
of thousands of Vietnamese peasants with napalm.

Or for the massacre in Panama in 1989, where American troops attacked
poor villagers, leaving 20,000 Panamanians homeless and thousands more
dead.

Or for the millions of children who have died because of the USA
embargoes on Iraq and Cuba.

Or the hundreds of thousands brutally murdered throughout the world by
US-sponsored civil wars and coups d'etat (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay,
Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador to name a few).

Maybe, and although the memory of Americans claims otherwise, someone
may remember the USA attack on Bagdad where 18,000 civilians were
killed. Did someone see it on CNN? Was justice ever served? Or was there
even any retaliation?

We hope that Americans finally begin to understand their vulnerability
and the attacks and other tragedies that they have caused around the
world.

The dead in other places hurt as much as the dead of the Towers, maybe
even more!

What about the 560,000 Iraqi children (as per current UN data) who have
died as a direct cause of the US supported sanctions against Iraq? Are
these the children of a lessor God?

What about a new generation of nearly one million Iraqi children who are
currently having their lives being ruined by improper nutrition, lack of
medicine and inferior education because of US supported sanctions.

Now, let's talk about terrorism, shall we?

Tony

Tiocfaidh Ár Lá ! El nostre dia vindrà !

Anti-American demos do not come easy to the Irish

ANTI-British demonstrations have been a familiar feature of our political
landscape for many years. But an anti-American demonstration in Ireland?
There were protests of course during the Vietnam War; I took part in some of
them myself. But those who demonstrated then, including me, always made clear
that we were friends of America, not enemies. And we refrained from personal
attacks on American elected officials, including the President.
Last weekend's demonstrations were not entirely different from the Vietnam
demonstrations, but they were significantly different. Insults to the present
President were a regular feature of the recent demonstrations.
'Bush is a moronic warmonger' was a typical slogan and the marchers showed no
signs of finding such slogans unacceptable.

Would there have been a protest march against Clinton if he had, while
President, favoured a war against Iraq? I don't think there would. Clinton
was seen as 'a friend of Ireland', always meaning a friend of nationalist
Ireland. Irish nationalists might have been surprised, and a bit pained, if
Clinton had favoured war against Iraq, but they would not have taken to the
streets to protest against the American government, under the Clinton
Presidency.

Partly, this is due to the Irish public's asymmetrical relationship to the
two great American parties. I once heard two small boys on a New York street
discussing American political alignments. The younger boy wanted to know what
was the difference between the two great American parties? The elder boy had
his answer pat 'the Republicans', he said 'are up for the British. The
Democrats are up for the Irish.' No prizes are offered for guessing the
ethnicity of the two boys.

Another factor working on some of the demonstrators was no doubt the fact
that the British are at present the strongest allies of the Americans as
regards policy towards Iraq.

When the French and Germans engage together in an exercise in Brit-bashing,
many Irish nationalists feel an atavistic urge to join the Brit-bashing.
For reasons of their own, Sinn Fein-IRA support and encourage this tendency.
Their basic anti-Americanism, usually discreetly camouflaged, can find a safe
and popular outlet in 'Hands off Iraq'. It is probable that, had it not been
for the American factor, Ireland would still be part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, as it was when I was born, in 1917. The turning
point, where the British departure from the Catholic parts of Ireland began
to become probable, occurred in the mid 1880's.

On 24 December 1885, Sir William Harcourt explained why it would be
impossible to suppress the Land League, which had then become the effective
government in large parts of Ireland. Harcourt, with behind him his years of
experience as Home Secretary told his colleague Lord Hartington:
"In former rebellions the Irish were in Ireland. We could reach their forces,
cut off their resources in men and money, and then subjugation was
comparatively easy. Now there is an Irish nation in the United States,
equally hostile, with plenty of money, absolutely beyond our reach and yet
within ten days of our shores."

Those were the basic factors that undermined the old United Kingdom. And the
factors remorsely increased in weight in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. The 'ten days' shrank to five and then to three. The First World
War saw the impoverishment and weakening of Britain, and the emergence of the
United States as the greatest power on earth, which it still remains.
Irish rebels henceforward always knew that they could count on significant
American support whenever the British tried to repress them. After the Rising
of 1916 and the executions of the leaders, American pressure induced the
British to release the surviving republican prisoners who then - after great
electoral success in Catholic Ireland - started and sustained a more
formidable insurrection.

American pressure prevented the British from ruthlessly mounting a no
holds-barred repression. The only alternative was to concede the rebels'
demands within the area they controlled: the area of the present Irish State.
After the Second World War, the IRA in launching a powerful offensive in
Northern Ireland knew that international factors - and especially the pattern
of Irish-American-British relationship - would favour the IRA by tying the
hands of those who tried to repress it. Internment without trial was tried,
but quickly abandoned under American pressure.

Rebel atrocities were virtually ignored internationally, while British
atrocities in the course of the attempted repression always produced a
frightful hullabaloo which then could be indefinitely sustained, as in the
present case of the new set of investigations into events in Derry of more
than a quarter-century ago.

The IRA showed that they could strike with impunity at targets in mainland
Britain, and then extort further concessions through the threat of further
attacks.

Things seemed to be going all the IRA's way up to the murderous attacks by
Arab terrorists on targets in the eastern United States on September 11.
An Phoblacht: Republican News originally chortled over the attacks finding
them justified by American imperialism.
The IRA leadership, fearing American reprisals, immediately repudiated An
Phoblacht's line, and made more seemly noises. But then there were the
arrests of the three republicans, using faked passports, and charged with
complicity in FARC terrorism. American officials have already indicated that
they believe the charges to be well-founded.
The trials drag on and are not likely to be completed until the Iraq crisis
is over, probably with the defeat of the Iraq forces by America, with British
aid.

Until the Iraq crisis is out of the way, the Americans will not wish to
embarrass their British ally, which is still busy appeasing the IRA through
further concessions to Sinn Fein.But once the Iraq crisis is over, and
provided no further international crises arise, making further British
support desirable, it seems probable that the Americans will bring pressure
to bear on the British concerning their relation to Sinn Fein. They will
point out, gently enough at first, that the IRA are now known to have been
engaged in activities hostile to the United States.
Now that that is known, the United States will expect the British to break
off relations with Sinn Fein. The Americans know that if that is done, the
IRA may resume hostilities against Britain. In that case, the British can
expect massive American support: political, economic and if necessary
military.

Once those things happen Sinn Fein-IRA will soon cease to be a significant
factor in the life of these islands. And anti-American demonstrations are
unlikely to be sustained on our streets, under the new conditions.

Conor Cruise O'Brien

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=924474&
issue_id=8807

Irish Republican Anti-American Anti-British Communists
http://www.ulisnet.com/a_153.htm

AS British government buildings around the Northern Ireland flew the Union flag at half mast in remembrance of the victims from Tuesday's terrorist atrocities, supporters of the dissident republican Real IRA were making their feelings known on the walls around Londonderry.

Teenage supporters of the Irish republican terrorist group, which murdered 29 innocent civilians in a bomb blast in Omagh, County Tyrone on August 15, 1998 daubed anti American graffiti of the city's nationalist Bogside district.

The graffiti first began to appear on the walls around the Province's second city within hours of the breaking news that terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The crudely painted graffiti was noticed by police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) who were called to attend a burning car near the Steelstown district of the city.

As the second RUC patrol car drove into the district a terrorist detonated the home made fertilizer bomb hidden inside a large plastic 'wheelie' bin, which contained a detonator pack and a command wire.

News of the terrorist attack was greeted by disbelief as people across the Province watched the live television footage of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

British army bomb disposal experts returning to barracks after clearing the scene of the blast also noticed the painting on the walls in the nationalist districts of the city.

A British security force member said: "After what we have witnessed on television today how could anyone even contemplate planting a bomb to take more lives?"

"The three police officers caught in the blast literally came within inches of losing their lives, and they were very fortunate to escape with minor bruising and shock."

"To these mindless terrorists, this is all one big joke. Because Arab terrorists attacked America, their Irish sympathizers in Derry decided they should plant a bomb in solidarity with their terrorist bedfellows.

"As we drove through the Nationalist districts and we saw youths writing 'RIRA/PLO, we haven't gone away you know - F**k America!"

British Intelligence forces have linked Irish republican terrorist groups with Middle Eastern terrorists in the past.

In 1972 and 1977 the Al Fatah section of the Palestinian Liberation Organization sent consignments of weapons to Northern Ireland to arm the IRA, while Colonel Gadaffi supplied the IRA with several tones of weapons and explosives in 1987.

Much of this weaponry is still in the hands of IRA terrorists who have to date refused to decommission their terrorist arsenals despite call for them to do so from President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other world leaders.

Heading the investigation into the Steelstown bombing, RUC Chief Inspector George Brien said: "Those responsible for this bomb clearly intended to kill"

"I have no doubt that the car was deliberately set on fire with the sole purpose of luring police officers in here with intent to kill them," he said. "The officers are extremely shocked and extremely fortunate not to be physically injured."

Derry, City Mayor, Democratic Unionist Party Councilor Mildred Garfield, also condemned the terrorist attack saying: "At the end of the day the police are trying to police the community, irrespective of what side of the community that is and when they get a call to go out to something, they obviously have to answer that call."

"For someone to send for them and then to try and murder them is terrible. It is just deplorable and I would have to condemn it."

Irish Voice
With Friends Like These . . .
NiallO’Dowd

IF there is one Irish political party caught in the horns of a dilemma over the U.S.-led war in Iraq it is Sinn Fein.

The vast majority of the party’s funding comes from the U.S. When they were pretty much friendless around the world, it was a group of influential Irish Americans who ensured that their voice was heard. Irish Americans also succeeded in bringing the weight and power of the Clinton administration to bear on Northern Ireland, and changed the dynamic of the issue forever. The U.S. involvement internationalized Northern Ireland and made a profound difference.

Put succinctly, Sinn Fein would likely still be trying to battle their way out of the ghettos and into the mainstream were it not for American political influence and friendship.

So you would think that the party would be keenly aware of that and temper their attitude to this country as a result. After all, it is only a few weeks since a cadre of Sinn Fein leaders were all over the U.S. raising vast sums for the party around St. Patrick’s Day.

Indeed, party leader Gerry Adams was well received at the White House despite efforts by the British to have President George W. Bush boycott him. There is no question, also, that the current special envoy to Ireland, Richard Haass, has played a leading role in the current negotiations which are now expected to lead to an historic breakthrough.

You would think that such a recent history would lead, at least, to a considered stance on the American-led war in Iraq. You would hope that any discussion of the conflict by the party would also include instances of the savage behaviour of Saddam Hussein towards his own people (1.5 million dead by the last count), and the likelihood that he has chemical or biological weapons.

Not a hope. One of the jocular suggestions in Sinn Fein’s party newspaper, An Phoblacht/Republican News, this week was that Sinn Fein members at the party’s annual Ard Fheis (convention) might contemplate “guzzling 17 pints of lager and swallowing six kebabs,” and “throwing up outside the U.S. Embassy on the way home” from the convention because of the war.

Nine pages of the 20-page publication are essentially dedicated to all out attacks on the U.S.-role in Iraq. There are precious few unflattering mentions of Saddam Hussein.

Indeed, the Irish language columnist notes that one of the lies spread about Saddam Hussein was that he was a useless dictator who had weapons of mass destruction. The columnist notes (and this is my translation) that the same “lie” was fed to the media so much that people started listening to the propaganda.

I don’t know any media outlet in the western world, apart from An Phoblacht, that seriously disputes that Saddam Hussein is indeed a brutal dictator (remember the 1.5 million of his own people killed) and that it is entirely possible, if not probable, that he has weapons of mass destruction.

The coverage also includes a photograph of Saddam taken from CNN with the tag line, “Hussein, we will be victorious against our enemies.” Then we see a bomb falling in Baghdad, a photo of what appears to be a reporter discussing a friendly fire incident involving a patriot missile, and a picture of the American Marine raising a U.S. flag in southern Iraq, which U.S. officials later admitted was a mistake.

Get the picture? Saddam good, America bad.

There is ill-disguised glee that the southern Iraqis did not rise up and celebrate when the American and British arrived. No discussion whatever of the reports that they are held at gunpoint by Saddam’s thugs and find it impossible to do so.

Saddam’s Iraq was a wonderful place, An Phoblacht seems to think. Until these awful invaders arrived. Perhaps they are right, but we shall learn when Saddam is finally vanquished and the people are allowed to speak.

The Irish Republican orthodoxy is, of course, that America is bad wherever it is in the world. There is no discussion in An Phoblacht, for instance, of the vicious crackdown on Cuban dissidents that might damage the polished image of Fidel Castro as socialist hero.

Republicans are entitled to their opinions, of course, but so are Irish Americans, many of whom have family and relatives who are in harms’ way in Iraq. The An Phoblacht message seems to be clear – keep the money and the lobbying coming, but when it comes to your wars, just or not, we’d prefer to throw up outside your embassy.

Irish Voice

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishinamerica/editperiscope/olstory.asp?article=1984251

Sunday Independent
You owe us a few favours, George: disband the IRA's Republican Guard

DEAR PRESIDENT BUSH,

AS ONE of the few Irish journalists to support your war against Saddam Hussein, I want to welcome you to Ireland. Although Iraq and Israel will dominate the public agenda, Sinn Fein will be privately told the score. Apart from that, you came to say thanks to the Irish politicians who stood by you in your hour of need. None of them are Northern nationalists.

Sinn Fein IRA loathes America, fondles Farc, and despises the useful idiots in the Irish-American community and the State Department whom it fooled for many years until it was recently found out. The SDLP, too, is no help. John Hume's speech in the House of Commons debate on Iraq was so hand-wringy that it was hard to make out what side he was on. And now Mark Durkan tells you he is "uncomfortable" and has "profound reservations" about your visit.

But you owe three people big. First, the Protestant people of Northern Ireland who provide most of the 1,500 men and women from the province serving in the Gulf, and most of the recruits to the Royal Irish Regiment and the Irish Guards (which also include some brave southern soldiers), bywords for bravery around Basra. Lt-Colonel Tim Collins, who composed a call to arms superior to any speech of Churchill's, is also one of "them".

Second, you owe David Trimble. As Tony Blair will tell you, Trimble made the best speech in favour of finishing off Saddam Hussein in the House of Commons. And at the Irish Association meeting in Trinity College last week, he again flatly told the anti-war audience: "We should have no doubt about the nature of the regime in Iraq. It is an anti-Semitic nationalist dictatorship."

Let's hope your State Department staffers (some of whom were a bit sucky to Sinn Fein in the past) point out Trimble's tough dig at Gerry Adams: "Because he has difficulty swallowing some of the core aspects of the agreement, it comes as no surprise to me that Gerry Adams and his colleagues line up with the Kim Jong-Ils, the Mugabes, and the Saddams - that is, with some of the worst regimes in the world."

Third, you owe thanks to a southern Irish nationalist. His name is Bertie Ahern and on Iraq he held his head (in his hands, sometimes, but held it) and kept your warplanes flying through Shannon in the teeth of an anti-war hysteria that seemed to suggest that we wanted Saddam to win. Trimble generously dismissed this suggestion in his Trinity speech.

"I don't believe that is what the Irish people want and I don't think that is the policy of the Irish Government. Not for the current Irish Government the gross, hilarious hypocrisy of Caoimhghin O Caolain's amendment in the Dail last week, calling on all states in possession of weapons of mass destruction to put them verifiably beyond use!"

Finally, you owe me. So just before you leave Belfast, tell the IRA's Republican Guard to disband or you will destroy them. Just joking, Mr President.

EOGHAN HARRIS

Trimble's 'game-playing' accusation

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble rounded on politicians including Sinn Finn President Gerry Adams for voicing their opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
By:Press Association

His comments came as US President George W Bush prepared to jet into Belfast for a summit on the war with Prime Minster Tony Blair.

Expressing condolences to the families of two Irish Guards killed in combat yesterday in Basra, the Ulster Unionist Leader said: ``Obviously we repeat our welcome to President Bush he will be arriving here later today.

``I think we can take a degree of pride that the leaders of the coalition that are seeking to liberate Iraq have decided to have their summit meeting here in Belfast.

``I am sure they will receive a warm welcome from the people here.

``But those people and indeed the families of the Ulster and Irish servicemen who are engaged in Iraq will look on with a little bit of amazement and a little bit hurt at the behaviour of those who are playing games with their so called anti-war stance.

``Because we look at some of the people that are engaged in that and we wonder when they became anti-war.

``When we look at the Irish republican involvement in this, these were people who quite happy to kill for an ignoble cause, who were prepared to pursue a war to undermine democracy and who now oppose the liberation of people and the freeing of them from what is undoubtedly an evil dictatorship.

``So we look at the prancing around of some individuals and there will be a sense of hurt amongst those who are standing along side coalition forces at this time.``

Mr Trimble paid tribute to the role of servicemen from Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic in the invasion of Iraq.

He said people in the Province would remember the two Irish Guards killed during combat in Basra.

He claimed their deaths illustrated the appropriateness of a vigil this evening outside Belfast City Hall organised by Second World War veteran and Ulster Unionist assembly member Sir John
Noting Mr Bush and Mr Blair were planning to discuss the Middle East peace process Mr Trimble hoped some of the lessons of peace making in Northern Ireland could be applied there.

His colleague, Sir John Gorman, claimed tonight`s vigil in Belfast City Hall for the soldiers in the Gulf would: ``Give expression to the strong views held by those whose sons, daughters, fathers and brothers are involved in what is a pretty dangerous job in Iraq.

``So many people have said that it does worry us that our loved ones are not getting the sort of support and understanding from people, particularly young people in the province.

``It does seem that it is not a terribly ostentatious thing to do to have a service and there will be a number of important people from the churches there tonight.

``We want this to be a dignified thing - not a political thing.``

With anti-war protesters planning to stage demonstrations across Northern Ireland and near the war cemetery venue in Hillsborough, Sir John hoped that the opposition to the war would fade away.

``I hope it would die away as people see that it has been a very carefully constructed battle and which is producing a very small number of casualties and a result which may be fundamental to the peace of the world,`` the North Down MLA said.

Belfast telegraph
Republicans are blamed for Bush visit traffic chaos
City in gridlock as airports get bomb warnings

By David Gordon

REPUBLICANS were today accused of trying to disrupt the US presidential visit after a series of bomb warnings caused traffic chaos around Belfast.

Both Aldergrove, President Bush's arrival point, and Belfast City Airport were targeted in alerts.

A section of the M2 was also closed, with citybound traffic diverted from Fortwilliam.

The Sydenham by-pass also had to be sealed off, as a result of the City Airport alert.

Major congestion was caused by the closure of two of Belfast's major arterial routes. The knock-on effect from the diversions brought traffic to a standstill in and around the city centre.

A PSNI spokeswoman today said the M2 alert was due to a telephone bomb warning of a device being left at Dock Street.

Army technical officers attended the scene and two controlled explosions were carried out.

The PSNI spokeswoman said the terminal at Belfast City Airport was evacuated following another telephone bomb warning.

The Sydenham by-pass was closed in both directions.

Police received reports earlier in the day that a bomb had been abandoned in a car park at Belfast International Airport.

A PSNI spokeswoman said business at the airport continued as normal as officers investigated.

Vehicles were diverted to a separate car park as the area was examined.

And at one stage, people arriving at the airport were bussed into the terminal from the approach road.

The spokeswoman confirmed that the alert was declared a hoax a short time later and the roads were re-opened

A claim that a device was left at Sprucefield shopping centre was checked by the PSNI but nothing was found.

Belfast UUP councillor and former Mayor Jim Rodgers today condemned the disruption and said he had no doubt republicans were seeking to disrupt the Presidential visit arrangements.

"Once again, Belfast and Northern Ireland will be portrayed internationally in a bad light," he said.

"People have a right to protest peacefully against the war, but not to phone up with recognised code words about bombs being planted.

"This has caused major problems in the city, with funerals being disrupted and people missing important hospital appointments."

One angry motorist contacted the Belfast Telegraph to stress the extent of the problems in east Belfast.

"I have tried four different routes into the city centre and got nowhere," he said.

Irish Independent 8th April
It was almost like old times, except for the US flags

FAMILIAR scenes outside Belfast, police lines, riot gear and dogs, a surging crowd, speeding landrovers, sirens, noisy protesters and scores of cameras and reporters on hand watching it all.

On the surface, just like the old times. Except that the "flashpoint" area was beside a suburban shopping centre near a busy motorway roundabout, and there wasn't an orange collarette or a republican dignatory in sight - the 2,000 who gathered to protest against the Bush-Blair war summit were concerned residents of a different kind.

There was a regulation quota of hotheads in the crowd who surged past the speakers' platform towards police, but they were outnumbered by a varied turnout of people from all walks of life - women with prams, students, and ordinary workers along to make a point.

One man climbed a pole, produced an American flag and began chanting pro-war slogans. A small section of the demonstrators began to shout "Die, die, die" up at him, and he shinnied down quickly and ran across nearby fields. The flag was set alight, but most ignored the scene and walked past.

Busloads of protesters arrived yesterday evening from all over Ireland, deeply angry at what they saw as a cynical decision by George Bush and Tony Blair to dovetail their council of war in Hillsborough Castle with crucial talks on the Northern peace process.

But despite their best efforts, they will not have disturbed the American President's sleep last night. Any intentions they had of marching on the picturesque Co Down village were firmly denied by the police. Hillsborough is effectively a quarantined area until Mr Bush departs this afternoon, open only to residents and accredited outsiders.

Locals, used to the occasional disruption caused during visits by high-level politicians and sundry Royals, are stoically sitting out the inconvenience.

Meanwhile, Belfast city tried to get on with normal business during the day. The only indication that a US President was due in the area was a rash of lunchtime bomb hoaxes which forced the closure of a number of main roads and resulted in traffic mayhem in the early afternoon.

It didn't stop two men in military gear and waving fat cigars driving around in a comical homemade tank, complete with cardboard turret, gun barrel and festooned with flowers.

In the evening, 92-year-old assembly member John Gorman - a decorated war veteran - organised a rally outside City Hall in support of the US and British forces. Those who attended were at pains to point out they were not pro-war, but pro-troops.

Among the attendance were Ian Paisley, David Ervine, Billy Hutchinson, Nigel Dodds, Ian Donaldson and Peter and Iris Robinson.

The small crowd, many with Union Jacks and US flags, was swelled by the arrival of marches from East Belfast. Mr Gorman asked that a political banner reading "Disarm Sinn Fein, Disband the IRA" be removed, and the men who had it draped on a car removed it.

He said they were gathered to send support and best wishes to their loved ones in the Gulf, and to "express concern for our young chaps". He prayed the war would end in victory for "our boys" but also remembered the people in Iraq.

The demonstration was brief and dignified, and then the two groups marched back to East Belfast.

On Shaftsbury Square, a couple of youths cheered as they saw the pretend tank speed by. "Bomb the bastards" shouted one of them. "C'mon Iraq" chimed his companion.

That's Belfast. Nothing is ever black and white.

The Times
April 08, 2003

Irish republicans accuse Bush of using visit to justify war
By Rosemary Bennett and David Lister in Belfast

PRESIDENT Bush arrived in Belfast last night to face rare criticism from Irish republicans, who accused him of using the Northern Ireland peace process to prop up support for war in Iraq.

On the eve of crucial talks between Mr Bush and Northern Ireland's main party leaders, Gerry Adams called the President's decision to hold a war summit with Tony Blair in the Province "insensitive".

"We would be wrong not to point it out . . . the insensitivity of having a war summit which then discusses peace in the margins, of having a war summit which appears to be trying to use the Irish process as a stage or as a prop," the Sinn Fein leader said.

Staunchly opposed to the war in Iraq but eager to stay on good terms with the White House, Sinn Fein has been placed in an awkward position by Mr Bush's visit. The party is attempting to maintain its opposition to military action without attacking the President personally.

Senior Sinn Fein figures joined anti-war protesters who marched towards Hillsborough Castle where the war summit took place amid tight security. About four thousand protesters carrying anti-war placards made their way to the outskirts of Hillsborough, where they were addressed by Mitchel McLaughlin, the Sinn Fein chairman. They jeered and whistled as the President's helicopter flew overhead on the way to the castle.

Mr Bush and Mr Blair walked in the gardens for half an hour before holding "informal and freewheeling" talks over dinner, where they discussed the unexpectedly rapid progress into Baghdad.

Thursday is the fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and Mr Blair will return to Belfast to publish a joint blueprint with Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, to try to revive the Stormont Assembly. Mr Blair hopes that the President's personal involvement, the first time he has become significantly engaged in the issue, will encourage the parties to swing behind his new proposals on security, policing, political institutions and equality.

However, the anti-war protesters who marched towards Hillsborough were less than convinced about Mr Bush's sincerity in travelling to Northern Ireland. While the majority listened to anti-war speeches, a tense stand-off took place between up to 1,000 demonstrators and riot police blocking the country road into the village near Belfast. In farcical scenes, two demonstrators at the front of the crowd - one banging a pot with a stick, the other beating a frying pan with a metal lid - advanced to within inches of the police.

The protesters, singing "This is what Democracy Sounds like" and "Shame, Shame, Shame", carried Palestine flags and anti-war placards bearing the messages "Osama Bin Bush", "USA - Unsanctioned State Aggression" and "Boycott Bush, War Criminal". As the protest threatened to turn violent, a group of up to 40 jumped over a hedge into a neighbouring field guarded by a line of riot police with alsatian dogs.

The television footage of the protests did not provide the images that President Bush and Mr Blair hoped to see accompany their talks on how to apply the lessons from the Ulster peace process to the Middle East. Mr Bush is due to publish the international "road map" to help to resolve the Israel-Palestine dispute.

Israel has already lodged its protest over 15 aspects of the road map with the White House, including a demand to halt settlement activity.

However, far from taking Israel's protests as a bad sign, British officials said that it showed that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, knew Mr Bush was serious about the plan. Progress in the wider Middle East would help Mr Blair to heal the rift that has opened up with the Labour Party over war in Iraq.

Detailed talks on the proposed interim administration in Iraq, which will take over from US military rule, will take place today when Jack Straw and Colin Powell will join the two leaders, along with Condoleezza Rice, who flew in from Moscow last night for the dinner.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,915292,00.html
Two-faced peaceniks

Opponents of war against Iraq should stand up to Sinn Fein

Henry McDonald
Sunday March 16, 2003
The Observer

When it comes to Sinn Fein, the Irish 'peace' movement is the dog that doesn't bark. Last week the alliance against war in Iraq called on Bertie Ahern to boycott his early St Patrick's Day hooley with George W. Bush in the White House. However, there was another party leader who attended the Oval Office function and is himself opposed to war against Saddam Hussein's regime.
Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, leads a party that has been at the forefront of the Irish anti-war coalition. SF councillors and TDs regularly turn up to demonstrations in the Republic; Adams himself attended the big anti-war rally outside Belfast City Hall in February. The party's newspaper, An Phoblacht, carries regular stories with an anti-war angle. Rank-and-file Provisionals are among the workhorses of the peace movement, the ones who put up the posters, collect money, distribute leaflets and march in the demos.

So why did the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, along with the Irish Anti-War movement, not ask the Sinn Fein leader to refuse Bush's invitation to Washington? Surely, this would have been a great gesture of defiance against the US military build-up in the Gulf? Bertie, it seems, is an easier target for the Irish peaceniks' ire than Adams, even though the Taoiseach's party is not an affiliate of the peace movement and in private many Fianna Failers support military action against Saddam's dictatorship.

No one should be surprised by the reticence of the 'peace movement' over pointing out the contradictions in modern republicanism. None of the major peace groups saw anything contradictory in the willingness of the Irish anti-war movement's very own Joan of Arc, Mary Kelly, to attend a function in the United States organised by Republican Sinn Fein. Kelly was to be guest speaker at the pro-Continuity IRA party's fund-raising event in New York last month. She was of course otherwise disposed, in jail for alleged vandalism of US military aircraft at Shannon.

The criticism here is not directed at RSF, who, whatever one thinks of their politics, are upfront, open and honest in their support for the 'armed struggle' in the North. The hypocrisy and contradictions belong to the Irish peaceniks, who apparently see nothing incongruous about one of their leading figures preaching peace at Shannon while being prepared to stand beside arms smugglers and pro-CIRA cheerleaders in America.

Adams was right to attend the Washington bash. The American administration's invitation sent out a signal that Sinn Fein would not be left out in the cold, despite the IRA's adventures in Florida and Colombia. Not to turn up would have given the unionists and the more hawkish elements in the US government more ammunition with which to destroy the inclusive policy began by Bill Clinton. The real issue here is the anti-war coalition's coyness in standing up to Adams and Sinn Fein on Iraq. Because there is a glaring contradiction between the soundbite radicalism of the Sinn Fein student or councillor and the wooing of corporate America by the party's leading lights while they are in the States.

About 15 years ago one of my oldest Dublin friends was getting fed up with the various peace groups in the capital. He was incensed that while they marched, picketed, leafleted and protested about Cruise and Pershing missiles and the threat of a nuclear holocaust they were saying nothing about the real-time mini-war going on 'in their name' less than 100 miles north.

Frustrated over their reticence to challenge the IRA's claim to be waging a war on the Irish people's behalf, he formed his own peace campaign. Its slogan was 'Peace begins at home'. Given the profound ignorance of many of the peaceniks about the reality of Saddam's Iraq and their stubborn refusal to listen to Iraqi opposition appeals for liberation from Baath brutality, perhaps they should adopt it.

PS: Last week I referred to the 'Fields of Athenry' as a republican anthem. Let me clarify that Pete St John's love song set in the time of the Famine was not penned as a republican ballad. My point was that it has been hijacked by some (a small minority of course) not only in the Celtic but also Rangers support, for political/tribal purposes.

And while we are on the subject of sport and sectarianism, I note that Eric Waugh, the Belfast Telegraph columnist, has called on Catholic schools in Northern Ireland to starting playing rugby. He is quite right in criticising the Northern Catholic school system for its de facto ban on rugby, a game that unites Ireland like no other sport. But if Catholic schools should start rugby union teams then surely there is a quid pro quo for schools in the North's state sector.

In the interests of peace building, it is time for state schools to embrace Gaelic sports as well. Maybe some day soon we will have a Methody Hurling squad and a St Malachy's College rugby team.

Irish Independent 31st August
Republicans cheer 'pacifist' who wrecked US bomber at Shannon

PADDY CLANCY

THE woman accused of causing $1.5 million worth of damage to a US jet at Shannon Airport was loudly cheered yesterday by dissident Irish republicans opposed to the IRA ceasefire when she urged that Irish protests against the American presence in Iraq should continue.

Ms Mary Kelly, 50, from Baltimore, Co Cork, and often described as a "peace activist", was speaking at a rally in Bundoran, Co Donegal, organised by Republican Sinn Fein - a group which is opposed to the North's peace process - to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the H-Block hunger strike deaths in Long Kesh in 1981.

She shared a platform with relatives of some of the dead hunger-strikers and with the veteran Republican Sinn Fein brothers, Ruairi and Sean O Bradaigh.

Senior garda and Government sources say Republican Sinn Fein is a political front for the dissident republican faction, the Continuity IRA. RSF denies this.

However, members of the party have been arrested and sentenced for Continuity IRA-related offences.

The party devotes considerable energy to supporting Continuity IRA prisoners in Portlaoise and Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland.

Around 400 supporters of Republican Sinn Fein marched through the normally bustling seaside resort.

Holidaymakers watched silently from the doors of pubs, hotels and amusement arcades as the demonstrators marched past behind a couple of bands and a Fianna Eireann colour party in black berets and dark glasses. The colour party included a couple of boys about eight years old.

Ms Kelly is expected to know in October if she is to face a retrial on a charge of criminal damage to the US jet.

She was one of several protestors arrested for breaching the perimeter security fence around Shannon airport at the height of the build-up to the Iraqi offensive.

A court failed to reach a verdict in her first trial. However the Judge Carl Moran said, "if people are allowed to express their political views by damaging property it would not be long before there was mob rule and rioting in the streets."

She has been twice convicted of trespass at Shannon airport when American planes carrying troops and weapons were stopping over on their way to the war in Iraq.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/index.php3?ca=9&issue_id=9732