Psst! Duck! The IRA are the Republicans! (Well, some of 'em are, anyway.) The ones who sing “God Save the Queen” are the Loyalists.
Sorry brains but 9/11 had a awful lot to do with the 2nd act of decommisioning.
The Griffin where have you been for the last 30 years?
Just think of the all the innocent lives that could have been saved if your mondo Taekwondo skills had been put on the streets of NI :rolleyes:
Whether the IRA santioned the trip is still in question ASAIK.
Should be interesting today as the NI assembly are debate the status of the IRA ceasefire IRA ‘ceasefire’ motion up for debate
Slán
Minty, The republicans in this context are the American Republicans (i.e. the political party).
The report that was released will be used to try and justify increased US spending and Presence in Columbia.
They are attacking one side of the Columbian Situation, while supporting the other (equally as dangerous) side.
While the US helped fund and train a huge mission against Pablo Escobar and the Medillin Cartel in the 80’s and 90’s, they neglected to tackle the Cali Cartel. In fact, they supported a vigilante group called Los Pepes which was just as brutal as Escobar, was staffed by Cali cartel members, allegedly trained by delta force soldiers and aided by observance notes from Centra Spike and Columbian police.
If these people are IRA men, then by all means try them, and if found guilty let them serve their sentence.
But I cannot agree with the US using this as an excuse to increase their presence an influence in Columbia.
I can.
What has their presence in Columbia achieved so far?
Is there any less Drugs going into the US?
Yes, but you’re an idiot.
Dick Armey is a terrorist? :eek:
Is there a political party called the American Republicans?
oops 
republican with a small “r” : Irish republican movement.
Republican: the GOP
American Republican: I have no idea.
Just making fun of my own goof, Twisty.
I … I … I …
(spit it out ruadh)
… I agree with The Griffin on this one. shudder
The second act of decommissioning, the one which took place a few weeks ago, was most likely to do with the possibility of an amnesty for republican fugitives.
The first act of decommissioning, last October, was already being reported as imminent shortly before 9/11. 9/11 might have made it more imminent, but it would have happened soon enough anyway.
*N.B. I would like to stress that the fact The Griffin is IMHO right on this one specific issue does not make him any less of a dickhead.
::sigh::
One last time, for the record: America does not support the IRA. Certain Americans have financially supported the IRA, but attributing the actions of these few individuals to all of America is rather like saying all of France supports Le Pen - it is untrue.
I’m sure a rather larger percentage of Americans support the nationalist cause in Northern Ireland (though I strongly doubt anything approaching a majority), but that, as everyone should be well aware, is not the same as supporting the IRA.
Sua
I hope everyone is keeping up with the thread in GD. This Griffin guy is such an idiot it’s amusing. He doesn’t know a goddamn thing about Colombia (“Duh, is the US government involved in something there?”), but is making all these fantastic assertions. My favorite post: “I saw it on TV once.” Are we falling for a troll?
… and that’s why we tried to have that thread closed. Efforts to actually debate him have proven worthless several times over.
This argument generally centers around the fact that the US government allowed US citizens to contribute to Noraid and other similar groups. What those who make the argument never seem to grasp is that the US constitution makes it extremely difficult for the government to prevent political donations. I do recall Noraid being forced to submit its accounts at one point, but I highly doubt Semtex was mentioned on those accounts. Without direct evidence that Noraid was funding terrorism there is very little the US government could have done about it. Those are our laws, the British should try not to take them personally.
Actually just about every survey I’ve ever seen has put it firmly in the majority. The only cite I have offhand is this one (see the fifth paragraph up from the bottom), which I concede is pretty lame. I’ll try to find a better one later.
Agreed but Mitchel McLaughlin in a interview on “Hearts and Minds”(I think) hinted at the fact that pressure from the US had influence on the IRA’s decision.