# The IRA condemn Osama. Well how peachy.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ira-condemn-osama-well-how-peachy/82809>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [September 20, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ira-condemn-osama-well-how-peachy/82809 "2001-09-20T16:03:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ira-condemn-osama-well-how-peachy/82809/41 "2001-10-01T18:44:09Z")

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Tom, you could have added that the DUP has no military wing, and thus is not even **aligned to** any terrorist groups.

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**Author:** ![rob\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@rob\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rob_s)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ira-condemn-osama-well-how-peachy/82809/42 "2001-10-01T20:37:07Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> I don’t disagree, but even if they are closely related the IRA and Sinn Fein are not the same organisation. Instead of “keep some distance”, perhaps I should have said “preserve a formal distinction”.
> 
> My remarks were directed at capacitor, who seems to think that the DUP is a terrorist organisation and that Ian Paisley is a terrorist. I was trying to point out the distinction between a terrorist group and a political party (which has some force, even in Northern Ireland).

Fair point, well made.

> [@](#):
>
> Tom, you could have added that the DUP has no military wing, and thus is not even aligned to any terrorist groups.

I guess technically this is true, but politics and sectarian violence in N. Ireland is a pretty murky mixture.

There might not be any offical alignment, but I’d put money on the fact that the DUP has had a hand in at least some paramilitary activity in the past. That’s just pure conjecture though, so I’m not going to do myself any favours by trying to argue for it 🙂

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