The IRA condemn Osama. Well how peachy.

[ruadh]

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

[rob_s]

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