A man was shot dead in republican west Belfast yesterday. He was an alleged “dissident terrorist” who had fallen out with other “dissident” terrorists. Dogs and fleas. This morning, on BBC Radio 4 today, I heard the most cringing interview possible with a Sinn Fein/IRA spokesperson on this topic. She was allied to claim that these dissident republican terrorists are criminals with little support. The IRA were also criminals but she was out to rewrite THAT bit of history. She went on to whinge about lack of “equality” and political progress, inferring Godfather style that unless some “progress” is made (meaning accommodating Sinn Fein agenda) why “dissidents” are almost forced to kill the odd person. At NO point was there any challenge made to the Sinn Fein/IRA history agenda and we are presented with the IRA’s proxies being given a platform on this major news station so they can present themselves as the voice of moderation and reason. Repulsive.
SANITISING SOME TERRORISTS
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Why would there be any mention of a Sinn Fein/IRA history agenda?
The issue was a murder by a dissident group, and unless you are suggesting that the horrors of the past should constantly be raked over every time Ireland is discussed then sometimes we just have to let things go.
I’m convinced that BLiar has a lot to answer for in the way he negotiated the peace settlement, and the amount of concessions he made, however better the peace than sparking up another round of the troubles.
‘She was allied to claim that these dissident republican terrorists are criminals with little support. The IRA were also criminals but she was out to rewrite THAT bit of history.’
She is a Sinn Fein spokesperson. The claim she made about the criminality of the dissidents needed to be challenged as it was through criminality (as well as various sympathisers overseas) that Sinn Fein/IRA got their funding.
Otherwise, if your view is we shouldn’t be raking over the past, don’t have her on at all because such a discussion and such claims will inevitably lead there (except on the BBC – see thread on Christopher Booker’s article).
Droid: Is this politics or mere criminality?
A question straight out of The Third Way playbook.
News just in – murdering someone ‘in the name of politics’ *is* criminality.
Thoughtful
1. Was the murdered man ex-IRA? Did he commence terrorism only when he became a dissident?
2. Is justice something one let’s go lest it disturb appeasers?
3. To interview a Sinn Fein apologist for the IRA and allow them to preen as “moral” is abhorrent to me.
2 I’m looking back to South Africa’s ‘Truth & reconciliation’ program. Justice might appear to have been denied, but if the consequence of inflicting that justice leads to deaths on a major scale then perhaps a calculation needs to be made as to the least damage? Even that means some feel that the guilty go unpunished.
Sinn Fein IRA have always put up spokespeople who have ‘preened’ when ever they have been on media. Most do not believe them, if fact even as a child I remember being open mouthed at the ‘justification’ for murder after an outrage.
Sometimes they are best left to hoist themselves on their own petard.
On the BBC I’ve heard Peter Hain refer to IRA prisoners as ‘political prisoners’ and not be picked up on it. The BBC coverage of the Irish President’s visit was poor, and focussed more on McGuiness.
The latest ‘dissident’ shooting – why call him a ‘dissident’, why not just call him a ‘Republican’? Funnily enough the BBC never refers to Loyalist street protesters as ‘dissidents’. The BBC meme is that Irish nationalist Republicans on the whole are ‘with the programme’. If Sinn Fein wanted to inform on the ‘dissidents’ and help the police, would that help? Maybe the BBC should press them on that.
How about some BBC reporting that the secret IRA pardons killed off any lingering prospects for anything to come from Haas’ latest visit? Or some BBC reporting about why some former IRA informers can’t safely return to Northern Ireland? How about EU money paying for IRA celebrating visitor centres? Or vote rigging? Maybe the BBC will pick up and investigate the Garda collusion with the IRA revealed by the Irish government’s independent Smithwick report? Or smuggling on the Border? Or who really bombed Birmingham? Or the terrorist connections of leading Northern Irish politicians? Maybe the BBC would like to even investigate TV license evasion in certain parts of Northern Ireland?
What a shame the BBC is so poorly funded it can’t do investigative journalism?
Peter Hain of the Continuity Labour Party was touring the studios recently promoting himself and the idea that all irish terrorists who hadn’t already been freed/ pardoned/ forgiven/ compensated/ met the queen/ should be.
Shame for Hain that on the same day he was shilling, there was an arrest of one of the prime suspects for the Omagh bombing. The Omagh bombing that murdered 29 people.
How much did the Labour Party, under Mr Blair, spend investigating soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday; £200 million, or thereabouts, wasn’t it? But it’s apparently not fair to pursue and bring to justice those who were, and probably still are our enemies? That seems to me to be a trait of socialism; those who we employ to protect us are always wrong while those who are intent on doing us harm must be protected and defended no matter the cost.
the real ira,provisional ira,continuity ira are all just offshoots of the big family of the ira with sinn fein as still there politacal wing,its true that some terrorists that are in goverment now think they are morally superior to the new breed of ira terrorists who feel they have been sidelined from the peace process but the at end of the day they are all still brothers in arms except some still chose to use the bomb and the bullet while others chose to sip wine and champayne with david cameron and the queen down at buckingham palace.did you hear stephens nolans inteview last night at 11.30 pm on radio 5 live with lord tebbit, that was a real eye opener.
As I keep saying only when the lefts fav victims carry out a huge terrorist attack in the uk will the left wake up and smell the coffee, no wait?
The BBC is never at it’s most MinTruth than when it’s interviewing McGuiness. Any mention of Mrs Thatcher has to be matched with a reference to the miners, but McGuiness? He’s just this guy.
All of which reveals a deeper truth about the BBC. Who are the IRA? Heavily armed Catholic fundamentalists with a history of violence against immigrants and an obsession with creating an ethnically-pure homeland. If they were in West Virginia or Arizona, the BBC would hate them, but they hate Britain nearly as much as the BBC does and so the BBC gives a murderous scumbag the Ghandi treatment.
“fundamentalists with a history of violence against immigrants and an obsession with creating an ethnically-pure homeland.”
This is of course true, however Southern Ireland has been getting substantial numbers of third world immigrants. When I was there in October I would say grass roots reaction to this was similar to the UK. Ironically the Shinners have made mildly sympathetic noises in support these immigrants. This is probably with an eye to retaining the invaluable support they enjoy from British liberals. However an Irish blogger summed up SF policy as “Brits out everyone else in!”
The IRA had much more support than David Vance. Listen to Vance preen about morality is abhorrent to me.
Making coming to this site to be offended, in the absence of any contribution of relevance on topic or off, at most an exercise in masochism.
At least the injury of being forced to pay even if you did not is not added to any perceived insult.
Were it that the BBC operated on a similar basis.