End of the war in Ireland?

[HStorm]

General John de Chastelain, head of the Arms Decommissioning body in Northern Ireland, has declared that the Irish Republican Army has measurably put all its weapons beyond use. De Chastelaine is satisfied that the inventory of destroyed weaponry represents the entire IRA arsenal.

The arsenal stands at; -
1,000 rifles
2 tonnes of Semtex
20-30 heavy machine guns
7 Surface-to-air missiles
7 flame throwers
1,200 detonators
11 rocket-propelled grenade launchers
90 hand guns
100+ grenades

This is undoubtedly a momentous turning point - although the fact the announcement was timed for Labour's conference week smacks of a blatant gift by Republicans to Tony Blair.

[modeski]

Firstly, I wholeheartedly welcome this move by the IRA. It seems that they have actually stuck to their word, and I applaud it. This has all the more meaning because I walked through the aftermath of an IRA bomb in 1996 with Storm and Nas in their home town. Not immediately after, but I saw the level of destruction.

Reading the metro this morning, I saw that Ian Paisley was being his usual belligerent self, alleging that not all the munitions had been destroyed, and that there was a conspiracy by de Chastelain, Adams and Blair to keep the truth - that there were still weapons out there - hidden. For christ's sake, there were two priests who witnessed the whole thing, driving from site to site. If I read correctly, one was protestant and the other catholic.

I am all for free speech, but Ian Paisley has been beating the same drum for 30-odd years. Nothing is ever good enough for him. Good Friday agreement? Bollocks. Commitment to an end to violence? Bollocks. Separation of Sinn Fein and IRA? Bollocks. It seems to me that he actually revels in being so vocal, because people are forced to listen to him. Thankfully I think he represents the minority view. The majority of Irish people I've spoken to over the years want peace, especially the younger generation.

I've not heard anything from Washington yet, but I'm sure Bush will issue a statement. Not that he has the slightest clue about the troubles. One thing thing that always struck me was the tacit support for Sinn Feinn/IRA (in the past at least), from successive US administrations, in an cynical attempt to hold the "celtic vote". In these times of TWAT, it's notable how quiet our leaders have been about Northern Ireland.

Anyway, despite the naysayers, I applaud Sinn Fein and the IRA for this move. Let's hope it does mean a truen end to the violence.

[Naselus]

To be honest, it doesn't seem like an awful lot of weapons, considering the size and resources the IRA had to play with. On the other hand, much of the IRA's equipment was owned by the individual members, who have turned to crime now they can't follow a 'legitimate' terrorist career.

[modeski]

naselus said:

... individual members, who have turned to crime now they can't follow a 'legitimate' terrorist career.

I can just see the ads in the classified section of the Belfast Herald:

"Due to downsizing, our members are seeking re-employment. Any recruiters who need highly motivated, accurate employees with pinpoint accuracy please contact nnnn nnnnnnn. We will help you eliminate competition."

[HStorm]

considering the size and resources the IRA had to play with

Have you got some figures on that? I was always under the impression that their resources were minimal. Most of it came from American lefties, but that doesn't mean there was much of it.

[Naselus]

hstorm said:

considering the size and resources the IRA had to play with

Have you got some figures on that? I was always under the impression that their resources were minimal. Most of it came from American lefties, but that doesn't mean there was much of it.

Actually, it seems most of the IRA's resources came from 'Ghosting', a criminal process of claiming wages for construction workers who don't actually exist. It's claimed that almost any building made in Belfast between 1970 and 1994 had at least 10 non-existant labourers working on it at any one time, leading to extremely large sums of money being diverted into IRA coffers. They also collected 'tax' from local drug dealers, and ran a large-scale cannabis-smuggling ring moving Afghan hash into the UK with the help of aclaimed drug baron Howard Marks.

As far as I can tell, the main reason the UK never really bothered protesting the US aid to the IRA was because the amount was completely negligible compared to what the IRA could earn on it's own. The IRA had a Chief fundraising officer who was extremely good at his job, and quite wealthy from his other businesses to boot. I'll try and track down the books I got all this from; Some of it's in Howard Mark's biography, more from several of Tony Thompson's crime studies.

[HStorm]

Dennis Donaldson, a former Sinn Fein administrator who secretly spied for the British for around twenty years from the early 80's, was yesterday murdered at his home in County Donegal by a gunshot wound to the chest. The Government of Eire has revealed that Donaldson was warned back in January that his life was in danger.

Tomorrow, Tony Blair and Bertie Aherne are scheduled to meet to discuss resuming devolution in Ulster. It seems unlikely that the timing of the murder is a coincidence. Question is, who killed him? More importantly perhaps, who sanctioned the murder? The obvious answer most are leaping to is that the IRA did it to punish Donaldson for leaking their secrets to Westminster. However, if you stop and think about it, this doesn't add up; it seems insane that any Republican would risk doing this at a time when devolution is being brought back onto the agenda.

Typical, incidentally, that the Self-Reverential Ian Paisley was on the BBC within an hour of the murder, and rather than expressing remorse for the death, spent the whole time condemning the IRA for it without gathering the slightest shred of supporting information first.

(I admit I've had this suspicion about past IRA atrocities and been wrong, but why do I feel like this was really the work of Loyalists?)

So who do people think is behind the killing?