New British Glory
27-03-2005, 22:38
The recent story of the McCartney sisters has recently shown that perhaps the IRA is reaching its end. I shall give anyone who doesn't know the story a brief catch up in my own words:
Robert McCartney, a Belfast Catholic with an Irish passport, was shot dead. The police later concluded that it was the IRA, a fact furiously denied by the militant group. So furious was the response, they went to the home of McCartney's sisters and offered to kill the two men who had shot their brother. Stoically and with great courage, they refused this offer saying that they wanted these men brought to justice. These sisters were recently in Washington and spoke to the President.
For the last 50 years the IRA have been the effective law and order on the streets of Belfast. Their vast stock piles of arms and recruits allowed them to maintain their own twisted version of law and order on their streets, much like a mafia might do. However ever since the beginning of the Peace Process, the IRA have found themselves defunct. So idle are they, they have turned their attention to petty criminal acts such as the bank robbery that their members are suspected to have committed in January. The McCartney sisters have demonstarted a simple fact: that even those who count themselves as republicans are no longer prepared to accept the IRA. The people who provide the IRA with recruits and support have turned against them. The Peace Process has brought Northern Ireland relative tranquility. Although there are still tensions, these tensions do not result in violence as often as they once did. The people of Northern Ireland, be they republican or unionist, have seen that peace benefits them more than the violence of militia groups. People are more willing to trust the police and the court system than they are the armed mobs. It seems to me certainly that victory is nearly within the grasp of Britain and the murderous IRA serpent is finally dying off.
What does this tell us about terrorism in the wider world? It brings me to one interesting conclusion. The war on Iraq cannot be justifed as a war on terror. As part of the war on terror, our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are complete and utter failures.
However I am not against these wars. Saddam Hussein was a dangerous and murderous tyrant who inflicted many miseries on his people. The Western World couldjust sit and watch such monsterous actions. Equally Saddam destablised the Middle East with his wars, with both his neighbours and his own people. It was shown by the Gulf War that we could no longer take a wait and see atttitude towards Iraq. if we did, we would be running to solve every war that their regime started. The West had this opportunity, whatever the motives that inspired it, to end his tyranny and it is to our everlasting credit that we ended the sorry mistake in Iraqi history that was Saddam Hussein and his dictatorship.
As a war on Saddam, as a war on tyranny, as a war to spread the ideals of liberal democracy, it was a success. But as a war on terror? No, I can only call it an abject failure. The war on terrorism is no normal war. Al-Quaeda is no Nazi Germany. We cannot stop it by invading a country or killing its leader - they simply find a new country and a new leader from the multitudes of disgraceful villains that form their ranks. The war on terror is not one that can be won with tanks, guns and bombs. It is a battle that will be fought on in the hearts and minds of the Islamic world. Most Islamic Arabs are a people not far removed from us -good and god fearing who are repulsed by the politics of terror and the acts of violence that are pepretrated in the name of their religion. They would not support the actions of the murderous few unless they had other option, unless they were forced into a corner, unless they were forced into desperation. And this is what the fruitless invasion of Middle Eastern regimes will bring. The Arabs will not see it as a war to rid the world of the evil that they hate as much as any westerner. They will see it another Crusade, an attempt to wipe out their religion and their way of life. They will become desperate and then the terrorism will be proliferated. Ranks of Islamic youth will become fresh and frutiment grounds for what will be advocated as a war for very survival of the Islamic way of life. This is why an invasion of Iran or Syria in the name of an attack on the principle of Terror is foolish beyond comprehension. We do not need to show our Arabian allies (for they are allies still) the size of our armoury and threaten them into submission. We need to give them the hand of friendship, extned it without condition to them. Then their peoples will see that we intend no harm and we have a common goal: to rid the world of the malicious, disgusting rats who have the bare faced cheek to call themselves Islamic. And when the people see it, they will turn their backs on these terrorists. And when the people see it, the governments shall see it. They shall cease to condone it (privately or publicly). And so the terrorists will wither, without allies, without recruits, without funds until they become nothing more than a single extremist whisper drowned out by the singular shout of the Arabic and Western worlds united.
Robert McCartney, a Belfast Catholic with an Irish passport, was shot dead. The police later concluded that it was the IRA, a fact furiously denied by the militant group. So furious was the response, they went to the home of McCartney's sisters and offered to kill the two men who had shot their brother. Stoically and with great courage, they refused this offer saying that they wanted these men brought to justice. These sisters were recently in Washington and spoke to the President.
For the last 50 years the IRA have been the effective law and order on the streets of Belfast. Their vast stock piles of arms and recruits allowed them to maintain their own twisted version of law and order on their streets, much like a mafia might do. However ever since the beginning of the Peace Process, the IRA have found themselves defunct. So idle are they, they have turned their attention to petty criminal acts such as the bank robbery that their members are suspected to have committed in January. The McCartney sisters have demonstarted a simple fact: that even those who count themselves as republicans are no longer prepared to accept the IRA. The people who provide the IRA with recruits and support have turned against them. The Peace Process has brought Northern Ireland relative tranquility. Although there are still tensions, these tensions do not result in violence as often as they once did. The people of Northern Ireland, be they republican or unionist, have seen that peace benefits them more than the violence of militia groups. People are more willing to trust the police and the court system than they are the armed mobs. It seems to me certainly that victory is nearly within the grasp of Britain and the murderous IRA serpent is finally dying off.
What does this tell us about terrorism in the wider world? It brings me to one interesting conclusion. The war on Iraq cannot be justifed as a war on terror. As part of the war on terror, our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are complete and utter failures.
However I am not against these wars. Saddam Hussein was a dangerous and murderous tyrant who inflicted many miseries on his people. The Western World couldjust sit and watch such monsterous actions. Equally Saddam destablised the Middle East with his wars, with both his neighbours and his own people. It was shown by the Gulf War that we could no longer take a wait and see atttitude towards Iraq. if we did, we would be running to solve every war that their regime started. The West had this opportunity, whatever the motives that inspired it, to end his tyranny and it is to our everlasting credit that we ended the sorry mistake in Iraqi history that was Saddam Hussein and his dictatorship.
As a war on Saddam, as a war on tyranny, as a war to spread the ideals of liberal democracy, it was a success. But as a war on terror? No, I can only call it an abject failure. The war on terrorism is no normal war. Al-Quaeda is no Nazi Germany. We cannot stop it by invading a country or killing its leader - they simply find a new country and a new leader from the multitudes of disgraceful villains that form their ranks. The war on terror is not one that can be won with tanks, guns and bombs. It is a battle that will be fought on in the hearts and minds of the Islamic world. Most Islamic Arabs are a people not far removed from us -good and god fearing who are repulsed by the politics of terror and the acts of violence that are pepretrated in the name of their religion. They would not support the actions of the murderous few unless they had other option, unless they were forced into a corner, unless they were forced into desperation. And this is what the fruitless invasion of Middle Eastern regimes will bring. The Arabs will not see it as a war to rid the world of the evil that they hate as much as any westerner. They will see it another Crusade, an attempt to wipe out their religion and their way of life. They will become desperate and then the terrorism will be proliferated. Ranks of Islamic youth will become fresh and frutiment grounds for what will be advocated as a war for very survival of the Islamic way of life. This is why an invasion of Iran or Syria in the name of an attack on the principle of Terror is foolish beyond comprehension. We do not need to show our Arabian allies (for they are allies still) the size of our armoury and threaten them into submission. We need to give them the hand of friendship, extned it without condition to them. Then their peoples will see that we intend no harm and we have a common goal: to rid the world of the malicious, disgusting rats who have the bare faced cheek to call themselves Islamic. And when the people see it, they will turn their backs on these terrorists. And when the people see it, the governments shall see it. They shall cease to condone it (privately or publicly). And so the terrorists will wither, without allies, without recruits, without funds until they become nothing more than a single extremist whisper drowned out by the singular shout of the Arabic and Western worlds united.