Scoop,

Auntie Nora joins dog in street on robbery investigation. This really has made my holiday.

The IRA, a lying, cheating, murderous terrorist outfit that is involved in a propaganda war with the State has told us X. Yeah, right"?

Unless and until "P. O'Neill" signs a statement categorically stating that the IRA was not involved in any way, shape or form in the Northern job, we can safely assume they had a hand in it.

So the IRA are liars but if the issue a statement in the name of P O'Neill then he will believe them.

The following statement was issued in September 2001

We also wish to state our attitude to the arrests of three Irishmen in Colombia.

There has been a lot of ill-founded and mischievous speculation about these arrests and some ill-considered and aggressive comment directed at our organisation.

We wish to make it clear that the Army Council sent no one to Colombia to train or to engage in any military cooperation with any group.

The IRA has not interfered in the internal affairs of Colombia and will not so do.

The IRA is not a threat to the peace process in Ireland or in Colombia. The three men have asserted their support for the process and we accept that.

Signed P O'Neill

Did King accept that statement?

my Auntie Nora would believe just about anything at this stage

Once he doesn't expect the rest of us to believe him.

I think the very clear point Steven King was making Henry was the simple fact that the vast majority of statements from the IRA and certainly the ones responding to very important events such as the bank robbery are signed by P O'Neill.

The IRA statement that did come out sounded fairly unsure and was most unconvincing. Come on Henry, pop your head out of the pool of republican rhetoric for just a second.

By the way, on the press release relating to the Colombian pantomime - are you possibly infering that the statement was a load of crap? That the men were not in Columbia simply to further their stamp collection?

The IRA statement that did come out sounded fairly unsure and was most unconvincing.

Maybe the IRA press office has gone on holiday with the SF Press office ? ;)

or maybe the provos are carrying out their own investigations to find out who dunnit...

uo

My only point is that King is being dishonest when he claims he (or any unionist) would accept a statement from P O'Neill as definitive. So it is utter hogwash to say that such a statement is required at this time or to suggest that anything can be read into the absence of such a statement.

The missing statement in this affair is not P O'Neill's. It's Hugh Orde's

I believe the statement about the Colombia Three and I believe the account of their vist they gave to the court in Colombia which acquited them. I hope they had a happy Christmas and may the new year see them home and safe.

what about the court that convicted them? Is that the "bad" court? Would the Brits have been fairer do you think?

uo

I followed the trial and there was no evidence so I can see no basis for the convictions. We can each choose a verdict we like but the lack of evidence is a constant.

As for the British system it too has made mistakes as we all know and it has taken many years to get justice there for the likes of the Birmingham Six.

Had Slugger been around at the time do you think you would have taken a bit of convincing about the innocence of those men?

Every justice system has made mistakes, they are manned by humans not machines.

I was just interested to see if you would have preferred the men to be tried in Britain

Who did the big bank job? Personally I think it was the British Security Services, so Mr Orde would be well advised to search government premises rather than running about like Ken Dodd pointing the big finger at various republicans. You would wonder why republicans or loyalists would need to swipe a few quid if they're so into drugs and all sorts of rackets according to bought and paid for mouthpieces.
It's the easiest thing to accuse it's another matter to prove the accusation. The danger is now that cromwells men start to plant evidence where they would most like to find it, let's face it, they're not honest, they lie, they pevert the course of justice, they abuse the authotity of the uniform, so when they eventually start wearing their new Garda uniforms they'll fit in perfectly and won't be required to speak the Irish, being able to point an accusing finger, make snide remarks and walk as though a red hot poker was inserted into ones rectum, that and have sadistic inclinations is more than enough. So who has the money, methinks you'll have to ask Mr. Orde, for Hugh knows more than he's letting on, be prepared for a press conference shortly!

Is it my imagination or are the republican muppets around here starting to sound a bit pathetically desperate?

There seems little doubt that the IRA were behind the Northern Bank heist. The matter at hand now is the potential impact on the peace process. As I have posted elsewhere, the most striking aspect is the lack of blame from the PSNI and the absence of vitriol from Unionist politicians. To my mind, the reported remarks of Peter Robinson that the robbery would not necessarily rule out a deal is the ultimate confirmation that a deal is coming.

OTOH ConorSpacackman,it can be argued that the DUP are learning how to play SF at their own game. If they DID put the boot in over this robbery it would give SF and it's allies the perfect excuse to blame the DUP for problems caused entirely by the actions of Republicans.

Whoops, sorry, that should read "ConnorSpackman".