"Seasoned observers have said republicans felt the statement did not have the expected impact."

Reaction outside Ireland: 'what is so special about that statement - they've been on cf 8 years'.

Reaction in Ireland: public catches on that the IRA are the publicity whores of the Adams/SF machine.

Nice one slug - thats a new one to add to the bow: Adams/SF/IRA.
For gods sake will people ever wise up?

I'm waiting with interest to see what the effect of decommissioning will be on Unionism.

Paisley will - hopefully - implode on himself as people realise that nothing the IRA does will ever be good for him. Even if the whole of the DUP were invited to the act and Paisley himself poured the concrete into the bunker, he'd still find something to complain about.

I predict within a 48 hour period of it (Decommissioning) happening, a senior figure from the DUP will raise the objection that "they can still go out and buy more". And he will do so without any apparent trace of irony.
I say 48 hours as they'll spend the first 24 hours arguing that it never actually occured.

AS I said yesterday on another site "would it not be better if ian got his act together and sorted out his rampaging voters" But no he would rather ramble on about the Boogie man that he has planted in the Loyalist/Unionist collective.

As Dec says within 48 hours they will be raising another objection. This reminds me of that novel Mobey Dick, with the IRA as the whale and ian as Ahab the mad captain. What would Ahab be without the whale!!

Maybe then the "crew" will see that while they were all chasing the whale the ship was not being cared for and was no longer sea worthy

Dec

"I predict within a 48 hour period of it (Decommissioning) happening, a senior figure from the DUP will raise the objection that "they can still go out and buy more"."

Odd that we didn't hear the corresponding argument from nationalist circles a while back: "No point dismantling the watchtowers and the RIR. They can still go out and raise more towers and regiments."

"Even if the whole of the DUP were invited to the act and Paisley himself poured the concrete into the bunker, he'd still find something to complain about."

Nonsense. The DUP, along with the government and Irish government, agreed a process of decommissioning they would have confidence in. An agreement the DUP made a number of compromises to achieve and that the IRA ran away from.

"they can still go out and buy more".

1. This was actually a line used by republicans against decommissioning so they cannot say then deny it.
2. That is why an end to criminality and disbandment are needed.
No organisation+no cash = no guns or terrorist threat.

Nonsense fair_deal.
The DUP have deliberately been throwing up obstacles to this all along the line, with the last (the photo opportunity) being a blatant attempt at adding that extra straw that broke the camel's back. As such the DUP will continue to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that the only thing that has happened was the dismantling of the watch towers, RIR etc.

There'll always be a terror threat - particularly when there are "politicians" willing to egg people into a bit of "civil unrest", and then sit back and try and reap the benefits of it.

Of course arms can always be bought - but what can you do about that? Never recognise any ceasefires, never believe any disarmament moves? The british can at any time move huge amounts of troops into areas and fire up a watch tower at the bat of an eye - they will always be in a position to do this, and yet republicans accept that when they take them down they'll stay down.

At the end of the day I find the fact that the IRA are disarming to be amazing (fantastic too by the way!!) - particularly when the threat of loyalist murders is at a high. The sooner loyalist disarmament becomes a real issue the better, instead of continually flogging the dead horse of republican "decommissionin".

Circles,

There'll always be a terror threat is something I've been trying to convince my fellow Americans of. It doesn't go down well, as you can see from other threads on Slugger and throughout the Blogosphere.

I believe that policing, not decommissioning, is the answer. That puts me in the group of Americans that Karl Rove scoffs at because we believe in the rule of law over the rule of the gun.

Did I read this correctly-Adams paid a visit to the last offical I.R.A. prisoners.I thought all the sticks were in the Dail.

Those sticks who had the ablity to read and write and that wasn`t many are now in the Labour party the rest are either in the reformed democratic left/right party....the official official pre 1979 Workers not party, the workers womans and mans non sectarian group of five party, strange name that!!!
The official republican movement,leaders only.... the socialist workers community clubs and drinking dens, belfast brigade...
etc, etc, etc, etc....

they can still go out and buy more".

1. This was actually a line used by republicans against decommissioning so they cannot say then deny it.

Hence my reference to irony in the next sentence.

Who are some of the last remaining IRA members in jail?

SF/IRA decommissioning (surrendering) of weapons is no longer a bargaining chip and the DUP know this.

SF/IRA can hold onto their weapons (what good will they be)?

The idea of murderers and thugs masquerading as an "Army" is over, they have been beaten into the ground and are now in the process of surrendering not only their weapons but also their ideology. They have accepted the legitimacy of Northern Ireland (but call it the North)

Partition remains until the people of Northern Ireland say different or until the British Government renege as they have with the Northern Ireland Act (1920). The removal of the Stormont government without the consent of the people.

The short of it, is that SF/IRA have been beaten on the "military front" now it's up to the people of Northern Ireland to beat them on the political front.

How about we just don't bother talking with Irish terrorists.

How about we keep a very close eye on the Westminster mandrains. We should always remember Winston Churchill offered to hand over Northern Ireland to De Valara on two occasions. I don't put Tony Blair in the same pot as Winston Churchill so God only knows what he will try.

"The removal of the Stormont government without the consent of the people.
"

It was bigoted and oppressive. It gerrymandered Derry so that the 66% Nationalist majority was always a minority on the city Corporation. The Cameron Report in the 1960's - commissioned by the Wilson Government - exposed massive discrimination by the Unionist authorities - especially West of the Bann where Nationalist majorities had Unionist local-government. The business-vote was abolished in the UK but retained in NI because the Unionist government knew that it disproportionately benefited their side in elections. Also, adults who lived with their parents were banned from voting in loca-elections. While this applied to all regardless of religion, the idea behind it was that such adults tended to be Catholics.

The Unionist government abolished Proportional-Representation for Stormont elections and for local-elections, in violation of what was agreed by Dublin and London that electoral-systems in both states in Ireland should use this system to protect their respective minorities. Unionist politicians founded the "Ulster Protestant League" in the 1930's to encourage Protestants only to employ other Protestants. The 3rd PM of Northern Ireland, Lord Brookeborough made a speech in the 1930's saying "I recommend those who are Protestant not to employ Roman Catholics, 95% of whom are disloyal". A year later, he re-affirmed those remarks, adding that he had carefully considered them before making them.

It was a bigoted, oppressive regime similar to those of the US Deep South and good riddance. Powersharing and cross-community decision-making are the only form of local-autonomy that will ensure equality.

How about we just don't bother talking with Irish terrorists.

According to unionism those born in the 6 counties are UK citizens. So you must mean British terrorists.

Dick Doggins

Run that by me again:

'Those sticks who had the ablity to read and write and that wasn`t many..'

'ablity' was a DELIBERATE mistake! (Heh)

forget about the provos, gerry adams, mcguinness the felon's and the wolfe tones, the only thing that really matters nowdays is the lack of hope in the unionist/loyalist community for the future. the good old days of the gerrymanding system and the orange "supremacy" one are long gone plus with the ira no longer active who will they blame, a united eire is knocking at their doors and their fears are mounting day after day, well too late lads welcome to the real world!

FAO RK

No I mean IRISH terrorists.

Dave, I'm glad to see you are promoting republican objectives by leaving no political option open other than joint authority.

CS

I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not promoting any Republican objective other than decommissioning of their weapons which they seem to have ddone without the consent of the foot "soldiers". Seeing as we are the subject of objectives what will happen if the people of Northern Ireland decide that the objective is to be one of Independence for Northern Ireland?

I know this is a subject people don't wish to air mainly due to the fact that it would work and that is what is scary for some. Imgine no IRISH Governemt and No British Government just the people sorting it themselves.

I know this is a subject people don't wish to air mainly due to the fact that it would work and that is what is scary for some. Imagine no IRISH Governemt and No BRITISH Government just the people sorting it themselves.