Clinton wins Irish peace prize

Belfast Telegraph ^ | Nov. 12, 2002 | Sean O'Driscoll

[mountaineer]

FORMER US President Bill Clinton is to accept an award for his peace efforts in Northern Ireland at a St Patrick's week celebration in New York next year.

Senator George Mitchell will present the award on behalf of the Irish American Democrats lobby group, and organisers hope that David Trimble, Mark Durkan and other Northern Ireland politicians will attend.

The ceremony, most likely in the St Regis hotel in New York, is being timed for the annual St Patrick's Day visit to the US by political leaders from the Republic and Northern Ireland.

Mr Clinton is expected to speak on the need to reaffirm commitment to the Good Friday Agreement following the suspension of Northern Ireland's power sharing government and Assembly.

Senator Mitchell, who oversaw talks leading up the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, has said that he would like to present the award to his former President.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, is to visit Enniskillen next year to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mrs Clinton, now a Senator representing New York, is to visit the Clinton Peace Centre, which was built on the site of the 1987 Enniskillen bombing.

The centre was named in honour of Bill Clinton's contribution to the peace process and houses several local business and peace building ventures.

Ms Clinton will also be guest of honour at a gala dinner in the Manor House in Killadeas.

The Clintons are no strangers to Enniskillen - Clinton visited the peace centre last May with his daughter Chelsea, to unveil a new window. Mrs Clinton also visited later in the summer.

Irish American Democrats spokeswoman, Stella O'Leary, said that both events next year showed the Clintons' unwavering commitment to the Irish peace process.

[mountaineer]

Ah yes, the man who - once and for all - brought peace to Northern Ireland.

[Howlin]

I guess it depends on what the meaning of "peace" is, huh?

[Piquaboy]

That is spelled PIECE not PEACE.

[mountaineer]

In other news from Northern Ireland, where Bill Clinton created a lasting peace after so many years of conflict:


BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Nov. 4, 2002, AP) - A Roman Catholic man who was savagely beaten and left nailed to a fence post on the outskirts of Belfast called his attackers cowards Monday.

Harry McCartan, 23, was abducted from the IRA stronghold of Poleglass on Belfast's western outskirts early Saturday.

Police said the attackers hit his legs, face and body with bats, then attached his hands to the fence post using hammers and nails. Firefighters cut him loose and took him to the hospital with the fencing still hammered to his hands.

``Nobody should be treated like this,'' McCartan said. ``They are just cowards. I was on my own, and it took more than four people to do this. They are lower than animals.''

McCartan is believed to be the latest victim of fighting between outlawed rival armed groups in Northern Ireland.

Police believe the attack was related alleged car thefts, and the British news agency Press Association quoted sources in an outlawed Protestant group, the Ulster Defense Association, as saying it was a revenge attack.

However, the Ulster Defense Association denied orchestrating the attack on McCartan. McCartan said he was not involved in car theft and had been targeted because he was Catholic.

McCartan's injuries were so severe that his father initially identified him by a tattoo on his hand. Television reports showed McCartan in his hospital bed, his face badly swollen and bruised and his hands bandaged.

The Irish Republican Army and the major outlawed Protestant groups, the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force, all mete out so-called ``punishment'' attacks on criminal rivals.

The IRA has previously been blamed for hammering victims to fences in what locals call a ``crucifixion'' punishment. The most common form of attack is ``knee-capping'' - gunshots to both legs. People gangs regard as repeat offenders occasionally receive ``the six pack'' - shots to the knees, ankles and elbows.

---

Yes, well, it DOES depend on one's meaning of the word peace.

[Kevin Curry]

LOL! I'm of Irish extraction, and "Irish Peace Prize" strikes me as being more than mildly oxymoronic.

[expatpat]

Senator George Mitchell will present the award on behalf of the Irish American Democrats lobby group...

Is this one of the groups that has been collecting money in the US to finance the murdering IRA?

[nightdriver]

"Senator George Mitchell will present the award on behalf of the Irish American Democrats lobby group, and organisers hope that David Trimble, Mark Durkan and other Northern Ireland politicians will attend."

So let me get this straight, some American democrats are going to honor another American democrat on American soil for a less-than-successful agreement in Ireland and they hope that some Irishmen will attend?

Wow!! What a significant ceremony!! ROTFLMSAO!!

[leprechaun9]

They should change the name to MANURE HOUSE in KILLADEAS!

This originally was planned for Labor Day just prior to the Presidential Election - sort of a Irish/American or American/Irish beer blast to launch the final stage of the campaign.

[Valin]

Doesn't this make you feel all warm and fuzzy? :-)

[Alberta's Child]

I am primarily of Irish descent, and it pains me to see these people confirm my opinion that many Irish-Americans are among the dopiest people on the planet.

[mountaineer]

Irish American Democrats web site.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Sure, and Clinton can pick up his Middle East peace prize immediately thereafter.

[July 4th]

My thoughts exactly.

[mountaineer]

We all know how Bill Clinton craves that Nobel Prize. This will have to do until he wins the big one.

[Seruzawa]

Clinton wins Irish peace prize

This is a clerical error it should read:

Clinton wins Irish piece prize.

The prize itself is a weekend with Anna Nicole Smith.

[bc2]

Mr Clinton is expected to speak on the need to reaffirm commitment to the Good Friday Agreement following the suspension of Northern Ireland's power sharing government and Assembly.

and from our loyalist friends...

Harry McCartan recovers at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast November 4, 2002, following an attack in which he had his hands nailed to a wooden fence post and brutally beaten. McCartan, from Poleglass in Northern Ireland, was attacked in the predominantly loyalist area of Dunmurray, south of Belfast, on November 2 and police have described it as paramilitary style attack. REUTERS/POOL/Paul Faith

[brewcrew]

"Irish Peace Prize." Oxymoron, like Jumbo Shrimp.

[mountaineer]

many Irish-Americans are among the dopiest people on the planet.

Especially the ones in New Jersey, it would appear:

Although in some circles he is considered a major supporter of terrorism in Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams was feted like a celebrity in New Jersey on Friday.From workers at the start of his trip from New York's Penn Station to the highest public official in the Garden State, Adam's life and work inspired reverence from his supporters in the United States.

Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, the political group fighting to free Northern Ireland from British rule, was mobbed like a rock star at Drumthwacket on Friday. Hundreds of young and old Irish-Americans pressed around Adams to get an autograph, take his picture, and sing his praises - sometimes literally - as many politicians took the opportunity to sing Irish folk songs for Adams, who has also been elected to the parliament representing Catholics in Ulster County.

"We tend not to talk in religious tones,'' said Mary Lou Powner of Brick Township, "But people who follow Irish politics want to kiss Gerry's ring."

The admiration for Adams in New Jersey is so great that Governor McGreevey - who proudly claims his Irish heritage and has traveled to Ireland several times - used the governor's mansion to help Adams pressure his opponents back home to restart a stalled peace process.

"We understand there will never be peace in Ireland without justice,'' McGreevey told a crowd of well-wishers. "Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein embrace that hope."

Adams, who has been branded the leader of a terrorist organization by his opponents in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, was in New Jersey as part of a five-day swing through the United States and Canada to raise money for his cause. He plans to use his support from Irish-Americans to promote peace in Northern Ireland., while his opponents see his reception at the governor's mansion as an outrage.

"America is engaged in a war against terrorism, yet the leader of the political wing of a terrorist organization is being feted in the governor's mansion in New Jersey. That's utter hypocrisy," John Deasy, a pro-Republican Irish Parliament deputy and a former U.S. congressional aide told Investor's Business Daily on Friday.

Adams bristles at allegations he supports terrorism, a charge that prevented him from visiting this country until 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton first granted him a visa. "I have not been connected to violence," Adams said in an interview as he rode NJ Transit on his trip to Drumthwacket. "I know it's something that's been trotted out repeatedly. What we want is a peaceful, democratic society in Ireland." ....

rest of story from 11/9/02.

[joesnuffy]

Whats the prize? A fifth o'whiskey and a tart?

[mountaineer]

Maybe Clinton will discuss this at the awards ceremony:

POLICE in Northern Ireland knew the IRA was training Colombian guerillas up to two years before three republicans were arrested in Colombia. However, they feared the investigation could have been imperilled by former US president Bill Clinton, who was concerned any IRA probe could derail the Northern Ireland peace process. ...

The Times has learnt that the Royal Ulster Constabulary knew that as many as 15 IRA members were involved in visits to the FARC-controlled jungle zone. A senior RUC Special Branch source said that their experience in the case of three IRA gun-runners arrested in Miami in 1999 had made them wary of the Clinton administration's conduct during the peace process.

According to the source, Clinton officials were anxious to obscure the fact that the gun-runners were operating with the full authority of the IRA's ruling army council -- a serious breach of its ceasefire that would have had political consequences for Sinn Fein.

Go here for full story, dated Oct. 17, 2002.