IRA ORDERS END TO ARMED CAMPAIGN

The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign.

All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.

The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD to complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as quickly as possible.

We have invited two independent witnesses, from the Protestant and Catholic churches, to testify to this.

The Army Council took these decisions following an unprecedented internal discussion and consultation process with IRA units and Volunteers.

We appreciate the honest and forthright way in which the consultation process was carried out and the depth and content of the submissions. We are proud of the comradely way in which this truly historic discussion was conducted.

The outcome of our consultations show very strong support among IRA Volunteers for the Sinn Féin peace strategy.

There is also widespread concern about the failure of the two governments and the unionists to fully engage in the peace process. This has created real difficulties.

They and friends of Irish unity throughout the world want to see the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Notwithstanding these difficulties our decisions have been taken to advance our republican and democratic objectives, including our goal of a united Ireland. We believe there is now an alternative way to achieve this and to end British rule in our country.

It is the responsibility of all Volunteers to show leadership, determination and courage. We are very mindful of the sacrifices of our patriot dead, those who went to jail, Volunteers, their families and the wider republican base. We reiterate our view that the armed struggle was entirely legitimate.

We are conscious that many people suffered in the conflict. There is a compelling imperative on all sides to build a just and lasting peace.

The issue of the defence of nationalist and republican communities has been raised with us. There is a responsibility on society to ensure that there is no re-occurrence of the pogroms of 1969 and the early 1970s.

There is also a universal responsibility to tackle sectarianism in all its forms.

The IRA is fully committed to the goals of Irish unity and independence and to building the Republic outlined in the 1916 Proclamation.

We are confident that by working together Irish republicans can achieve our objectives.

Every Volunteer is aware of the import of the decisions we have taken and all Óglaigh are compelled to fully comply with these orders.

There is now an unprecedented opportunity to utilise the considerable energy and goodwill which there is for the peace process. This comprehensive series of unparalleled initiatives is our contribution to this and to the continued endeavours to bring about independence and unity for the people of Ireland.

The IRA is fully committed to the goals of Irish unity and independence and to building the Republic outlined in the 1916 Proclamation.

Our decisions have been taken to advance our republican and democratic objectives, including our goal of a united Ireland.

We believe there is now an alternative way to achieve this and to end British rule in our country."

"As far as who won. We did. Celts of every stripe, Catholic, Protestant - whatever. Descendants of Ireland and Scotland live, prosper and lead in every advanced nation in the world. We are no longer the bog trotters or servants. Ireland in its own right is the powerhouse of the European economy. And Ulster, well its been so shattered over the past hundred years that it will take them time to catch up to the changes in the world that have come to the US and Britain, where for the most part the idea of a people being divided by how they worship the same God is silly."

Very good statement!

Give peace a chance and to the holders of old grudges, give it a rest. I share a name with famous IRA leaders, and my ancestors were kicked off of lands by Cromwell's minions 400 years ago, but that was ancient history. I never liked the IRA, any more than I like Arafat or Bin Laden, and anyone who hates terrorism should hate the IRA, they taught the Jihadists a thing or two that have led to dead Israelis, Americans, and Muslims ... They are all the same breed of extremist murderers.

The IRA was a useless and dangerous terrorist organization that did nothing to help Northern Ireland, but hurt it immensely, and closing the chapter on their destructiveness is a GOOD THING all around.

Hurrah!

(Account of murder of Joanna Mather deleted)

"The moral of the story? Never, ever believe anything that the IRA says. This is an ethnic-cleansing movement that has evolved to gangsterism in the course of 35 years. It is based on the fantasy that the Republic declared in 1916 is a reality and that the Treaty with Britain that was approved by the Dail in 1921 was illegitimate. Until this day, its mouthpiece, Sinn Fein, regards itself as the true expression of the will of the people of the island of Ireland. We're dealing here with an organization suffering from an extreme case of schizophrenia. It's in the light of this delusional state that its statement must be read."

Interesting point concerning 1916 vs the later UK/Ireland treaty ... The degree to which this terrorist movement's claims echoe the claims of terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad vis a vis Isreal is eerie.

They know when they are beat.

I think that it is something else. Why would IRA put down their weapons if they were not certain of the victory? My take is that the British/English establishment started to see Islamism in UK as a mortal danger. All other conflicts are to be put aside!

So the establishment said to IRA: "no need to fight, we will give you what you want, slowly and in a discreet way so we do not lose our face, we need to focus on the threat to our survival"

See Michael Collins to understand Brits versus Irish.

It depends upon your perspective, I suppose.

In terms of legitimizing the blunt political instruments and ruthless tactics employed by the IRA and Sinn Fein, then yes, I suppose you could say that their strategy has-in large measure-succeeded.

On the other hand, the campaign of terror conducted by the Provos has only undermined the cause of constitutional nationalism.

In terms of ensuring the protection of the civil rights of Catholics living in N. Ireland, and advancing their chief purported goal, i.e. a united republic, the IRA has been a miserable, unmitigated failure.

I don't view this as a tactical retreat by the British government, even though their choice to release a prominent convict from the republican side of this conflict elicited howls of outrage from Loyalists.

I do agree that this decision is intertwined-to a substantial degree-with the massacres that unfolded on the Tube several weeks ago.

After the Omagh atrocity and the September 11th attacks-one of the consequences of that massacre being an immediate cessation of funds flowing into the coffers of the IRA from the United States-I don't believe that Sinn Fein could be seen as even tacitly endorsing terrorism as a legitimate political tactic.

The mass homicide perpetrated by Islamic fascists on London mass transit merely crystallized a decision that Sinn Fein had already arrived at several years ago.

I wholeheartedly agree that their promises aren't worth the paper they're written on, but I do believe that-under duress-they've agreed to halt the terrorist attacks.

At least, those directed specifically against their historical enemies.

There's a fundamental difference between the IRA and Al Qaeda.

The IRA is a secular nationalist organization with pragmatic aims, doing what it believes to be looking after the Irish Catholic population in Northern Ireland. It's possible to compromise with them, and beneficial to do so for the sake of peace.

Al Qaeda is a religious fundamentalist movement which believes it is doing the will of God. It insists upon instituting Sharia governments all over the entire world, and are willing to kill as many innocents as it takes to achieve it. You can't compromise with such a group that believes it has a moral obligation to kill, you can only fight them to the death. You can compromise with secularists who have pragmatic aims.

It's easy to bash the IRA as a terrorist organization, as it is one, and it has killed innocents. But so has the other party in this conflict, the British government(previously English since it does go back that far). The British government has also been responsible for the deaths of many innocent civilians, and just because the innocent people they killed were done by an official government doesn't make it any better then the killings by the IRA.

Everybody in this conflict has blood on their hands, nobody is morally pure. But if the region is going to move forward and not have NI be perpetually in civil war, everybody has to be willing to put the past behind them and work towards peace.

Thanks for the cc:

As the smoke clears following the PIRA's announcement that it is ceasing armed resistance, the process seems increasingly a negotiated retreat both by Britain and the IRA/SF. It is a strategic retreat by the British and a tactical retreat by IRA/SF. Downing Street seems to saying that it is prepared to permit the evolution of a quasi-unified Ireland (Ulster under joint RoI and UK government) in exchange for IRA disarmament. It has bigger fish to fry. The republicans recognize this is to be a Blair-ite version of Nixon's "peace with honor" and are happy to accept. The armed struggle as carried out was a political and logistical disaster, evident to all except the looniest of the loons long before Omagh, and therefore easily abandoned in exchange for delayed but ultimate victory.

Victory? Yes. Unification of Eire is not achieved and will not for some time; but a road map to the destination will begin to emerge over time. As I've posted before, this is a wonderful development for Ireland: peace and prosperity now and unity later. Indeed, a Nation Once Again.

I beg to differ.

Once you agree to appease and placate one terrorist group, you've effectively conceded that battling terror on a military level is futile.

If you're willing to dub Yasser Arafat a "peacemaker," even as he strides into the U.N. General Assembly with a sidearm attached to his hip; if you're going to concede virtual autonomy to the Jaffna peninsula, as a result of a two decade-long campaign of ruthlessly meticulous violence targeting security forces and civilians; if you're willing to compromise on core principles with a marginal bands of rogues, whose goals are limited, then what logical objection can be lodged against yielding to a totalistic, absolutist band of lunatics, whose objective is the annihilation of your culture?

No matter how legitimate a particular ethnic or religious group's grievances with the government may be, it is never an excuse to exact revenge on the lives of innocent human beings, who are tangential to the wider conflict.

And the inverse holds true.

Why would someone like Jose Luis Zapatero believe that he can truckle to the unreasonable demands of Al Qaeda-who can not be placated by any conceivable territorial concessions-and then stand firm against the demands of ETA, which is merely requesting the dismemberment of Spain?

The idea that you can feed terror, and not expect any negative consequences is laughable.

The IRA is a secular nationalist organization with pragmatic aims, doing what it believes to be looking after the Irish Catholic population in Northern Ireland.

They're Marxists who if ever given any resemblance to a majority will tax the Irish to Hell and back returning that nation to it's 'glory days' of pre-1980.

Oh, and they're psychopathic murderers on a definite par with al-Queda.

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