Another take from http://www.eamonn.com/
Meanwhile, here's how Rainy Day chooses to remember the IRA. It's an anecdote from the June issue of Magill magazine:
"Joanna Mathers was just 25 years old in the spring of 1981. She was a first class honours graduate from Queen's University, married to a farmer, when she decided to earn some extra money by collecting census forms in Derry city. One evening, she was helping a family in Anderson's Crescent with their return when a masked man dashed up to the doorway. He wrenched the clipboard from her hands, put a gun to her head and fired. The young mother died at the scene.
The Provisional IRA at first denied any involvement. Its Derry brigade — led, at that time, by Martin McGuinness — claimed that Joanna's murder was 'an attempt to discredit the (electoral) campaign of Bobby Sands.'
Sands was bidding to become the Westminster MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, in a by-election that would, in time, radically transform the politics of Ireland. The IRA statement made no mention of 'securocrats' — the term had not yet been invented — but otherwise, the strategy of initially disclaiming certain acts of violence has become all too familiar. It emerged later that the weapon used to murder Joanna Mathers could be forensically linked to two punishment shootings that had been acknowledged by the Derry IRA. But that emerged only after Bobby Sands had been elected to Westminster."
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.
"Never, ever believe anything that the IRA says."
Except when they can no longer reach into the deep pockets of New York and Boston. Its all over. Even in the most die hard reaches of Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx the IRA has lost its cheering section. Its over - whether all of the organization realizes it is another matter.
(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.