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Posted on 09/25/2005 6:13:21 PM PDT by Stoat
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The international inspectors overseeing the weapons decommissioning are about to confirm they have supervised a full disarmament.
It comes two months after the IRA said it had formally ordered an end to its armed struggle.
A report on IRA decommissioning will be presented to the British and Irish Governments tomorrow.
General John De Chastelain, head of the International Commission on Decommissioning, will make his findings public at a press conference later.
Separate statements are expected from the two independent church witnesses, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and the IRA.
The two independent church witnesses are believed to be Father Alex Reid and former Methodist President Harold Good.
The latest development in the peace process follows the IRA's groundbreaking statement on July 28.
Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said: "Of course, this is about more than arms. It is about reviving the peace process, it is about the future of Ireland."
However, Jeffrey Donaldson, senior representative for the Democratic Unionists, said the process had not been sufficiently transparent to reassure people.
And Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said: "In order to restore confidence, we call on the decommissioning body to provide a detailed inventory of what has been disposed of."
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will now pile pressure on the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's two biggest political parties to agree to work together in a devolved administration.
HA! Yeah right. Just like the Russians have no nukes aimed at us.
Now the trick is, is to stop the UDL from going after them. The British troops were in Northern Ireland, not to surpress the Irish, but to stop the Irish from killing the Irish. I personally support the Orange but always felt the Green had the neatest songs even if most of them were about getting hung.
Short of house-to-house searches, how does one assure the effectiveness of the weapons destruction?
In any case, this is a BIG feather in the cap of my favorite liberal, Tony Blair.
Hope they are more competent than the clowns who shot the non terrorist 'terrorist' a few weeks ago. Inspector Clouseau anybody.
If the shooting war ends, I guess we'll know
What brought all this about? Well, for one thing, for years, Gerry Adams had been honored like a diplomatic hero by Clinton and Ted Kennedy every time he came to the US. George W Bush, however, treated him like the thug he is by ignoring him. Treated him just like that little Yasser guy with the scruffy beard from Palestine. Little things like that help.
Yes, Sky News assumes that we all have very short memories. Notice how no reporter's name is attached to this story? Perhaps nobody wanted to be associated with it?
the king is dead. long live the king.
Well the trick is, when the cops tell you to stop, you stop.
You can't, and if there is a desire to continue the IRA activities "underground" there would of course still be that option, given the complete impossibility of a total disarmament as the article suggests.
In any case, this is a BIG feather in the cap of my favorite liberal, Tony Blair.
True, although if the IRA does continue with 'underground' violence then the feather may lose it's luster in short order.
Or perhaps the Irish Catholics siding with the French, Spanish, and Germans in almost every war fought to DESTROY England.
Un hun, year right , sure, the check is in the mail, I really, really love you and I'll respect you in the morning.
I believe that you're absolutely right, and of course our President will get absolutely zero credit for his diplomacy and policy shift in this matter.
You may note from my posts that I am also pessimistic over this news
Didn't they do this a couple of times already?
I recall several failed "cease fires" over the years, but never before an announcement of a complete weapons destruction, as verified by 'international arms inspectors'.
Of course, time will tell how meaningful and significant this is.
well yup, nothing quite tranquilizes the hostile sentiment of the people like killing the innocent
Sometimes the innocent get killed because they are stupid, he fit the profile of a suicide bomber. If YOU had been one of those cops that were after him, and you wanted no other people killed around you, what would you have done?
My heart is filled with ease after these words.
No need to read any further.
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