US targets Northern Ireland dissidents

BBC News ^ | Tuesday, 1 January, 2002, 09:10 GMT | BBC News

[colette_g]

Tuesday, 1 January, 2002, 09:10 GMT

US targets NI dissidents

The UK has always urged action against the groups

The US has frozen the assets of four loyalist groups and one republican paramilitary group as part of its war on terror.

Officials designated the groups as suspected terrorist organisations but said it was too early to tell if any of them have financial assets in the US.

The loyalist groups targeted were the Loyalist Volunteer Force, Orange Volunteers, Red Hand Defenders, and the Ulster Defence Association, also thought to cover sister organisation, the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

The republican Continuity IRA has also been singled out.

Paramilitary gangs

The EU imposed financial sanctions against the same groups, as well as other organisations last week.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble called in October for the US to crack down on the profits of paramilitary gangs in Northern Ireland.

He was spurred on by the murder of investigative journalist Martin O'Hagan who had uncovered paramilitary gangs responsible for organised crime.

And Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has also expressed his belief that the US war on terror in the wake of 11 September should include Northern Ireland.

The five paramilitary groups were posted on the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control Web site on Monday.

International co-operation

Secretary of State Colin Powell decided on the list in consultation with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker applauded the EU's decision to sanction the groups.

"We have consistently said that the fight against terrorism requires international co-operation in the fullest measure," he said.

At the same time, a sixth organisation, Spain's First of October Anti-fascist Resistance Group, has also been targeted.

[SteamshipTime]

The US has frozen the assets of four loyalist groups and one republican paramilitary group as part of its war on terror.
Officials designated the groups as suspected terrorist organisations but said it was too early to tell if any of them have financial assets in the US.

I'm guessing a group of Irish thugs do NOT have a well-diversified portfolio of US real estate and commodity trading accounts. I'm also unaware of any threat posed to U.S. property or citizens by these groups--unless, of course, we decide to pick a fight with them. After which, the U.S. government can dispatch troops to Northern Ireland to save us from the threat it provoked. This war on people designated by the government as terrorists (there is no such thing as a war on an inanimate object or idea) is rapidly taking on the characteristics of the government's many other failed "wars."

[cake_crumb]

"I'm also unaware of any threat posed to U.S. property or citizens by these groups--unless, of course, we decide to pick a fight with them"

This is an international coalition against terrorism. I'm unaware of any al Qaeda terrorist attacks in Britain, but Britain has frozen the assets of al Qaeda-linked groups.

I believe what you're saying is that you don't want members of this international coalition to use the war on terrorism in order to abuse the rights of their citizens. If so, I heartily agree.

We'll all be keeping a close watch on the activities of all the coalition members, I hope. We need some third party oversight that doesn't involve the UN or Amnesty International, both of which have their own agendas, which are not necessarily compatible with those of free nations wishing to protect their freedom.

[Mixer]

Thanks for posting this. We must show the world that we are serious about ridding the world of all terrorists. I just watched the minute by minute special on 9/11 on Fox News and it was horrible to see again. However it must be seen so that we never forget what happened that day and that we never give up.

[weikel]

That fat slob who calls himself my Senator should hang for supporting terrorism and murder by his own hand(Chappaquidic).

[weikel]

We are at war with all terrorist and cutting IRA money is the least we can do for our best ally( unfortunately it may soon be swallowed up by socialist Europe).

[kellynla]

And we won't stop until all of your Brit gangster friends are on a boat back to England and the Northern six counties are reuninted with the Republic. Since you and the rest of you anti-Irish Yanks don't live in Ireland you should crawl back into your bigoted holes and keep your slanderous remarks to your pitiful selves.

[Ironword]

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble called in October for the US to crack down on the profits of paramilitary gangs in Northern Ireland.

Wasn't there an Independent article (by Eoghan Harris) recently posted suggesting that racketeering by the Provos runs to the tune of $10 million per year? But the Al Capone of Sinn Fein can roam at will?

All the thugs should be roped in -- that would be the largest step toward future peace.

[BunnySlippers]

The IRA is in a fight against British Empire occupation.

The IRA employes the same tactics as the Muslims ... they bomb civilians. Or have you forgotten the bloody rampages the IRA claims are just?

[BunnySlippers]

If Ted is sober when he reads this --- the fat slob might just have a coronary.

Not to mention the Kennedy Family in general ... they have clung to Gerry Adams like he's a saint.

[UnBlinkingEye]

Deserves a bump to eliminate terrorists of all sorts!

What about our terrorist friends in the KLA?

[BunnySlippers]

Do they target civilians? If they do, they employ terrorist tactics. This is exactly the argument we have with Arafat right now. The PLO bombs pizza parlors, large public gathering of teenagers and children.

[Yougottabekidding]

I must say I agree with the new proactive policy against ALL terrorists.

[Norn Iron]

Eoghan Harris article + thread

ALL the terrorist groups, loyalist and republican, behave a bit like the Mafia. They indulge in racketeering and drug-running. They 'police' the areas they control with some very barbaric forms of 'justice'. Their victims can be shot, maimed or end up dead.

Crucifixion and Mixed Grill are two names used to describe different ways of permanently maiming their victims.

Sadly some of the contributors to this board are blind to the savagery of these politically motivated gangsters.

[Norn Iron]

I chose Norn Iron as a nick-name because I live in Northern Ireland.

Is it not pitiful bigots like you who foster terrorism in NI?

The people of NI voted freely in a referendum in 1998 to support the development of ALL the relationships across the two islands which they felt would be the the fairest way of accommodating the two competing national aspirations.

We need little Hitlers like you as much as we need a hole in the head!

[Norn Iron]

Strangely enough the socialist IRA opposes the development of a centralised bureaucratic undemocratic United States of Europe. It led the winning NO campaign in the Republic of Ireland against the Nice treaty. The YES campaign would have been supported by the Irish Catholic hierarchy while the main parties tended to sit on the fence.

[Norn Iron]

9/11 has been happening in Northern Ireland, England and the Republic of Ireland for the past 30+ years but on a much smaller scale. Wales and Scotland have largely escaped thought some families will have lost loved ones in attacks in the other three areas.

[Norn Iron]

The problems of Northern Ireland flow from a legacy of history. We've voted in a referendum to proceed on a democratic path which tries to accommodate the two opposing political aspirations in Northern Ireland.

The loyalist and republican terrorists are finding it very difficult to leave their violence behind and the governments in London and Dublin have tended to do more to appease them than to protect those who have to suffer their depredations.

We've gone close enough to the disaster of Yugoslavia thank you very much!

[Norn Iron]

The US administration surely has a duty to protect citizens elsewhere from the violence that can be unleashed with the help of funds raised in the USA. The least it can do is to actively discourage fundraising and the purchase of arms in the USA.

[damnlimey]

Finally,a voice of reason,Below is my first introduction to terrorism at the age of 13,I lived ten miles from B'ham city center.If I remember correctly they were nail bombs.These are the fatalities ,I forget the number of wounded.

21 November 1974	Jane Davis (17) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Eugene Reilly (23) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Desmond Reilly (20) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Maureen Roberts (20) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Marilyn Nash (22) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Pamela Palmer (19) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Stephen Whalley (21) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Lynn Bennett (18) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Anne Hayes (19) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Michael Beasley (30) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Maxine Hambleton (18) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	John Jones (51) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Charles Gray (44) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	John Rowland (46) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Stanley Bodman (51) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Trevor Thrupp (33) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	James Caddick (40) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Paul Davis (20) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Neil March (20) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England.
21 November 1974	Thomas Chaytor (28) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Injured in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England. He died 28 November 1974.
21 November 1974	James Craig (34) nfNIB Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Injured in bomb attacks on two public houses, Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town, Birmingham, England. He died 10 December 1974.