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US targets Northern Ireland dissidents
BBC News ^ | Tuesday, 1 January, 2002, 09:10 GMT | BBC News

Posted on 01/01/2002 12:30:30 AM PST by colette_g

Tuesday, 1 January, 2002, 09:10 GMT
US targets NI dissidents
Paramilitary mural
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.



TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ira; lvf; orangevolunteers; rcira; redhanddefenders; uda; uff; ulster
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To: B Knotts
No, it has a devolved government currently within the UK but with an option to leave the UK if a majority of its citizens wish it. Some functions are not devolved and some of these such as policing are under the direction of a Secretariat of London and Dublin civil servants.
41 posted on 01/01/2002 11:57:54 AM PST by Norn Iron
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Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: damnlimey
Go on and post the rest of the bloody CAIN report and show us how many the other side has killed. They're nearly even in carnage.
43 posted on 01/01/2002 1:59:37 PM PST by constitutiongirl
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To: BunnySlippers
Which IRA are you talking about? The Provisional IRA (attached to Sinn Fein) has been on cease fire. The NI terrorist groups now listed by the US gov't have only one Republican arm (the Continuity IRA). The other groups, the LVF, the RHD and the UDA are UNIONIST/PRO-BRIT PROTESTANT groups who have a death list of innocents as long as the PIRA, CIRA and RIRA. Go to the CAIN report on-line and view the death indices and see for yourself. I have no problem with people condemning Republican atrocities, just as long as they're not hypocritical about what the other side has been doing for the past 30+ years.
44 posted on 01/01/2002 2:14:12 PM PST by constitutiongirl
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To: constitutiongirl
I merely posted the people killed on one night in my home town when I was young,this event naturally had an effect on me
I'm not posting hate or disinformation and anyone with any sense knows that murders
have been committed by terrorists from both sides.
For anyone interested,here is the link for the cain site,the carnage over the years is indeed horrendous.
45 posted on 01/01/2002 2:39:07 PM PST by damnlimey
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To: constitutiongirl
The Agreement needs more than a ceasefire; it requires the removal of all illegal weapons and the disbandment of all illegal organisations. How can you say these organisations are on ceasefire when they continue to import weapons and use them to mutilate young people? Justice is the business of governments, not the role of self-appointed mafia-style gangsters.
46 posted on 01/01/2002 2:39:55 PM PST by Norn Iron
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To: constitutiongirl
Republican terrorists have probably been responsible for most of the killings but this disguises the changing ratio over the years. In the 90s republicans and loyalists matched each other for violence but in the past few years loyalists have been mainly responsible.

The growth in loyalist violence since the Agreement was signed in 1998 may be partly due to the way Clinton and Ahern put special emphasis on the development of the Irish dimension. Anyone with a titter of wit would have seen the folly of paying more attention to one aspiration than to the other. There is no merit in reversing the roles of the extremists.

47 posted on 01/01/2002 2:54:10 PM PST by Norn Iron
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To: Norn Iron
No, it has a devolved government currently within the UK but with an option to leave the UK if a majority of its citizens wish it. Some functions are not devolved and some of these such as policing are under the direction of a Secretariat of London and Dublin civil servants.

Yes, I kind of oversimplified. I actually knew that it was still within the U.K., but I did recall that there was some relationship to the Irish Republic as well. Hopefully, they can make a go of it, and put an end to the mindless bloodshed. There can be no excuse for terrorist actions. Anyone who calls himself a Christian, and commits terrorist acts, is deluding himself.

48 posted on 01/01/2002 3:16:42 PM PST by B Knotts
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To: Norn Iron
Logically then, the US government has a duty to protect its citizens from bandits in Jamaica, dysentery in Costa Rica, and price gouging in Mexico. In other words, those who decide not to travel to Northern Ireland must subsidize those who do.

When you travel abroad, you take the other country as you find it. I couldn't care less about Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics killing each other. Hell, I'll donate $500 to both sides. Maybe they'll kill each other off and we won't have to pay George Mitchell to go over there and talk.

49 posted on 01/01/2002 3:22:03 PM PST by SteamshipTime
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To: Norn Iron
We've gone close enough to the disaster of Yugoslavia thank you very much!

No kidding. I can't believe he was serious, suggesting the Serbian example as a template for others.

You have instead chosen the proper and peaceful path, and I pray that it will work eventually.

50 posted on 01/01/2002 3:23:28 PM PST by B Knotts
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To: SteamshipTime
There seems to be a misunderstanding. Peoples lives in Northern Ireland have been put at risk through funds raised in the USA to support terrorism in Northern Ireland. I'd like to see this support reduced.
51 posted on 01/01/2002 4:10:19 PM PST by Norn Iron
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To: constitutiongirl; norn iron
well, this degenerated into a truly tasteless thread, didn't it?
52 posted on 01/01/2002 4:19:27 PM PST by Benson_Carter
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To: damnlimey
Many in America (even on this forum where many are more enlightened than most)see terrorism in NI as one-sided (only the IRA and other pro-Irish dissidents). They either ignore or have no idea of the atrocities commited from the other side (including police and Brit Army collusion). I assume we're about the same age and I had the misfortune of living here in Belfast as a child in the 70's. It does shape perceptions and they're hard to overcome. Sorry if I came across b-tchy. I've had to apologise to Norn Iron for the same thing occasionally. Happy New Year.
53 posted on 01/01/2002 5:48:24 PM PST by constitutiongirl
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To: Doctor Stochastic
And this one has a shotgun.
54 posted on 01/01/2002 5:52:17 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
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To: Benson_Carter
Well, ya know, I have no excuse (except stress? alignment of the stars? lol). I'll be back Stateside this weekend (Thank God).Hopefully I'll finally be able to get a decent night's sleep. Please pray a safe trip home for me (int'l travel is a bit mentally intense these days). :)-CG
55 posted on 01/01/2002 5:52:32 PM PST by constitutiongirl
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To: BunnySlippers
...target civilians? If they do, they employ terrorist tactics.

We (the U.S.A.) target civilians to break the will of the villified people. Thousands of innocent Afghan people have died along with thousands of Serbs, we targeted market places, civilian trains and convoys, television stations, power and water supplies.

I wish we would listen to the admonishments of George Washington and avoid foreign entanglements. If we had done so I doubt the events of September 11 would have occurred.

56 posted on 01/01/2002 6:31:47 PM PST by UnBlinkingEye
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To: cake_crumb
When is the last time the IRA bombed American buildings or ships?
57 posted on 01/01/2002 6:40:46 PM PST by xclusiv1
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To: triumph69
It saddens me to say this, for I would like to see nothing better than the union of the six counties with the Irish Republic.

However, you should open your mind to one alarming possibility: that is, if the British Govenment were to pull out of Northern Ireland right now, there might very well be a series of massacres in which the Catholic citizens could be on the losing end. British presence prevents that.

You see, in addition to suppressing the IRA, the British government also rides herd on those UDF factions who are ready, willing and all too able to get into massive "ethnic cleansing."

It's a mess, for sure. And American intervention might well have the same results as our meddling NATO intervention in Kosovo. Think "KLA," when you think "IRA."

No, this will be settled by plebiscite, and either by eventual and peaceful union with the Republic, or autonomy, when the Catholic vote is big enough and unified enough.

58 posted on 01/01/2002 7:13:21 PM PST by Francohio
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To: Francohio
I do think the army in the south would come to the aid of the Catholics in the north, that's if Britain pulled out. Frankly, I also think the Unionists would be better off if they were part of the Republic. My logic is that they would have more political clout than they do now in Britain e.g. more mp's in the Irish parliament than their very small relative numbers in Britain. I do have a little understanding of the place as my grandparents are buried in Lurgen(Ulster) and I lived their for a short time.
59 posted on 01/01/2002 8:07:36 PM PST by triumph69
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To: constitutiongirl
No problem,I'm sorry if my post caused any offense,
my limited encounters with terrorism kind of pale by
comparison to living in Belfast in the 70's.
Happy new year to you and yours.
60 posted on 01/02/2002 6:10:07 AM PST by damnlimey
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