Photosales
niJobfinder
niCarfinder
Home Delivery
Propertynews
Brian Rowan: Their war is not over
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
The dissident republican bomb in Forkhill is one more reminder of the threat — one more close call, one more lucky escape.
The discovery of the device comes on the heels of the illegal checkpoint in the village of Meigh, where recently the Real IRA stepped out of the shadows.
The purpose of the bomb is easily answered. It was about trying to kill police officers. But that is only part of the intention. There is a wider purpose and a bigger project that is about destabilising the peace process.
The dissidents are pushing many buttons and trying to get a response. We know, because loyalists have said it publicly now, that those killings in March — when the dissidents shot two soldiers and a police officer — threatened decommissioning plans and almost forced a reaction.
What was the quality of the Forkhill device and what will that say about the construction of this bomb and who may have helped put it together?
One source spoke yesterday of those shootings at Massereene Barracks and in Craigavon earlier this year describing them as “own goals”.
“There was no popular mood for it,” he said.
But the dissidents are still trying to kill police officers and that source accepted they have “the capacity to do an enormous amount of damage before they wither on the vine”.
This activity is not just about attacking the security forces it is also about attacking Sinn Fein and attempting to destroy its strategy — a strategy that the dissidents would view as traitorous.
- Text Size
Also in this section
- Why my kids feel Olympics are not the real thing now
- Mum's the word for Jen's woe
- Good vibes about Belfast film
- Why dreaded inspections are not making the grade
not dissidents, scum is a better word if it were unionists doing these deeds there would be a kickup from republicans and priests, why the silence now from these people, does it only count if they are attacked, remember st bartholimuse night paris, and other periods in history ,no clean hands there
Posted by william | 11.09.09, 10:04 GMT
bigchiefally.
in response to your comment - "i have no idea what their logic is"
there is NO logic, apart from the fact that these hoods are heavily involved in criminal activity motivated by sheer GREED and they're preying on vunerable young recruits to sustain their campaign of crime.........
do not report their activities and they'll wither.............
Posted by seymour cashman | 11.09.09, 10:03 GMT
John McBride,
If you like the idea of 'back room' deals, I can thoroughly recommend Robert Fisk's 'The Great War for Civilisation'. It covers Afghanistan, several interviews with Osama bin Laden, Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Iran, etc. There are more than a few jaw-dropping moments in it, usually involving Americans. Back room deals is an understatement. The really sad bit is that it is not fiction.
Posted by Will Hawkes | 10.09.09, 21:01 GMT
I watched a press screening of a film last night called '31 North 62 East' (www.31north62east.com) at the Moviehouse in Belfast and the film sums up the political system and the back rooms deals of politics very well. Very topical and a great film.
Posted by John McBride | 10.09.09, 10:06 GMT
The good thing this time is that MOST people are against this sort of thing now and if we had a pro active police force that wasnt scared stiff we together could snuff these terrorist scum out !!!
the new chief constable needs to be resolute with all these scumbags !!!!
Posted by red devil | 09.09.09, 15:25 GMT
After 30+ years of violence all the IRA achieved was 3000+ dead, NI with a constitutional position that is more firmly in the UK than ever, a unionist veto (though there is a similar nationalist one too) over most policies and lower living standards than both the rest of the UK and the rest of Ireland.
The much bigger, much better armed and much better publicly supported Provisional IRA couldnt bomb NI into united ireland and its leadership eventually realised this, do these other groups really think it can be done?
Ignoring the rights and wrongs of killing for political cause, or indeed of whether or not NI should be in what jurisdiction, I honestly have no idea what their logic is?
Posted by bigchiefally | 09.09.09, 14:45 GMT