(Note to honored Newbies ~ like the Web-boss said [well - among Other things :], Cead Mille Failte. But please understand, once in a while you’ll have to Put up with a Post like this, not about Hurricanes, exactly, but rather re the news Wafted across the Pond by the gentle ~ or sometimes Roaring ~ winds from Erin’s green shores. Usually guestblogged by Yours Truly, Joe Loy. [But not Always ~ occasionally yer man the Hibernia nerd, Himself, gets in on the Act.] :)
So. As Scooped by the BBC yesterday, officials announced today that the Provisional Irish Republican Army has scrapped its rather considerable arsenal.
The IRA has put all of its weapons beyond use, the head of the arms decommissioning body has said. General John de Chastelain made the announcement at a news conference accompanied by the two churchmen who witnessed the process.“We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA’s arsenal.”
Welcoming the move, Prime Minister Tony Blair said IRA decommissioning had been “finally accomplished”.
The general said: “We have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms which we believe include all the arms in the IRA’s possession.
He said they had handled every gun and made an inventory of the weapons.
The arms included a full range of ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles, handguns, explosives, explosive substances and other arms including all the categories described in the estimates provided by the UK and Irish security services, he said…
He described IRA decommissioning as “an important milestone towards the completion of [the decommissioning authority’s] task to achieve decommissioning by all paramilitary groups“…
The churchmen said they regarded IRA decommissioning as an “accomplished act”…
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said that it was a “landmark development” and appealed to unionists not to “underestimate the importance” of the move…
“The weapons of the IRA are gone, and are gone in a manner which has been verified and witnessed,” he said…
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams admitted the announcement would be “difficult for many republicans” but it was a “very brave and bold leap“…
Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley said there had been no transparent verification of IRA decommissioning in the announcement.
He said the church witnesses had been agreed by the IRA and as such could not be considered “independent”.
Without a photographic proof, an inventory and details on how the weapons were destroyed questions remained, said Mr Paisley.
“This afternoon the people of Northern Ireland watched a programme which illustrates more than ever the duplicity and dishonesty of the two governments and the IRA.”
However, his deputy, east Belfast MP Peter Robinson said they accepted a significant amount of IRA weapons had been “put beyond use”.
Mr Robinson said they accepted it had been “a more substantial event than the previous events put together“…
Paisley, of course, is Always the bellowing Bull of Ulster and hasn’t yer man got just the brains for to Prove it too. Note how the great Crown Loyalist is sure that London, Dublin, and the Republic of South Armagh :) are all in Cahoots for to Get him. :> Unfortunately, the cantankerous old coot holds the Plurality in the long-suspended Northern Ireland Assembly with his DUP, and so needs to be Brought Around in order for Devolved Government to resume ~ which is the whole Point of the exercise, here. / But, that’s for Another day. (Yeah, like, Tomorrow. :)
Below are links to related informative items from the BBC (whom may God Bless, by the way :) ~
IRA arms: What’s been decommissioned / The reigning Estimate, more-or-less Endorsed by General de Chastelain, being:
IRA WEAPONRY1,000 rifles
2 tonnes of Semtex
20-30 heavy machine guns
7 Surface-to-air missiles (unused)
7 flame throwers
1,200 detonators
11 rocket-propelled grenade launchers
90 hand guns
100+ grenadesSource: Security estimates/Jane’s Intelligence Review
Full statements by various officials
Orange terrorists to follow Green counterparts’ example? No Way, says the bold Sammy Duddy :)
(Mighty big craic, there, “political researcher” Sam me boyo. We’ll just have to See about that. Methinks the Ulster Defense Association & the Ulster Volunteer Force & all their illustrious Ilk, are going to get their bigoted butts Decommissioned too. They just don’t Know it yet. :)
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September 26th, 2005 at 8:34:38 pm
Joe,
Paisley and his ilk remind me of the various wingnuts in our country who occasionally spout off about how the govt. is determined to eradicate the white race thru affirmative action, welfare, et. al.
“We’re losing the country man. We’re losing. Well who the f*ck is winning, motherf*cker. It ain’t us.”
-Chris Rock
Truly sad.
September 26th, 2005 at 8:40:39 pm
Truly True, Coach.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:26:42 am
sorry but paisley is right.
given that all the IRA murderers are walking the street, civilised in Irish and Norther government, running gangs in the North and the Republic, and running spy rings and armed robberies. If the brits had actually wanted to oppose the IRA they would have told the USA to get ahold on the Irish in the US supporting murderers through noraid, and then would have terminated all members of the IRA.
Thats what will have to happen to end the war, cause the provos are going to come back with more attacks against the home counties in the UK, the North and the Republic’s government, while also being vicious criminals.
September 27th, 2005 at 9:05:19 am
hey,
That’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
What motive do the provos have for attacking the UK, the North, and the Republic?
You’re just angry that the peace process has moved along and passed by the hardliners, while your bigoted friends like Paisley are left with their c*cks in their hands.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:37:18 pm
This seems like a great move forward, but my “trust-but-verify” meter isn’t yet satisfied. I’m sure there are still weapons and splinter groups to worry about. Hopefully things will be better though.
September 27th, 2005 at 4:17:26 pm
Hey hey hey, there, hey :), hold yer horses wouldyez. :> Bedam’ an’ I knew this site has a Diverse readership but I wasn’t expecting to Suss Out an honest-to-God DUP man. :) Yes the Irishboard has a Trojanhorse within, begob. Then again Finnegan, nobody ever expects the Ulster Red Hand Defenders. ;>
OK OK OK! Just Kidding, hey. :) Like the sign on my door says, A hundred thousand ambivalent welcomes. :) We appreciate all who march to the beat of their own drum. / Even if it IS a Lambeg. :]
Yes, hey, the Provies must also purge the Common Criminality from their ranks. (Same goes for the assorted & sordid Orange Irregulars, who have also descended into plain old Thuggery & Gangsterism.)
Two points. (1) I’ve read that Irish-American support, both financial and political, for “physical-force republicanism” HAS drastically diminished in the years since the GFA. Actions and Exhortations by the UK, Eire, and US governments ~ and by prominent US Politicoes of Irish descent (e.g., Teddy :) ~ have been effective in such regard. (2) Re your Wistful wish that the SAS :) “…then would have terminated all members of the IRA” : all Legalities aside (which is exactly where you’d Put them, we gather :), well, Yes, that would been a Plan. Perhaps a UK PM Bibi Netanyahu would have Implemented it. :) But I suspect the sudden news reports of (estmate) 700 oglaigh na h’Eireann desaparecidos would have done Wonders for New Recruitment. Fresh Blood, you know. / So to Speak. :|
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Andrew, I must confess agreement with you. :) For the moment, we Trust. Verification ~ or refutation ~ should come with Time. / Yes there are splinter groups, particularly the execrable RIRA (”Real”) and CIRA (”Continuity”). Predictably they will garner a few new Recruits out of this. And yes, there is always the problem of the odd “pike in the thatch”, as the Boyoes style it. ;>
Re confirmation over Time: given the very large Scale of this latest decommissioning, and the reported probability that the armaments were Scrapped at various venues throughout the whole Island of Ireland, AAAAND the renowned unReticence of the wagging Celtic tongue :) ~~ I’d think that the robust British press, and maybe the Irish media too, ought to be able to Investigatively suss out some illuminating Facts & Photographs. ;>