Belfast Telegraph
Former IRA men 'banned for less'
By Sean O'Driscoll
21 January 2005
An Irish-American lobby group has called on the Bush administration to ban Margaret Thatcher's son from entering the US after he pleaded guilty to providing a helicopter which was to be used in a failed coup d'etat in central Africa.
The Washington-based Irish National Caucus said that the government was deporting former Irish prisoners released under the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement and should apply the same standards to Mark Thatcher.
Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister, has admitted funding a helicopter that was to be used in a bid to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea - although he said he thought he was funding an air ambulance.
The mercenaries had been plotting with a number of European businessmen to install a military junta and invest in oil and gas reserves in the country.
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