Why was the IRA less of a threat than Islamist bombers?

[Briar]

Yes, it is Polly Toynbee. This still asks the crucial question.

Why was the IRA less of a threat than Islamist bombers?

From Iraq to anti-terror legislation and Turkey's exclusion from Europe, we are turning the clash of civilisations into a reality

Polly Toynbee

...

Clarke's move to jail for up to five years anyone who "glorifies, exalts or celebrates" terrorist attacks is as daft as it is dangerous. Consider how we tolerated the endless Irish glorification of terror. Neither giant street paintings celebrating the gun and bomb nor IRA killers in berets and sunglasses shooting guns over the coffins of "martyrs" had the army charging in. Nor did police raid pubs in Kilburn to arrest maudlin old men indoctrinating wide-eyed youngsters in deathless songs such as this:

Just before he faced the hangman,
In his dreary prison cell,
British soldiers tortured Barry
Just because he wouldn't tell
The names of his brave comrades,
And other things they wished to know:
"Turn informer or we'll kill you!"
Kevin Barry answered "No!"

Incidentally this song and many similar can be found on the BBC's history site; will it be prosecuted too? Lawyers are stumped as to what genuinely dangerous act of glorification wouldn't already be caught under the law against incitement to violence.

Similarly, why is it only when confronting the Islamist threat in the 2000 Terrorism Act that it became a legal duty to inform on possible terrorists? Under this law the brother of the British suicide terrorist who murdered many in Israel is this week being retried after a trial where the jury couldn't decide whether to convict. But the law never forced the Irish to inform. Perhaps it was recognised that any Irish family informer would be tarred and feathered, kneecapped or killed. But why are we putting a higher expectation on Muslim families, equally in fear? It seems as if we fear these new terrorists as more alarmingly alien, less one of us, though Catholic and Islamist bombs have the same effect. The IRA was undoubtedly the more organised enemy, so probably more lethal. Or is it just that politicians need to be seen taking "new" action, despite perfectly good existing laws?

...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1573756,00.html

[AlamoDemoc]

1. I asked the same question three months ago

I guess one can make its own conclusions

[bananas]

2. Because they like beer.

It's the tea-totalers that you can't trust.

[mr blur]

3. It's true -

I'm a teetotaller and completely untrustworthy.:smoke:

[bananas]

4. Thank you.

Did you know that tomato sauce is like kryptonite to the flying spaghetti monster?

[HawkerHurricane]

5. Now don't be silly.

What is tomato sauce but spaghetti sauce without the blessed herbs and spices? How could the flying spaghetti monster be harmed by spaghetti sauce?
Ramen!

[bananas]

6. How do you know if the Flying Spaghetti Monster is ready?

Throw it against the wall and see if it sticks :)

[fedsron2us]

7. I am not sure I agree with Toynbee's article

She seems to forget that past British government responses to violence in Northern Ireland included internment without trial, Diplock courts and some degree of press censorship. The reaction of politicians following the recent London attacks reminds me uncannily of the wave of hysteria that was whipped up in the UK following the 1974 Guildford and Birmingham bombings.

With regard to Turkey's current exclusion from the EU I do not see how Blair's government can be held responsible for this state of affairs. As far as I am aware the Prime Minister has always supported their application to membership.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2567451.stm

It is politicians in the other European states that have been blocking progress.