Army defuses huge bomb on Northern Ireland border

[oldironside]

"Dissident republicans blamed for planting 270kg device on roadside in South Armagh

Police in Northern Ireland have foiled a terror plot involving a bomb twice the size of the one that devastated Omagh in the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles.

The 270kg (600lb) device was discovered in a spot close to the border near Forkhill in South Armagh. It had a command wire attached to it that ran from Northern Ireland to a firing point inside the Irish Republic, police said today.

SNIP

The Real IRA and Continuity IRA have attempted to mount major bomb attacks since their terror campaigns intensified at the start of this year.

In January, the security forces found and defused a 300lb in Down, which they said was destined for Ballykinley army base on the coast. Five months later, around 100lbs of explosives were found in field near Rosslea, in Fermanagh. Security sources said this device, like the one found in Down, was to have been used against the army and police.

British troops and police officers remain the Real IRA and Continuity IRA's principal targets in their campaigns to destabilise the political power-sharing settlement in Northern Ireland. Both organisations regard Sinn Féin's presence in the power-sharing coalition with unionists as a sell-out of traditional republicanism."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/08/bomb-defused-northern-ireland-border

[LeftishBrit]

1. Argh. Clearly there are a few who don't like peace.

I hope that they continue to fail - and that no one gets murdered in the process!

[oldironside]

2. I've never been able to understand those...

... who think that the world would be a better place if they could just kill another few people - be it a few dozen, a few thousand or a few million.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

3. Ideology over practicality

RIRA and CIRA see view Power-Sharing as Sinn Fein administrating on behalf of the British government, a de facto betrayal of Irish Republicanism.

The strategy therefore is to:
*Collapse Power-Sharing by goading Britain into using the very tactics that oppressed and worsened relations with the significant Roman Catholic minority (thus undermining Sinn Finn's position)
*To goad Loyalist terrorist groups to give-up ceasefire and thus make it difficult for the PIRA to stay in ceasefire
*To make the Paisleyites withdraw from Power-Sharing, thus collapsing the Peace Process.
*To turn nationalist opinion away from the Peace Process in favour of a war-footing.

[oldironside]

4. Well, to quote the late Spike Milligan...

... "They'll be fucking lucky."

You are absolutely right in summing up their position, however...

- the British government is not about to introduce internment, troops on the ground (where would they come from?) or a shoot to kill policy against them, simply because they are too small a group and there is too much at stake. Being Northern Ireland you can't discount some rogue element of the security forces doing something, but it would hardly be government policy
- all the Northern Irish Catholics I know are happy that there is some semblance of peace (that's four people, by the way. Not a huge sample, but indicative of something)
- neither Sinn Fein or the DUP want to be the ones to walk away from power sharing. It's far more fun to be able to blame the other guy

While they may have a bomb, a plan and some ruthless and expendable accomplices, they are a splinter of a splinter of a splinter and can only appeal to the most ignorant pseudo-romantic nationalist (NORAID anyone?). Anyone who's seen a photo of what they 'achieved' in Omagh will be shaking their head at the hopelessness of it all.

And I'd just like to say that killing for peace is like fucking for chastity.