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US Envoy Denounces Provo Concessions
The traditional view of Americans participation in the "Peace Process" here is generally seen as "cynical playing to the green Irish vote" by taking the side of nationalists and/or republicans. This was particularly true under the Clinton years.
With the new presidency race I think the best some of us were hoping for was that any new administration would have more important things to worry about than the rather tedious affairs of Northern Ireland, yet still its hard to shake the feeling that the votes of 36 million "Irish Americans" may prove too tempting to ignore.
That's why I was so surprised to read today that President Bush's special envoy to Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, has criticised Tony Blair for giving too much to Sinn Fein/the IRA, who he said became used to the government "doling out benefits" whenever it came time for Sinn Fein/the IRA to do what any democrat should do, i.e. end criminality, endorse the police, decommission illegally held weapons - that sort of thing
Reiss had placed a ban on the provisionals fundraising in the US after he became frustrated at the lack of movement from Sinn Fein on these issues. Later when Gerry Adams wanted to do some fundraising in New York, he contacted Reiss to have request the ban be overturned. Reiss refused to Gerry went to his best mate Tony at Number 10 to get the British government to go over Reiss's head to get the ban lifted by the White House.
Relations with No. 10 got a bit "open and nasty" when Reiss insisted the fundraising ban should stay. The Americans thought the British government was about to fudge the issue of policing (surely not!). Reiss kept the ban in place knowing that, for Paisley and the DUP, support for policing was a pre-condition for power sharing.