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Terrorists Still Terrorising
There's no escaping the "big news" of the day, and yet there weren't many big surprises in the IMC's report (summary and full text at the BBC), nor in the reactions of the various political people. The least surprising of all the day's news is:
- Loyalist terrorists are still killing people
- The IRA is still engaged in criminal activity
- Sinn Fein deny the above and accuse anyone who dares challenge the angelic image of the IRA that Sinn Fein are trying so hard to paint, as "politically biased"
What the Report Says
"The organisation continues to accumulate information about individuals and groups, including members of the security forces..."
"... [Ongoing IRA activity] involves among other things the continuation of efforts to penetrate public and other institutions with the intention of illegally obtaining or handling sensitive information."
"...members and former members of PIRA continue to be heavily involved in serious organised crime, including counterfeiting and the smuggling of fuel and tobacco."
"... PIRA continues to raise funds..."
"... The practice of exiling continues with all groups, in some instances apparently unabated..."
8th Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission
So everybody's favourite cuddly killers are still forcing people from their homes, gathering intelligence, raising funds (like this?) and generally getting up to their necks in self-serving crime.
Sinn Fein's response?
Follow up:
Lots of Sinn Fein representatives got on the defensive, but rather than try and disprove the claims, they preferred attacking the Independent Monitoring Commission itself. There were rants from Martin McGuinness, other members of the party, and even Sinn Fein's online cheerleaders, all disgusted that someone dare challenge the word of their beloved IRA.
"The IMC has no place in the political process. It is no part of the Good Friday Agreement. It subverts the democratic mandate of all of the political parties but is specifically targeted at Sinn Féin. The individuals who make up the IMC and the group collectively are hostile to Irish Republicanism and are a proxy for political policing."
Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator
The IMC "is no part of the Good Friday Agreement"? So what did Sinn Fein just expect everyone to take the IRA's word for it? After 30+ years of murdering and maiming innocent civillians, should we just trust them when they say they're not going to stop that stuff now? Obviously there had to be verification. As far as I'm aware, the devolution of policing and justice was never part of the agreement either, but yet Sinn Fein continue to demand it (and will likely get their way very soon).
"hostile to Irish Republicanism" - as I've stated before it's their job to monitor terrorist organisations. They are hostile to terrorism, and since a republican is more often than not just a nationalist with a gun, they're just doing their job. It also strikes me as odd that an organisation in which one representative (of 3, I believe) is appointed by the Irish Republics's Government, could be anti-Irish Republican! Persecution complex much?
"Political policing" is just another Sinn Fein buzzword, like "securocrats", used in scaremongering and rabble rousing. Thrown about wildly, it means very little and doesn't deserve any more of a response than that.
It's not all bad news though. Despite the IRA itself appearing unwilling to change its opposition to the PSNI, attitudes on the ground are said to be "variable" and the report talks of "growing community readiness to engage with the police" in some areas (presumably not though in South Armagh).
In general the IMC has accepted that the IRA has, at the strategic level, abandoned paramilitary violence.
"There seems to be a growing awareness within groups on both sides that violence and crime ... do not now offer a way forward which is either right or likely to bear political fruit in the longer term."
That's the IRA dealt with - coming soon (hopefully) a closer look at Loyalist groups.