Gerry Adams has seen that, with the current President in office for another term, invitations to the White House - even jolly fund-raising jaunts to the States - were no longer on the cards for him. Most Irish-Americans have now seen through the whole Sinn Fein-IRA scam for the fraudulent simplification and sentimentalisation of murder and repression it is. The wider war on terror, meanwhile, has increased squeamishness about funding terror of any stripe even among those who still hanker after republican delusions.
So not only was Adams' flow of ready money drying up, but his political credibility was fading fast too. Adams has wisely, if belatedly, decided to jack in the armed struggle on the IRA's behalf. This may help to make him and his fellow ex-terrorists salonfähig again, and he will be rewarded soon enough with a return to political power. Sickening as this is, it's certainly an improvement of sorts, and one for which George W. Bush's resolute stance deserves some credit.
The big question is whether Adams can persuade the gangsters who make up the rest of the IRA to jack in committing their crimes as well - the kneecappings, bribery, money-laundering and extortion on which the livelihoods of so many "Volunteers" depend.
Good luck, Gerry. You'll be needing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment