To be honest, the Irish Americans were an important source of water for even the provisional IRA fish. I remember the cold shoulder Philadelphians gave Gerry Adams when he spoke at the World Affairs Council after the Good Friday agreements. Not any more. During his last visit he was practically shunned. Indeed, Blair got in trouble when he seemed to suggest that the IRA was not as bad as Al Qaeda. So, here are the good news:
Mr. O’Dowd the publisher of a magazine, Irish America, and a newspaper, Irish Voice, said Mr. Adams and other senior republicans had persuaded the I.R.A. membership that it could succeed politically. Sinn Fein is now the second-largest party in Northern Ireland, and it has made significant gains among voters in the Republic of Ireland since 1994.
“This is a truly historic moment in Irish history,” Mr. O’Dowd said. “It is the first time since the founding of the Irish state that the I.R.A. has agreed that there should be no armed struggle. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have taken an armed revolutionary movement and succeeded in placing it on a political path. Irish history is littered with people such as Michael Collins, who tried to do the same and failed.”
posted by Judith
The Dish 