Larry,

Two of your postings above mystify me somewhat:

InOBU - 26 Sep 03 - 09:48 PM & InOBU - 29 Sep 03 - 07:31 AM

In the first - "Think of an Irish army on your streets, breaking in your door in the middle of the night, pulling your sister out of bed, hitting your father in the face with a rifle but, and taking you off to be tortured through the best part of two weeks."

No need to think about it, Larry, there was such an army on our streets, doing just the things you said, the only diference being that after the period of torture, the person who had been lifted never came back alive - and on occasion no body returned to their families to receive a proper burial - That Army, Larry was the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Ard continues to rant about uniformed football thugs, "Bloody Sunday" is one of his pet subjects, he does not seem to be so concerned about the 87 murders carried out on the orders of Martin McGuiness during his time as commander of the PIRA in Derry - no calls for an inquiry there AM.

In your second post, you refer to your time as a photographic journalist spent in the North of Ireland during the seventies - Being there in such a role, you must have covered, and possibly experienced, the effects of the PIRA's indiscriminate bombing campaign - but - no mention, no outright condemnation - gallant freedom fighter perspective, is that what you left the US to prove?? - utter bullshit - a crowd of completely unrepresentative and unelected terrorists acting against the wishes of the vast majority of people in the whole of Ireland - the all Ireland referendum that took place at the same time as the North's referendum on the Good Friday Agreement proved that conclusively.

As for knowing, "the value of respect for the rights of the people of Ireland and the lives of her children" That's another one both you and AM should take up with the paramilitary groups - whose ranks and commanders never once in the entire sorry episode referred to as "The Troubles" ever gave a tuppenny-damn about the, "rights of the people of Ireland and the lives of her children".

McGrath of Harlow - 27 Sep 03 - 01:13 PM

"Forget the history books - the real history is in the songs. And the songs tend to be written by the people the history books call the losers."

You are joking of course. What songs written and sung at the time gives a view from one perspective - that is how you would advise someone to study history? I sincerely hope not.