Hi GeorgeH:
Good to see you back! US courts,are a nuetral environemnt, wherein the government of GB made its best arguement the IRA Vol. Joe Doherty was a member of a terrorist group, and therefore extradictable. A judge who is much more concervitive than I will ever be, listened to months of testimony and read boxes of submitted materials, and ruled as he did in the post above. To say that this is an examination of Republican Propaganda hardly justifies comment. I dont think that United States Federal District Court Judges, appointed by the President of the United States and ratified by the Congress of the United States to a possition of life long tenure are often - if ever - advocates of radical politics. To show that he ruled against his inculturation, he made a quip to several of us, durring another case, after a piece of reporting from the NY Times, that we should be happy that particular incident did not happen before the Doherty case, and in that comment we see the difference between wieghing all the facts in court and what we read in the news. However, a good judge, studies the facts presented uncolored by the less than careful reporting of the news (especially when reporting on Ireland often comes through the coloring of British Intellegence, as is attested to by British Intellegnce member retired, Frank Holroyd).
As always good to hear from you, in the New Year.
All the best
Larry