No, fair enough, McGrath. I don't think we differ too much on subjects such as this, and I accept your assertion that it was not the original reason you opened the thread again.
I did forsee, though, statements as made by above named GUEST, and if everyone thinks the fault lies in the Nationalist camp, well, perhaps they are believing the propaganda that the English media have been purpounding of late.(only of late?)
Trimble said that in November of last year he, and the rest of the Unionist party "jumped", and they invited Sinn Féin to "jump" with them.
What on earth did they do that for?; why did they try to force the issue, instead of letting ALL affected interest groups, and institutions get on with the business of implementing the 'Agreement'?
Ulster Unionism is no friend of democracy. Never has been. They are fighting tooth and nail to preserve the old order. The old order where THEY rule, and we obey. Where THEY decide who gets Council dwelling and where we accept it. Where THEY decide if we're guilty. Where THEY have the positions of power, and we are not allowed a slice of that cake. Anybody who thinks that the Unionists entered this peace process willingly has an ignorance of things worldly that I truly envy.
Blowing a ship full of Semtex up does not solve anything; such things can be replaced. So, guns are not the problem. People think it is, or are led to believe that it is.
Finding excuses to deny us a slice of that cake is what drives these Unionists. The only thing that they can't do as effectively as they have in the past is to have the undivided attention of the ruling Government. And in the days of Conservatism in England, the Ulster Unionists had Thatcher's and Major's ears; they held the balance of power. On occasion the fate of the Tory Govt. lay squarely in the lap of the Ulster Unionists.
Did they use that power benevolently? I think not.
Ulster Unionists are experts at shifting the focus of attention off themselves and their PR machine fosters fear and recrimination. And judging by certain posts in this thread, they have some of you convinced as well.
Mandelson dissolved the Assembly because a self imposed condition by David Trimble was in danger of backfiring on him.
If Gerry Adams had said in November that HE would resign unless Loyalist paramilitaries had started the handover of weapons by February 11th, Ulster Unionism would have blown it's top, and many speaches would have been made as to the imposition of alterior agendas on behalf of the Republican movement.

We can't win here. Not with that kind of logic in operation we can't. It helps not one whit to lay the blame at our door. If we keep dancing to the Unionist tune, they'll just keep playing. If they were dancing to our tune, they would be living in in our utopia. And as we both know GUEST, Trevor, that is not the case.
Breandán