My dear friend Skarpi:
Lovely sentiment, and one clarification
As to IRA armed struggle and the British troops. They did not come to Ireland to end IRA violence. In fact, they were in responce to a miscalculation on the part of the nationalist/civil rights community who were the target of loyalist violence. The had patterned their non-violent movement for civil rights on the actions of the Southern Christian Leadership and SNIC (Conrad Blainy old boy) in the US. They thought that crown troops would come to protect them, like the federal troops in the south in the US. English government policies had other things in mind, and members of the English Troops Out movement - of British veterines of the war in Ireland describe being told by thier officers that their role was not to protect republicanism but to teach them a lesson, which they did on Bloody Sunday, killing unarmed civilians and leading to the eventual rearming of the Irish Republican Army. So the troops leaving will have no effect, though loyalsit terrorism might indeed. All the best, and enjoy the short summer in Iceland, and keep singing about peace, we all agree on that (other than Mr. Ian "Never Never Never"Paisley and his crowd)
Larry