So, Mr. McGrath and the guy with the Gaelic pseudonym, if you acknowledge the point that there was a need for some sort of peacekeeping presence, who exactly would you have put in there? Volunteers with Ken Dodd-type tickling sticks? I don't think there would have been many takers.

The point I was trying to make (maybe not too well) was that it's a three-sided problem, not one, and that two of the sides were already 'at it' willingly before the third side was obliged to join in. If you simply point the finger at one side, there will never be a solution. You're quite right that the British army's not brilliant at the peacekeeping task, but it's a job that had to be done and they were the ones who were drafted in to do it.

Oh, and by the way smart-arse, whether they pray in Latin, Cantonese or Gibberish, the plain, simple and inescapable fact is that those children WERE shitting themselves with fear as they were terrorised by adults who should know better. Or perhaps your view of that is one-sided too?