Sapper,

I am ill today, and have not been online, and am not going to stay on now. I have read your post, and I must say that it is well thought out. As I am sure you know, I do not agree with it in total, but I have great respect for the way you responded. You could have gone off in the direction of spouting rhetoric and official lines. But you did not, rather you presented your view well and with conviction. One day I hope to visit England and I honestly hope I can sit down over a jar with you. The debate should be interesting to say the least. Thanks for a cogent response.

To the rest of my fellow 'Catters. I am sorry if I made you uneasy. One thing about old Mick is that I am passionate in my pursuit of life. Sometimes that means taking positions that may not be popular, but you may be sure that I will stick to them. I would love to continue the debate with Sapper, but this is not the thread to do it. I would suggest that if anyone is interested, they should resurrect the "Back Home In Derry" thread. If it pops up, I will contribute.

Joe, the answer to your question with regard to others killing friends is not valid, in my mind. You are comparing based on a different set of circumstances. In fact I have had friends killed by a group of people that we were fighting as a military unit. And if you would bother to check other threads, you would know my view of it. Specifically the "Vietnam War Songs" thread.

I am not a pacifist, though Lord knows I wish I could be. I wish young people would never have to war again. War should occur only when their is no other choice. The "just war" as our church (Joe's and mine) calls it. How do you distinguish? Milosevic and Yugoslavia are the perfect example. If this were just a civil war, the Yugoslav forces against the KLA, then I would feel that we have no business there. But the minute the mass executions started, the day the forced removal of people from their homes started, the day the rapes and murders started, that is the day it went from being an internal matter to what it is. If, in the North of Ireland, the IRA were calling for the removal of the people who came over 500 years ago during the time of plantation, I would oppose them with all my might. They are not. This is about Ireland undivided. Nothing more.

Once more, to Sapper, thanks for a very good response.

All the best,

Mick