Pooka,

There's a strange brand of Irish Catholic conservatism which is very concerned with the rights of the unborn and a little less concerned with their rights once they are born - particularly if they are part of the 'old enemy'. While the Sinn Fein leadership present themselves as radical marxists, many of their supporters on the national question would not necessarily agree with policies on other issues.

On the question of Colombia, it would appear that some former republican activists have been doing some 'consultancy' work down there - sorry if that seems flippant in view of the reports of the deaths. Whether or not this had the sanction of either the army council or the SF leadership (some claim there is no difference betweeen these two) would seem to be the major issue. There is no doubt that the timins both of the arrests in Colombia (as the initial breakthrough on de-commissioning was happening in August) and these hearings in the US (during the election campaign here) is particularly damaging to Sinn Fein. Whether this is coincidental or not is difficult to tell.

I find the link between the break-in in Castlereigh and the finding of the alleged tory hit-list a bit far fetched myself. As to whether MI5 or MI6 are the ones who do the tricks, from my vague memory of reading spy thrillers, I think 6 used to handle internal UK affairs whereas MI5 did the international stuff. The question as to which of them should be working in Belfast is interesting - I suppose it depends on whether you view Norn Ireland as part of the UK or not !