There seems to be a disturbing wave of commonsense and reasonableness sweeping through Mudcat. It is interesting to compare the postings in this thread to that which followed the "Stormont Spy Ring" raids. Some of the postings on that thread verged on the hysterical.

Personally I have no idea who carried out this raid but I do find Hugh Orde's assertion that he knows it was the IRA is, to say the least, unconvincing. It does, however, seem to distract the attention of the media and politicians from the amazing incompetence of the RUC/PSNI. Blaming the IRA and raiding the houses of a few republicans seems to keep everyone happy. There was a stolen container full of cigarettes, the Castlereagh break-in, and so on. Then the announcement, "The IRA did it", the raids (with the tv cameras etc invited along) and then …? And then the story goes away. No arrests. No convictions. I can't recall a single IRA member having been arrested and convicted since the ceasfire. The idea remains that the IRA were responsible and the police are doing their job.

A guest back there compares it to the intelligence which proved the existence of WMD in Iraq. Mr Orde actually goes further. He doesn't pretend to produce evidence, not even a dodgy one. We just have to take his word for it.

Here's a good response for other police forces suffering from similar lack of ability. "The big boys did it and ran away."