Keith,.
Our bickering seems to have sent this subject nose-diving into the sea and out of sight - shame on us both; as ard mhacha aptly observed on the other thread you opened, "you are talking to yourself" (on two threads).
A quick last word before I ride off into the sunset with the rest of the contributors to this thread that we have driven away with our monopolising.
You have not put forward one original thought on the subject of the Irish situation, instead, you have based your responses on the ideas of others.
"I will say what really led to Bloody Sunday...."
I had very little problem in finding the net article that you cut-and-pasted your 'analysis' (almost verbatim) from - doesn't count as an original thought I'm afraid.
The nearest you came to hitting any sort of mark was in raising the behaviour of the PIRA (which were still there two days ago and active as ever).
Paramilitaries are illegal terrorists, answerable to no one and acting only for themselves. The paratroopers who deliberately shot down unarmed demonstrators showed themselves as being no different than the terrorists they claimed to be fighting - their actions and the aftermath shamed the British Army, the British Government, the British judicial system and the British people - they are two sides of the same coin.
You understandably veer away from discussing the 'Holy Cross' incident because it happened "seven years ago". The Saville enquiry has just presented an enquiry on an incident that took place 38 years ago; equally relevant to the Irish situation today. Holy Cross serves to illustrate not only the continued presence of Loyalist belligerance (this time directed against children) but also the bestial nature of their behaviour.
You rightly say that the marches will continue, in spite of the fact that each 'little scuffle' takes Ireland a step nearer to the brink, also an exellent example of the nature of militant Unionism.
If I have learned anything from this thread it is never to become involved with people who use serious subjects to hang their egos on - won't happen again.
Happy trails pardner!
Jim Carroll