It's heartening to read all these measured posts which look at the man with balanced views, not flame-throwing comments heaping evil curses on his (deceased) head.
One can't discount of course the terrible events during the troubles, and the myriad innocent people (including children) who died. I personally can't get out of my mind the Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings, where explosions tore men and horses to pieces. It made me think of WW1, and the vulnerability and innocence of the horses somehow struck me forcibly. Almost a metaphor for the whole sorry situation.
Teribus is right in that it's never the ordinary people who seek extreme violence; they just want to get on with their everyday lives in safety. But it seems it is they who take the brunt of it all, and not just in Ireland. Look at Rwanda, or Ivory Coast in their recent civil war. Grenades in family courtyards, children's arms lopped off with machetes. Always the small, vulnerable ordinary folk who suffer.

I hope he rests in peace, and that peace may prevail. But that depends on 'ordinary people' behaving with decency and restraint.