Thanks Mick, for putting that view far better than I could.

If you or any others got the impression from my earlier contribution that I was not aware of the history prior to the sixties, or that I was trying to allocate or transfer "blame"; that was my error for not making myself clear. I confined myself to those areas I spoke of, because they were ones on which I could quote from personal or first hand, experience. My friends in Northern Ireland are catholic, and so I have an insight into the machinations on that side. I did not mean to imply that there was not at least as much cynicism and manipulation by the protestants or the British authorities. I agree Mick, that sometimes you have to fight, but most emphatically agree with you that we must never loose sight of the fact that the "enemy" is as human and important an individual as ourselves. Similarly, we can honour courage, and the sacrifice people make for their beliefs, without being blind to their faults.

Iason, I did not mean to imply that you supported indescriminate violence, but I did feel, and still do, that the kind of "joyous hatred" for the "other side" which came through in your earlier post can only perpetuate a problem. If in the process of redressing one wrong, another group is demonised and marginalised, they too will inevitably instigate an "armed struggle for freedom" of their own.

Not all of us are, or have been, "sitting safe in America", but I would not presume to judge you on the basis of a few lines, although I do reserve the right to judge, and comment on, the ideas expressed in those lines.

The important point is that we all agree on the need to heed the will of the majority in Ireland, and ensure that the peace process is not highjacked or subverted by fanatics of either hue.

Pete M