Sorry pal, but the U.S. has been paying a heavy price for assuming a position of leadership in the "modern world" for a hell of a long time. A lot of this is derived from trying to clean up the mess made by European colonialism (i.e. the French in Vietnam and the English in the Middle East). As for the IRA, I don't think too many folks are romanticizing them just because they are interested in Irish songs. On another note, I can't recall them ever purposely killing American civilians, or targeting (real) civilians on this scale.