Here's today's piece from the Irish American News Service on yesterday's House Committee meeting (a bit of an embarrassment, it seems), and a bit on the alleged IRA-FARC connection. Is it MI5 or MI6 that does this sort of stuff? I never remember. It does appear, however, that Chairman Hyde won't likely forget giving a party when nobody came (only about 40% of the Committee members bothered to show up). I also wouldn't be overly surprised if there might be some staff changes on the Committee, and if the "trusted sources" are treated less warmly in the future. There are, it seems, many folks interested in derailing the Peace Process AND in diminishing Sinn Fein's electoral propsects on May 17th. Sad, really, when the only other alternative is reciprocal violence. For the moment, at least, it seems to be heavily lop-sided, or even one-sided. ______________

HEARINGS FAIL TO SUBSTANTIATE IRA-COLOMBIA LINK 04/24/02 17:13 EST

There was bipartisan condemnation of what the House International Relations Committee (HIRC) staff members deemed to be evidence of IRA links with international global terrorism and the drug trade, during oversight hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC today.

Senior members on both side of the House Committee questioned the validity and basic premise of the hearings, with more than one member wondering aloud whether the hearings were more aimed at further funding US military intervention in Colombia rather than establishing the facts as to why three Irishmen were arrested in Colombia in August of last year.

Democratic Congressman William Delahunt said: "Unfortunately we have been presented with a report short on facts and replete with speculation, and surmise and opinion, much of which I disagree with." "This report," he said, "and other documents have received wide circulation both here and abroad and is quickly being accepted as the position of this committee."

Republican Congressman Chris Smith said he had made widespread inquiries "within our intelligence communities" to determine if there was any evidence whatsoever that Sinn Fein or the IRA "has any knowledge of any kind of complicity in the training with the FARC."

"The answer at this point," he said, "has been that there is no evidence whatsoever."

Describing some seven hearings he held on Irish issues, Rep. Smith contended that there was "volumes of credible evidence" showing members of the British security forces in Northern Ireland engaging in collusion with loyalists and committing criminal acts.

However, comparing today's proceedings with past hearings, he said that the fundamental difference was that the bottom line was a lack of any real evidence to substantiate the claims written by Committee staff members.

"The bottom line to all of this is evidence," said Smith. "The enemies of the peace process are likely to be disappointed in today's hearings because there is no evidence proving any link between Sinn Fein and the IRA and paramilitaries in Colombia."

Facing repeated questioning from Congressman Peter King, witness Asa Hutchinson, representing the Drug Enforcement Agency, admitted that his agency had no information or evidence whatsoever that the IRA was in any was involved in narcotics. This allegation was a central premise of today's hearings.

The chairman of the Committee, Rep. Henry Hyde, opened his remarks noting that he accepted Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams' statement that neither Adams nor anyone else in the Sinn Fein leadership were aware that the three men were traveling to Colombia.

"I accept Mr. Adams' statement at face value and ask that it be included in the record," said Hyde. "At this time, we have no information contradicting this statement," he added.

In his remarks to the Committee, Mark Wong, representing the Bush Administration from the Department of State, emphasized that the Administration's focus "remains on ensuring that there is no current or future cooperation between these two organizations (IRA and FARC)."

In questioning, Mr. Wong acknowledged that the Administration "had no evidence whatsoever" that the IRA had breached the terms of its ceasefire. He said that the intelligence they had was that the IRA's ceasefire was intact.

Wong also stated that the Administration believed that Colombia's judicial process "should be allowed to reach their conclusions unhindered by anything we say here today."

The Commander in Chief of Colombia's armed forces, in his testimony, claimed seven members of the IRA had been helping to train FARC guerillas in his country. General Fernando Tapias told the hearing he did not know if they were acting on their own part or on behalf of the IRA.

He said two of those arrested were in the "upper echelons" of the IRA. When questioned by Congressman Peter King as to why Colombian Intelligence had used, in their submission to today's hearing, the deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Mr. Peter Robinson, to provide background on one of the three men in Colombia, General Tapias said that this was through their work with British Intelligence.

In the Colombian Intelligence's submission for today's hearing, it stated that Mr. Robinson considered James Monaghan "as the most important man in the IRA."

Mr. King asked General Tapias if he was aware that Mr. Robinson was a political adversary of Sinn Fein, was avowedly anti-Good Friday Agreement, and had an arrest record in Northern Ireland. The General responded that he was unfamiliar with the name but would 'research' it and provide an answer at a later date.

IRA REPEATS DENIAL OF LINKS WITH FARC GUERRILLAS 04/24/02 09:05 EST

In a statement issued today, the IRA has denied any involvement with left-wing guerrillas in Colombia ahead of a US congressional committee hearing into alleged links between the two groups.

The IRA reiterated that its leadership had sent no-one to Colombia to train or to engage in any military co-operation with any group.

The IRA said the arrest of three Irishmen in Colombia last August on suspicion of training FARC rebels had been "used again in an intense way by opponents of the peace process in Ireland and Britain".

It said this was an "attempt to undermine and subvert the democratic peace process".

It added: "The IRA has not interfered in the internal affairs of Colombia and will not do so."

The IRA said it was "fully committed to a successful outcome of the Irish peace process" and was no threat to that process.

The statement repeated the IRA's denial of links with Colombia which it made shortly after the men were arrested. __________

________________________________________________________

The Irish American Information Service is a non-profit organization providing up-to-the-minute political news from Ireland to the world. The IAIS is funded entirely by your contributions. Please send your tax-deductable contributions to IAIS at the National Press Building, 529 14th Street NW, Suite 837, Washington, DC 20045. You can visit us on the Web at http://www.iais.org