"The fools, the fools, the fools." - Padraig Pearse

Fundamentally, the Orange rejectionists have brought this to pass; but Sinn Fein/IRA, with their double-gaming bets-hedging, are immorally complicit --and STUPIDLY so, to put the tin hat on it. The GFA is in THEIR political interests, not in the Unionists'.

A plague upon Paisley & Adams both. *All* their paramilitaries need to be disbanded, God damn it. "Gradh mo chroi, I long to see, the Boys of the Old Brigade" -- TOUGH SHIT! Farewell and adieu to 'em. Enough with the George Mitchell stuff already. Disarm the bastards.
Bah.

OK, there, I've said it. I now await McGrath of Harlow's rational balanced perspective & calming wisdom. And others' too of course. Article below. Aplolgies for its length, & my rant.

--Pooka, steamed

Britain to Run Northern Ireland
7:54 AM EDT,October 14, 2002
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Britain will strip power from local Catholic and Protestant politicians on Monday night and resume sole responsibility for running Northern Ireland, the British governor announced.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said the order to suspend the authority of Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration and legislature would take effect at midnight (7 p.m. EDT) and last indefinitely.

The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, said they were "deeply saddened" by the move. But in a joint statement the premiers said it would prevent the outright collapse of the coalition, which has taken years of negotiations to forge and sustain.

"It is our sincere wish that the Northern Ireland institutions be restored as soon as possible," said Blair and Ahern, whose close cooperation paved the way for the province's Good Friday peace pact of 1998.

Britain has successfully shut down and revived the Catholic-Protestant administration before. But analysts predict this crisis will be the toughest yet to resolve because of rising Protestant hostility to sharing power with Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked party that has grown increasingly popular among Catholics, thanks to the peace process.

However, many people on both sides of this still-divided community remain confident that the political crisis won't trigger widespread bloodshed by Northern Ireland's myriad armed groups.

Reid's announcement followed a threat by the major Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, to withdraw from power-sharing because of alleged IRA spying. First Minister David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists and the local administration, had set Tuesday as a deadline for Britain to intervene.

Trimble wanted Reid to expel Sinn Fein rather than to take power from all four parties in the coalition. Trimble said he accepted Reid's move as "a poor second best," and offered to resume cooperation with Sinn Fein if the IRA disbanded.

Four people, including Sinn Fein's top legislative aide, are behind bars awaiting trial for espionage-related charges following police raids Oct. 4. The suspects are accused of stealing documents from Reid's office that allegedly include details of potential IRA targets and records of talks between Britain and other key parties.

Reid said the accusations against Sinn Fein had damaged Protestant confidence, but kicking out any party now would be premature. He expressed hope that negotiations in coming months would rebuild trust, and allow Britain to restore power to locals before elections to Northern Ireland's legislature in May.

In their joint statement, Blair and Ahern signaled that restoring Ulster Unionist-Sinn Fein relations would require a clear-cut end to IRA activity.

The premiers said Sinn Fein's connections to an illegal underground organization must be "brought to an unambiguous and definitive conclusion."

"It is now essential that the concerns around the commitment to exclusively democratic and nonviolent means are removed. The time has come for people to clearly choose one track or the other," Blair and Ahern said.

The British move meant the Monday afternoon debate inside Northern Ireland's 108-member legislature would be its last for the foreseeable future.

Reid, a Scotsman appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2000, will oversee Northern Ireland's 12 government departments with help from a beefed-up contingent of four lawmakers from London.

Reid said he planned to consult regularly, starting next week, with the powerless administration's top two figures -- Trimble and the Catholic deputy leader, Social Democratic and Labor Party chief Mark Durkan -- to promote continuity and minimize government disruption.

Monday's suspension of powers was the fourth ordered by Britain since Trimble's coalition took office in December 1999, following a U.S.-brokered compromise. Under that plan, Sinn Fein received two administration posts on condition that the IRA began to disarm. Britain resumed sole control in February 2000, after disarmament officials confirmed that the IRA had yet to get rid of any weapons. Three months later, Britain switched power back to local hands after the IRA pledged to put its stockpiled weaponry "beyond use."

When no disarmament followed, however, Trimble resigned as government leader in July 2001, and vowed not to return until the IRA moved.

Britain used two short suspensions of power to extend the deadline for Trimble's re-election until the IRA secretly scrapped a few arms dumps in October 2001. But the belated IRA move did little to ease opposition to Trimble in the legislature, where Protestant hard-liners came within a few votes of blocking his return to power.

Protestant hostility to Sinn Fein has swelled this year alongside mounting police allegations against the IRA, which is largely observing a 1997 cease-fire but remains active in the most hard-line Catholic areas.

Among the accusations -- all denied by the IRA -- are that the outlawed group stole police documents detailing its informer network; keeps gathering intelligence and training for a potential end to its 1997 cease-fire; kills drug dealers and wounds criminal rivals in its Catholic power bases; and directs mob attacks on police.