Can somebody explain what's going on here? Is this move brilliant, or bizarre? Or, both? (Please excuse pasting of lengthy article. To me, it defies accurate summarization.)

Bush Visit Seen as Chance to Seal N.Irish Peace
April 4, 2003
By Alex Richardson

BELFAST (Reuters) - U.S. President George Bush's visit to Northern Ireland next week was seen here as offering hope for a major breakthrough in shoring up peace in one of the world's longest-running conflicts.

Although the primary purpose of the visit is to hold talks on the Iraq war and the Middle East with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the U.S. leader will also discuss Northern Ireland with Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern and local politicians.

Bush is not seen as sharing his predecessor Bill Clinton's deep interest in Northern Ireland, but his visit was welcomed by local politicians as evidence of U.S. commitment to securing a final peace settlement to the 30-year "Troubles."

"It's a pretty important week in the peace process here," a British government source said of Bush's visit.

"He's coming to encourage the parties to sign up to acts of completion," he added, referring to major concessions both British Protestants and Irish Catholics are expected to be asked to make to revive the landmark 1998 Good Friday peace accord.

The leaders also hope to highlight the successes in Northern Ireland -- where violence has greatly diminished since the guerrilla cease-fires of the mid-1990s -- as an example for efforts to broker a deal in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Blair has always seen what's happened in Northern Ireland as a possible model for peace processes elsewhere, and particularly in the Middle East," the British source said.

The home rule government set up in Northern Ireland under the 1998 agreement collapsed in acrimony in October, with Britain restoring direct-rule from London after the discovery of an alleged IRA (Irish Republican Army) spy ring.

Bush's visit next Tuesday comes two days before the calendar anniversary of the Good Friday deal, when Blair and Ahern plan to make a final pitch to bring feuding Protestants and Catholics together and revive the power-sharing administration.

HOPEFUL SIGN

News Bush was coming in the midst of the Iraq war took the province by surprise, but analysts saw it as a hopeful sign.

"It's really quite a remarkable symbolic gesture by the Bush administration to get involved and you would guess that they would only get involved if in return there would be some payback in terms of the (Northern Irish) parties jumping," said Paul Dixon, a lecturer in politics at the University of Ulster.

Unionists have long demanded that the IRA, whose political wing Sinn Fein held seats in the provincial administration, totally disarm as part of the peace process.

Dixon said he would expect a major gesture by the IRA as part of any major step forward in the peace deal.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams welcomed Bush's visit, saying it was "a strong signal of his support for the Good Friday Agreement and the Irish peace process."

"The U.S. administration and Irish America have played a constructive role in the process for some years," he added.

The province's main Protestant leader David Trimble -- unlike Adams a strong supporter of the U.S.-British military action in Iraq -- also welcomed the visit, but highlighted unionist fears of perceived concessions to the IRA.

"I trust a common approach to terrorism will be taken, irrespective of whether it is in the Middle East or Northern Ireland," he said. "I would caution against any mixed messages."

Britain's outgoing ambassador to Ireland, Sir Ivor Roberts, said Bush's visit would undercut critics who said his administration was less committed to the peace process than that of Clinton, who visited the province three times.

"The fact is he is coming not to London, but to Northern Ireland. He will be meeting the Taoiseach (the Irish prime minister) as well the political parties in the north," Roberts told state-run RTE television.

"What we are still waiting for is a firm indication of what acts of completion will take place among the paramilitaries...I hope the prospect of a visit by the President of the United States will bring that into sharper relief."

(Additional reporting by Michael Roddy in Dublin)