They're at it again. They killed a 25 year old policeman because he was Catholic.
Just to be clear, he was killed because he was a Catholic and had joined the police.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0402/omagh.html
They're at it again. They killed a 25 year old policeman because he was Catholic.
Just to be clear, he was killed because he was a Catholic and had joined the police.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0402/omagh.html
Oh God. That's awful.
Because it wasn't obvious from that article, could you say how it's known that the car bomb was because he was a Catholic police officer? Had there been tension or threats beforehand, or is it just so in-keeping with how these things happen it's the the likeliest explanation?
Damn, just damn, the economy turns sour and the violent idiots go back to old ways.
My family are from there and told me. Extreme republicans don't like any rapproachment with the police in Northern Ireland, it is trying to become more neutral by recruiting more from the Catholic community, which has always held some animosity towards joining/cooperating. I suppose it's possible he was just killed because he was a cop but I'm pretty sure him being Catholic was the primary reason he was targetted. When these bastards attack police/soldiers they rarely, if ever, warn them.
This is terrible. I really hope things don't start up again like they were before.
There's a bit of that. Kids from poorer backgrounds who would be the primary source of volunteers for such idiocy now have the worst prospects in years. There's also a generation who has grown up not realising how shit things were in the past, they're easily manipulated, intoxicated by such notions. However, there is nowhere near the level of support for physical force republicanism there was in the past, and since they have proper representation, better policing, equal rights etc. there's less for Republicans to fight for.
Anyway here's the most apt lyric I can think of right now.
Now I know us plain folks don't see all the story,
And I know this peace and love's just copping out,
And I guess these young boys dying in the ditches,
Is just what being free is all about,
And how this twisted wreckage down on main street,
Will bring us all together in the end,
And we'll go marching down the road to freedom...
May I add, the callousness of this is compounded by the fact that Omagh was the site of the single worst atrocity of the Troubles, committed again by dissident Republicans.
I mean the peace walls are still there, and some violence still goes on, but Northern Ireland now is close as can be to a normal western society and has been for all my adult life.
I have to say I find some of the symbology, history, politics a bit intoxicating myself and I'm a fairly worldly, educated individual. It's a contest between the heart and the head in a way. Ultimately moderation in such matters arises from compassion. Realising that "the other side" isn't that different to you, isn't evil for the most part etc.
Although some of the dissident groups would like to start it up again, I don't think it is going to happen. This killing has shocked a lot of people because it is first outright attack in a while.
The other concern is that it has been suggested that the bomb was made with Libyan semtex and this is some kind of combined attack from the current troubles in Libya as well.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
The likely supplier of the semtex is Libya given past connections.
Linking it to the curernt troubles in Libya as a joint attack, I agree is very, very unlikely
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
They've arrested someone for it in Scotland.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110406/...o-45dbed5.html
It looks as though they also found a fairly large arms cache at the same time. I'm surprised they have found and arrested someone this quickly. But it bodes well, if the killer has been caught that quickly.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.