| It doesn't seem like much, surrounded as we are by | | | | claims, is a type of business model enjoyed by the |
| murder and mayhem in Iraq, Mexico, and indeed | | | | U.S. mafia until not too long ago. The Mafia operated |
| South Florida where six were shot over the | | | | as guardians of the community while squeezing the |
| weekend. The event in Northern Ireland is however | | | | same community for cash in protection rackets. 'La |
| significant in that it represents the attempted | | | | Cosa Nostra' turned out to be 'just gimme the cash |
| reopening of Pandora's Box. A box that took thirty | | | | or I'll kill you.' That's what it was all about. The |
| years to force shut. Unlike the participants in the | | | | protestations of heritage, family - meant nothing. |
| Northern Irish conflicts of old, these killers are | | | | Similarly in Northern Ireland the 'PT,' by mimicking the |
| criminals - psychopaths - not militants. | | | | paramilitaries in name, attempt to confuse the |
| Last Saturday night, two British soldiers, dressed and | | | | populace and create a powerful social role for |
| ready for deployment to Afghanistan the following | | | | themselves. Its name gives cover for these |
| day, met a pizza delivery outside their barracks. | | | | gangsters to perform under the pretence of political |
| Walking into a trap they were hosed with bullets. The | | | | idealism while shaking down their own community for |
| automatic fire injured many, two were critically | | | | funding; a deeply traumatized community which |
| including the pizza delivery man. The two soldiers | | | | continues it's slow recovery from generations of |
| were then finished off - assassination style - with | | | | bloodshed. The attacks on the British troops are a |
| shots to their heads. Hard core. | | | | diversion - an attempt at gaining credibility - from |
| According to the London Times today, the last time | | | | their real criminal mission; that of getting rich at the |
| a British soldier was killed in Northern Ireland was in | | | | expense of the people they live amongst. |
| February 1997 - 12 years ago - in Co. Armagh, where | | | | The solution? Fight fire with fire. |
| a sniper shot Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick. A | | | | The Northern Irish police chief recently invited a |
| lot of water has passed under the bridge since then | | | | British Special Forces unit back to the province to |
| as paramilitaries from both sides laid down their arms | | | | track and monitor terrorist activities. He obviously had |
| and agreed to get along in peace. A peace process | | | | a similar solution in mind. This is not a job however |
| that has accomplished so much, reflected in the | | | | for the British Government or the Northern Irish |
| number of new foreign investment schemes | | | | Police. In hunting and attacking the PT they are |
| attracted to the community. A change for the better | | | | reacting exactly as these guys want them to; their |
| that has the full support of the International political | | | | actions will add credence to the PT's false claims of |
| community. | | | | political motivation. |
| I could say how outraged we all are at the killing of | | | | This PT is a malignant ghost that has to be dealt with |
| these young soldiers, but why? It is, however callous | | | | by the people who know all about dealing with such |
| of me in saying so, a risk of their profession - | | | | issues. They have to be dealt with quickly, harshly |
| whether it happened in Northern Ireland or | | | | and without a shred of mercy. The force available to |
| Afghanistan; it happens. That they were shot is the | | | | deal with this problem? The remnants of the |
| fault of their own security or lack there of; despite | | | | Provisional IRA, the group whose leaders are now |
| ample warnings they were lax, too lax. The people | | | | respected politicians. They need to take care of this |
| who did it however need to be dealt with and, in | | | | business in a way only they know how; silently and |
| saying so, I don't mean a stint in prison. | | | | efficiently. The PT need to be eliminated down to |
| To add an element of perspective, the group who | | | | the last man and woman; the more public the |
| killed the soldiers was also responsible for the Omagh | | | | disposal the better. |
| car bombing in 1998 in which 29 people died, all | | | | A reaction such as this sends a message to any |
| civilians out shopping - an atrocity that has gone | | | | others who think that the long suffering and |
| unpunished and unanswered. So much for political | | | | traumatized community in Northern Ireland can be |
| leanings; these guys are plain, garden variety killers, | | | | subjected any more of this opportunistic fear and |
| the same as the brutal drug gangs in Mexico. | | | | violence. |
| The group, who call themselves the "Real IRA" | | | | The IRA may have given the indication that they are |
| (hereafter referred to as 'Psycho Thugs' or 'PT'), | | | | gone; they're not. They still exist and carry as much |
| have been attempting to edge closer to the limelight | | | | power now as they did when an IRA sniper peered |
| over the years. They have nothing to do with the | | | | through the sight of a .50 caliber Barrett rifle at that |
| 'Provisional IRA' who brought Northern Ireland to the | | | | 23 year old British soldier in 1997, seconds before he |
| bargaining table years ago. The PT are not however | | | | squeezed the trigger to mark the end of an age-old |
| worthy of association with their adopted name; | | | | conflict. |
| these guys are psycho thugs masquerading under | | | | What happens next in Northern Ireland is up to the |
| the umbrella of political activism. The ship they say | | | | real powers that be in the community; those who |
| they support sailed long ago. They are instead the | | | | have the ability to police their own. |
| faces of criminality at it's worst. | | | | And it needs to happen soon. |
| Hiding under the guise of 'Republicanism,' as this group | | | | |