When will they ever learn?
Deaglán de Bréadún
The worldwide reaction to the killings of the British soldiers and the Craigavon police officer has been very striking. One senses a deep international disappointment that a problem which seemed to have been resolved is now unravelling.
Even Al Jazeera’s English-language station got in on the act. The present writer was asked to go on a news-discussion programme with the great Eamonn Mallie, one of the doyens of the N.I. journalistic scene. I took part in the show from a studio in Dublin.
Eamonn has vast experience in the North and placed great importance on Martin McGuinness’s description of the republican dissidents as “traitors”. I take it this means that Sinn Fein will support the security crackdown on the dissidents that is already taking shape.
How that crackdown is conducted is very important. The old cliché that “repression breeds violence” is only a cliché because it’s true. It is vital in these situations to retain the high moral ground. In a wider context recently we saw Israel concede that ground to the Palestinians when they responded to the immoral Hamas rocket attacks with a disproportionate display of force that led to the deaths of many innocent civilians especially children.
On the Al Jazeera programme there was another guest who wanted the dissidents “hunted down like animals”. That’s daft talk and plays right into the hands of those who want a return to turmoil and heartbreak. Remember how Internment and Bloody Sunday swelled the ranks of the IRA and fuelled a campaign that lasted more than 20 years?
When will they ever learn?
