Sir, - Just one of the extraordinary aspects of the Belfast Agreement is its remarkable effect on many politicians and journalists. It is not unusual to hear such people state that "the war" is over. Then, almost as an aside, they will inform us that if the process fails we will witness further violence from paramilitaries.
Either the terrorist organisations have turned their faces against murder and intimidation as a means of achieving their aims, or they have not. If the latter is the case, it is not only unjust but dangerous to expect unionists to bring the political face of terrorism into the government of Northern Ireland.
It must be very disheartening for David Trimble to find that the SDLP and nationalism in general make no moral distinction between the position of the UUP and republicans on the question of the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. I believe the SDLP will pay a high price for its moral ambivalence on this issue come the next election in Northern Ireland.
In the months ahead one can see Gerry Adams assuming the role of John Hume as peacemaker, while the military wing of republicanism continues to rattle its sabre, or worse. - Yours, etc., Tony Moriarty,
Shanid Road, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6W.