Four held in Dublin over international terrorism...

October 9, 2001 7:43 AM

Four held in Dublin over international terrorism...
Even little old Ireland can't escape from this...
posted by tomcosgrave (7 comments total)

"little old Ireland" is the home of the IRA (Real IRA, etc.). The IRA has well-established relationships with ETA in Spain, and the FARC in Colombia among others. As a matter of fact, 3 gentlemen suspected of affiliation with the IRA were arrested in Colombia recently. What's surprising to me is that the IRA hasn't been mentioned more often already. Perhaps it's too sensitive for Blair's image?
posted by mmarcos at 7:50 AM on October 9, 2001

Yeah, I know Ireland has terrorist groups, all afilliated with others throughout the world.

I just said "little old", because well, because I'm Irish, I live there and now we are mixed up in this for real. We're not "little old" any longer.

Al-Qaeda is here, they're not some Islamic faction in a far off place now.
posted by tomcosgrave at 7:54 AM on October 9, 2001

The IRA does not seem to have ever been "little" or "old".
Information on the history of the IRA from Encyclopedia.com. Also some more info on the "little" terrorist group
from PBS' Frontline.

FYI, do I think the British should pull out of Ireland? Absolutely. But in the history of terrorism, the IRA really has some nasty blood on their hands and have the dubious honor of being one of the first resistance groups to use terrorism as tool of supposed dialogue.
posted by RoyalJack at 8:11 AM on October 9, 2001

Reread the posts RJ. No one characterized the IRA as "little" or "old".
posted by nikzhowz at 8:22 AM on October 9, 2001

Nikzhowz said it already - no one, least of all me, said the IRA was little, or old.
posted by tomcosgrave at 8:47 AM on October 9, 2001

FYI, do I think the British should pull out of Ireland? Absolutely. But in the history of terrorism, the IRA really has some nasty blood on their hands and have the dubious honor of being one of the first resistance groups to use terrorism as tool of supposed dialogue.

You might want to do a little more reading, there are plenty of terrorists in northern Ireland that are not the IRA. Try searching for UDA, UFF, UVF, Red Hand Comandos, and SAS.
posted by chrismc at 11:43 AM on October 9, 2001

But sorry for the topic drift. The article is interesting. I wonder how this will play into the asylum seekers issue that the relatively homogenious population is dealing with.
posted by chrismc at 1:04 PM on October 9, 2001