Harsh Words--UpdatedGerard Baker
wonders why it took the Irish in America so long to wake up to the reality of the IRA.
Why does it take the killing of an Irish Catholic outside a Belfast pub to open your perceptive eyes to the reality of Irish republicanism? Where were you when it was a couple of dozen innocent British — Protestants and Catholics alike — in a Birmingham pub? Why were you not similarly outraged when off-duty soldiers and their families were the targets in Woolwich and Guildford? What exactly were you doing and saying when they tried to wipe out half the British Cabinet as they lay sleeping in their hotel beds? Don’t get me wrong. The murder of Robert McCartney is no less heinous than any of the IRA’s other offences. It is as much a study in murderous infamy as the remarkable response of his heroic sisters is a lesson in courage for all who love peace and justice.Speaking for myself, I lost all sympathy for the IRA in 1976, when I spent a semester in a London on high alert for terrorist bombings.
John McCain,
speaking at the annual American Ireland Fund Dinner, seared the crowd with this:
"Anyone, Irish, American or British who desires and works for the success of peace, freedom and justice must denounce in the strongest possible terms not only the cowards who murdered Robert McCartney but the IRA itself and any political organisation that would associate with them," he said.
"Nor should they tolerate the veiled threat to the McCartney sisters or to anyone else with the courage and decency to speak the truth about the IRA."Update:
PeteB in the comments noted that McCain's speech can be found
in its entirety here.
