Some Speculation on the IRA Murder OfferThere are two schools of thought on this story:
1. They've completely gone mad. Most commenters assumed this right off the bat because the offer seemed so incredible. And not just the offer, which can be imagined being made in private with the sisters, but the fact that they admitted they made the offer in a written statement.
2. This is a warning to the killers that Adams and others are stone cold serious when they say that whoever did this should turn themselves in. I mean, put yourself in the killers' shoes; you read that the IRA offered to snuff you, wouldn't you turn yourself in posthaste? Especially when you consider that:
a.) By all accounts the murder wasn't premeditated, at least not for any period of time. The killing happened as a result of a bar brawl, and while there is some indication that it was an ordered murder, it was ordered on the spot in the heat of anger.
b.) They are not looking at anything like what we in America would consider a serious sentence. James McGinley was murdered in a similar incident; his killer got
3 years for manslaughter. If that's what you're facing, it sure sounds better than a bullet in the brain by another IRA thug. Double it to six years, and it still sounds better than a bullet in the knee.
