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Posted on 10/21/2001 5:10:20 AM PDT by Norn Iron

The other war on terror

By Jenny McCartney

A symbolic act of decommissioning does not disable a paramilitary force says Jenny McCartney THE players in the Northern Ireland "peace process" delivered their lines last week with the ease born of long practice, oblivious to the fact that most of the usual audience had slipped away to watch a newer, bigger production: the conflict in Afghanistan.

Five Unionist ministers in the Northern Ireland Assembly resigned in protest at the IRA's continuing refusal to decommission; the "peace process" was said to be in crisis once again; and there were whispers that the IRA might deliver yet another "historic" move on weapons. But hardly anyone noticed: the talk was all of anthrax and al-Qaeda.

Yet there is little doubt that Sinn Fein has quietly noted the transferable fury against terrorism that was unleashed by the events of September 11, and felt uneasy. Unfortunately, it has no sense of the appropriate scale of response.

Like a child that has behaved appallingly for years, as an indulgent US Mummy fed it sweeties and gentle chastisements, Sinn Fein has suddenly perceived that Mummy has cooled dramatically. With the confidence that springs from absolute self-obsession, however, it believes that a small and temporary adjustment in behaviour will be enough to win Mummy over once again.

Gerry Adams intends to donate Sinn Fein funds to the relatives of the World Trade Centre dead; Martin McGuinness says he is working "flat out" for decommissioning; and there is even the possibility that the IRA may come up with a gesture on arms, such as sealing one of its selected stores. The IRA is, however, said to be waiting until the moment when President Bush can shower this act with his maximum attention and praise: on that basis, it might wait some time.

Yet Sinn Fein has not understood that the fundamental nature of political dialogue has changed. Before September 11, both Britain and America seemed willing to paddle endlessly in the nuances of "constructive ambiguity", skilfully purveying conflicting solutions to opposing groups in Northern Ireland. In its desolate aftermath, both governments have been reminded that terrorists, and their weapons, are not intellectual puzzles that can be talked away: the machinery of terror simply cannot be allowed to co-exist with democracy.

During the American presidential race last October, Al Gore trumpeted his party's decision to grant Gerry Adams a visa for the US, and promised to "find a solution" to the problem of Irish-born "deportees and extraditees" (translation: don't worry, America won't send people who have murdered British citizens back to face trial in Britain). Can one imagine any American presidential candidate campaigning on such a promise now?

Unionist demands for IRA decommissioning have now dragged on, fruitlessly, for so long that many people have forgotten the very solid reason behind them. Decommissioning matters because politicians cannot be allowed to argue in committees using the implicit threat of a private army if they do not get their way.

At the time of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, Mr Blair energetically promised that the IRA would be held to a comprehensive programme of decommissioning before Sinn Fein ministers could enter government. This was to have been completed by May 2000: it is October 2001, and the programme hasn't begun. The sealing of one or two selected arms stores would make almost no difference to the IRA's capacity to threaten or wage war.

A symbolic act of decommissioning, pleasant as it is to witness, does not disable a paramilitary force. The Loyalist Volunteer Force, a particularly vicious loyalist grouping, actually handed over a few guns for destruction before the television cameras in 1998. I remember enjoying the little pageant that followed, as doughty men in welder's masks publicly sundered the rusty weapons. This, unfortunately, made little difference to the LVF's enthusiastic practice of intimidation and murder. Last week, John Reid, the Northern Ireland Secretary, could ignore their mounting violence no longer. He admitted that the LVF, UDA and UFF ceasefires were all officially at an end.

Dr Reid shrinks from saying the same of the IRA, partly because the British Government is wary of any surge in IRA violence which could follow such a judgment. Yet it is equally applicable. The IRA has recently attempted to import arms from Florida; trained with cocaine-dealing Colombian rebels; and shot or brutally beaten large numbers of young men, many of them teenagers.

Imagine that President Bush were to deal with al-Qaeda by agreeing to a substantial number of its aims, and then backing its rapid rise into positions of political power in the Middle East. This would be arranged on the covert understanding that it must carry out no more high-level attacks on the US, although the US administration would turn a blind eye to the local re-arming, funding and training of al-Qaeda members. That does not sound like a policy which could guarantee the long-term security of US citizens. What a pity that Mr Blair, America's greatest ally abroad, is only now realising the pitfalls of just such a policy at home.

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