IRA says armed campaign is over.

In an IRA statement released today, the organization says it will pursue exclusively peaceful means.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the move was a "courageous and confident initiative" and that the moment must be seized.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was a "step of unparalleled magnitude".

"It is what we have striven for and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday Agreement," he said.

What will this mean for the future of northern ireland, is it genuine, thoughts??

Source: BBC

Link: news.bbc.co.uk...

I hope to God, that this is true. I have been aware of the situation in Ireland since I was in Jr high social studies. If such peace can last, it would be a miracle. History has proven that some where some one, was dumb enough to resort to intentional actions of violence, I personally doubt it is all over. But this only brings everything so much closer to that potential reality.

So until that next ignorant fool goes hostile, I am going to be happy for everyone over there. At least for now, they might be able to be less afraid.

I welcome this amazing development.

As someone who grew up in N. Ireland during the height of 'the troubles' (the whole of the 1970's especially being the most murderous & gruesome) it is a day many once thought would never come.

The IRA have been perfectly clear, it's over.
Thank God.

With some justifiable scepticism some of the 'unionist community' are hardly going to cheer the IRA saying they will no longer wage a campaign of 'terror' (that included attacking town centres, shopping precincts and the use of 'human bombs' (a slight variation on the suicide bomber; a man would be told to drive his car/van/truck into a British Army base where the bomb placed on board it would be detonated, otherwise the family would be murdered); but then again some of that section of N.I. society refuse to accept that 'their side' ever put a foot out of line and acted in a 'terrorist' capacity themselves either.
Such was N.I.'s misery.

Personally I have believed this inevitable ever since the election of a British gov prepared to accept that the republican side had some justice in their 'case' and that in fact 'justice' was not confined to one side in 'the troubles' alone.
The 'Good Friday Agreement' reached in 1998 and endorsed by all the people of Ireland, north and south, was finally the sign that politics would replace conflict and although it has been slow and imperfect I did expect today to eventually come.

No doubt the detail will unfold over the coming months (newspaper reports today say the arms will be destroyed by Sept) and I can only wonder at how a permanent 'obstructionist' like Paisley will end up being forced to work the new paradigm, but that is for the future.

Today I am so pleased to see a formal statement by the IRA that I really once thought we would never see.

Do I believe it?
Well the IRA's track record is to say what they mean, they simply would not say something so significant publicly if it were not so in a catagoric and formal statement like this.

Its not over, their will be some in the IRA seeing this as a the IRA leadership going soft. Prepare yourselves for a new faction to take over the reign of the present IRA.

Or perhaps the actions of Middle Eastern Terrorists and the London bombing was a sobering event for them?

Yes there is much scepitcism in the unionist community as the IRA have broken promises in the past but I hope this means the peace process will accelerate. It was going nowhere for a while there and although there were no bombings they were still active (northern bank robbery), hopefully this will put an end to all their illegal activities and then loyalist paramilitaries will fllow suit. Most of these organisations seem to be a front for drug dealing now anyway and have forgotten what they're fighting for! I for one am looking forward to living in a country with no IRA involvment.

Billy Meier just got DeBunked! He said the following. He USED TO have 100% accuracy. Now look at him. Haha!

"And because England and Ireland have been at war for a long time already, due to the IRA and the police and military forces of England, the result will be (because this feud will continue up to that time) that this revolution will spread out to all of Ireland, especially affecting Northern Ireland. Many lives will be lost during a civil war in Wales, where differences between various parties will arise before the Third World War."


To Read a GREAT FREE Work of Fiction by Billy Meier click here

www.nexusmagazine.com...

[edit on 29-7-2005 by Where2Hide2006]

Originally posted by Bulldog 52
Its not over

- Interesting if utterly predictable opinion Bulldog; so, a never-seen-the-like-of-it-before ground-breaking statement is just dismissed out of hand (with no evidence to support it, as usual).

their will be some in the IRA seeing this as a the IRA leadership going soft. Prepare yourselves for a new faction to take over the reign of the present IRA.

- .......I suppose you happened to miss the formation of the 'INLA', the 'Real IRA' and the 'Continuity IRA' a wee while back then, huh?

(None of these 'organisations' managing to 'progress' beyond a mere 'rump' of disgruntled ex-IRA people and both completely isolated within the republican community.......and almost entirely inactive now too.)

Originally posted by Black_Projects
the IRA have broken promises in the past

- I am not so sure this is so.

I know they have lied about claiming to have had nothing to do with 'events' in the past which subsequently were admitted to have been them and their people but I don't know if they (the IRA) have actually broken promises.

A lot of people have gone a long way to try and portray the IRA and Sinn Fein as one and the same (they are not) as well as the previous till now 'cessation' as a declaration of the end of the conflict when it was no such thing.

[edit on 29-7-2005 by sminkeypinkey]

Sorry to burst your bubble but this has already been posted here

If I was a mod this thread would be so closed....................