Tuesday, December 12, 2006
OK, one more from MEMRI:
I remember when I used to frequent a board with a large British user presence...God forbid you shouldn't express anything but the greatest immediate outrage against the IRA (just saying, "I don't know much about it" wouldn't cut it)...but excuses and hand-wringing for Hamas! You shoulda been there the day they finally did-in Yassin...
Well, birds of a feather and all:
Ahmad Yousuf: All our meetings [with the IRA] were productive, and most of all the meeting held in Ireland, where we met the leaders of Sinn Fein, which is the political branch of the IRA. We had a long dialogue with them. We were hosted by their top leaders. We held this dialogue with them, and they tried to pass on their experience to us, because they have been struggling since 1920, when they began talking... After many years of armed resistance, they began a peaceful dialogue with the British.
Interviewer: There is some similarity...
Ahmad Yousuf: We wanted to learn from their experience. They tried to explain to us their circumstances, and how they succeeded in managing the conflict - through resistance, and later through political talks, and negotiations, which culminated in an understanding with the British. The Irish people accepted it, and thus, peace was realized between Britain and them. This experience was useful to us, and we drew many lessons from it. They explained everything, and expressed their willingness to maintain contact. They will pass on their experience in struggle and politics to the Palestinians, or else we will go there again to take in the atmosphere over there. They were very cooperative, because of the "historical affinity" between us, as they put it – or historical fondness or warm relations...
Please spare me the "you see, the IRA negotiated peace, so there is hope..." The IRA didn't want to take over (or, more to the point, destroy) London. Hamas does (the State of Israel). The IRA had limited territorial goals, Hamas does not.
He also takes a moment to anticipate American defeat in Iraq:
It almost seemed as if you made an excuse for the IRA in that they didn't want to conquer London. Please do remember that a terrorist is a terrorist (even if Irish-Americans in Boston or NYC support them)
Cheers
Oh yes, of course. Not my point at all. I'm anticipating an excuse (oft heard) for why the Israelis should take it easier and negotiate with groups like Hamas given the IRA experience, but the two are not the same at all.
The Maoist Sendero Luminoso (sp? Shining Path) in Peru, with the aid of IRA terrorists, has helped train some Islamicist terrorists according to various sources.
A broader discussion of these linkages is well represented in an extensive Joe Katzman comment at Winds of Change, one that had taken off from a post on a Robert Conquest theme that in turn had been (poorly, imo) addressed by Henry Farrell of Crooked Timber. Regardless, Katzman's comment was the best elucidation in that extensive thread and is well worth the time.
As a proud Irish man who always supported the struggle (until civilians were targeted, and they blew up my home in Manchester - I wasn't in!!!) I will never be able to forgive the IRA and Sinn Fein for cozying up to the worst islamonazi scum.
The small amounts of Jews that were in Ireland in the last century contributed to the cause well above their numbers (read 'Shalom Ireland'). What have muslims ever done for any other people? Other than mass murder...
This far left/fascist/islamonazi axis is the devil's work pure and simple and I hope and pray that evil Quislings like Gerry Adams get the fate they deserve.
IRA are terriosts. Sure they don't want to take London, they want to take Northern Ireland. To hell with the Sinn Fein/IRA, for the terror they have caused and the training they give to Hezbullah and Hamas