Sectarian violence has again fired up the smoldering embers of hate in Northern Ireland. A sham deal accepted by David Trimble’s Protestant Unionists has triggered internal violence within the Protestant ranks. This plays into the hands of Sinn Fein/ira, the extremist, pro-terrorist party which presently shares power with the Protestants in the Stormont “parliament” and is currently attempting to take over administration of Northern Ireland from British control.
Following suspension of the Northern Ireland executive body’s parliamentary sessions earlier in the year due to the refusal of Sinn Fein/ira to destroy their stockpiles of weapons, Trimble compromised by submitting to a false deal. The deal called for Sinn Fein/ira to permit an inspection team (loaded to favor the ira by incorporating ex-terrorist Cyril Ramaphosa, former African National Congress secretary general) to inspect selected sealed weapon sites, with no intention of destroying their stockpiles of military weaponry.
Trimble’s acceptance of the deal split the ranks of the Protestants, shattering any sense of unity that may have previously existed between the Ulster Defense Association and Ulster Defense Force. In late August, the Protestant feud reached the streets with clashes which culminated in several injuries and two deaths.
Blame for stirring the violence was placed on extremist Protestant paramilitary leader Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair. He was released, along with 427 other terrorists from both Catholic and Protestant sides, as part of the 1998 amnesty deal concluded between the British government and Northern Ireland, which representatives termed the Good Friday “peace accords.” Adair was again incarcerated following his being implicated in the latest violence in northwestern Ireland.
Sinn Fein/ira leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness only need to restrain their terrorist troops and allow the Protestants to rip themselves apart in this latest wave of infighting.
In the meantime, while the Protestants fight out their turf war, the released terrorists from both sides waste no time recruiting young Irish men to their ranks and gearing up for the bloodiest showdown of all. Watch for Britain to put this one in the “too hard” box and walk away from Ireland, as they have from all other “colonial” possessions when the going got too tough.