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Originally Posted by shinerbock
Yes, that is what they did. If you're under some impression that the Orange and Ulster volunteer groups worked completely independent of the UK, you're sorely mistaken. To say the British were at all humane in their treatment of Irish Catholics is simply untrue. Everyone knows about the controversy surrounding the UDR, including the intimidation of catholics who originally supported them. Much of my family is from Antrim, and as protestants even we have trouble justifying the actions by both the protestant groups and the British military. UK in the 1990s attempted to save face by deeming the ulster groups as terrorist orgs, but it clearly did not make up for decades of mistreatment. Note, I don't support the IRA or their actions, but to say the British were never aggressors or violators is simply untrue. As to your comments regarding the Palestinians, I'm not really sure what you're getting at. If you are comparing the IRA to the PLO, you're sorely mistaken. While Irish terrorism did kill civilians, it was rarely, if ever, aimed at civilians. The Palestinians however, continually target civilians. IRA attacks were most often aimed at UDR and RUC personel, along with civilians who worked in coordination with them. While I don't view this as acceptable, it is quite different from a Hamas suicide bomber walking into a crowded restaurant or city bus. Truly civilian death was an unfortunate byproduct of IRA action, while it is the centerpiece of middle eastern terror organizations. People often forget what Israel is going through. This is not a Northern Irish situation where they simply care about land, or independence. The IRA wanted a unified Ireland, and truly cared about the welfare of the Irish people, despite their violent tactics. The middle eastern organizations Israel deals with do not view Israel as anything more than animals to be slaughtered. Simply put, they do not wish to be left alone, they long for the eradication of Israel, and often the eradication of the Jewish people.
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Interesting... an IRA/terrorist apologist... how'd have thought I'd see a that. To compare the IRA to the PLO is rather apt - because they shared both methods and training... and lets not forget that the IRA were the innovators of the IED, the sucide/homicde car loaded with explosives... face it the IRA specifically targeted civilians in Ireland and the UK, as well as killing those they saw as "collaborators", to claim otherwise is deluding yourself. Now if you doubt me on this I'd recommend you pick up the "A Secret History fo the IRA" by Ed Moloney... which was a required text for my Modern Irish History course.
As for the UVF/UDA or the other Prod terror groups... I hold even more contempt for them, and especially for their spiritual leader "Rev" Ian Paisley (the a--hole that was dragged out of the EU meeting for his celebration of JPII's death) - and the orgs. that support him (like Bob Jones Univserity). While the IRA terrorism was primarily politically motivated (a "free" Ireland) the Prods was religiously motivated ~ one only has to look at the speaches or press releases from each side to figure that out.
Its all well and good to reduce the Middle East to a Black & White or Good vs Evil picture... but that doesn't fit the truth of the conflict at all. To simply assume that say Hezbollah's sole goal is the eradication of Israel would to be grossly over-simplfying their motivations - yes you have some of the pure hate-mongers within the group, but you also have those seeing themselves as fighting for Palestinian freedom, others fighting to regain family lands lost to Israel in 1948, others seeing themselves as the resistance or defenders against Israeli agression, and still others who are in it for purely mercanary reasons. In short the Hezbollah is as, if not more, complex that the IRA was - who at various times were Nationalists, Fascists, Communists, Anarchists, Criminal, or Sectarian terrorists; to reduce them to simply a Catholic terrorist group is equally deluded...