Who Won The War?
- Thread starter saiga
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Martin Mcguiness suggests that it was "The cutting edge of the IRA" that brought freedom to Northern Ireland, in fact I believe that it was that very thing that delayed peace in Ulster. During the troubles the only thing that brought peace was the actions of the security forces and at great cost too.
Those that still hang on to their belief that Northern Ireland will ever be united with Eire through force are living in a dream world. Even Mcguiness a former Leader of the IRA has realised that and turned to democracy instead of violence.
The problems, as always have stemmed from religion and I have posted about this subject before and although my post was in relation to one of my two tours (1992) I demonstrated in that post my feelings about Catholics and protestants. I was open about the fact that I am Protestant (by birth at least) and my wife is a Catholic, at my wifes request we baptised our daughter as a Catholic. The diversity in religions within my family has worked well for many years.
I have to say that I condemn Loyalist Terrorists too, they are as bad as the IRA and have no place in the modern Northern Ireland. That said, Loyalist Paramilitaries would not have existed had the IRA not conducted the activities that they did.
It was moving to hear in the video that former paramilitaries regretted the loss of life and now that they have matured see "The troubles" and their actions in a completely different light.
This is an emotive subject and my ramblings above are in no way trying to answer all the long standing issues in Northern Ireland.
Those that still hang on to their belief that Northern Ireland will ever be united with Eire through force are living in a dream world. Even Mcguiness a former Leader of the IRA has realised that and turned to democracy instead of violence.
The problems, as always have stemmed from religion and I have posted about this subject before and although my post was in relation to one of my two tours (1992) I demonstrated in that post my feelings about Catholics and protestants. I was open about the fact that I am Protestant (by birth at least) and my wife is a Catholic, at my wifes request we baptised our daughter as a Catholic. The diversity in religions within my family has worked well for many years.
I have to say that I condemn Loyalist Terrorists too, they are as bad as the IRA and have no place in the modern Northern Ireland. That said, Loyalist Paramilitaries would not have existed had the IRA not conducted the activities that they did.
It was moving to hear in the video that former paramilitaries regretted the loss of life and now that they have matured see "The troubles" and their actions in a completely different light.
This is an emotive subject and my ramblings above are in no way trying to answer all the long standing issues in Northern Ireland.
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I cannot forget, and cannot forgive. The very presence of Adams and McGuinness in Westminster, and McGuinness shaking hands with the queen is very annoying. I feel that all those lads and lasses who lost their lives did so for nothing. I spent a total of 37 months in the Province. A friend of mine comes from the Shankill, he has family members who were on 'the dark side' but he took no part and moved to his present location to leave it behind.
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It´s business. Shaking hands with the devil. This isn´t the only or the last one example in history. Didn´t mean to intervene here since it´s not my call, but I found this video. Veterans for Peace UK arranged a meeting between former British soldiers and IRA members: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-ex-ira-members-british-soldiers-face-to-face
Read and watch it if you like. It´s a nice gesture. On another note, I understand your frustration, believe me, we have our own high class perps who deserve to rot in jail, they lead this country instead. About the meeting. People love to see happy endings, tears, relief and reconciliation, it´s every journalist´s wet dream to bring a story like this to the public. However, as one of those former soldiers said, it depends on what you went through, as for an example, he said in his interview that it would be probably very difficult for his buddy to come and join their meeting, since he lost his brother in that war. And yes, despite what the former IRA members think or state, that´s what it was. Over 3.600 people dead, thousands injured, if that´s not war I don´t know what is.
Come to think of it, it´s… as if the former Russian soldiers who took part in the invasion of ´68 would come over here, seek forgiveness, trying to explain that they only followed orders and yada yada. Of course, every time guns and tanks are involved, people get hurt or killed. So yes, people got injured, some died. Now I´m sure that many people here, including our former soldiers would understand that kind of gesture and appreciate it… and there would be very probably flags and flowers and kisses involved, and my stomach turns just from imagining it. However, from the point of view of a bloody civvy, whose family had got a fair share of their “fraternal assistance” which lasted for twenty years, I´d never accept that.
So there, I understand you, I agree with you and respect you.
