The Discreet Charm Of The Terrorist Cause

[NATO AIR]

A well-concieved thought process goes behind her column. The appeal of foreign violence must be wiped out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201943.html?sub=AR

The Discreet Charm of the Terrorist Cause

By Anne Applebaum

Wednesday, August 3, 2005; Page A19

Since the bombing attacks in London last month, a welter of columnists, writers, talking heads and ordinary people have puzzled over the mystery of British Muslims, one in four of whom recently told pollsters that they sympathize with the July 7 suicide bombers.

The idea that British Muslims, whose parents received asylum, found jobs, and made lives in Britain, could be so deeply affected by the "oppression" of Muslims in countries they have never visited seems incomprehensible. The notion that events in distant deserts should lead the middle-class inhabitants of London or Leeds to admire terrorists seems inexplicable. But why should this phenomenon be so incomprehensible or inexplicable, at least to Americans? We did, after all, once tolerate a similar phenomenon ourselves.

I am talking about the sympathy for the Irish Republican Army that persisted for decades in some Irish American communities and is only now fading away. Like British Muslim support for Muslim extremist terrorism, Irish American support for Irish terrorism came in many forms. There were Irish Americans who waved the Irish flag once a year on St. Patrick's Day and admired the IRA's cause but felt queasy about the methods. There were Irish Americans who collected money for Catholic charities in Northern Ireland without condoning the IRA at all. There were also Irish Americans who, while claiming to be "aiding the families of political prisoners," were in fact helping to arm IRA terrorists. Throughout the 1970s, until Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher asked President Ronald Reagan to stop them, they were the IRA's primary source of funding. And even after that they were widely tolerated.

I concede there is one major difference: The Irish terrorists were setting off their bombs across the ocean and not in New York or Boston, which somehow made the whole thing seem less real. But in Britain the explosions were real enough. In 1982 -- the year an IRA bomb killed eight people in Hyde Park -- four IRA men were arrested in New York after trying to buy surface-to-air missiles from an FBI agent. In 1984 -- the year the IRA tried to kill the whole British cabinet in Brighton -- an IRA plot to smuggle seven tons of explosives was foiled, an action that led to the arrests of several Americans. As recently as 1999, long after the IRA had declared its cease-fire, members of an IRA group connected to an American organization, the Irish Northern Aid Committee (Noraid), were arrested for gun-running in Florida.

CONTINUE ARTICLE @ LINK

 

[Annie]

A well-concieved thought process goes behind her column. The appeal of foreign violence must be wiped out.

this is really BS. Once most Irish Americans realized that the IRA was a terrorist organization, which to my best recollection happened in late 70's, early 80's, the financing through fundraisers in Irish bars/restaurants stopped.

 

[NATO AIR]

this is really BS. Once most Irish Americans realized that the IRA was a terrorist organization, which to my best recollection happened in late 70's, early 80's, the financing through fundraisers in Irish bars/restaurants stopped.

My dear Kathianne, from the essay.

Throughout the 1970s, until Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher asked President Ronald Reagan to stop them, they were the IRA's primary source of funding. And even after that they were widely tolerated.

Needless to say, I am quite sure that many Irish charities at the time were by and large unknowlingly bankrolling the IRA, just as (a few in this case) several notable and worthy muslim charities have done the same for jihad.

There are notable differences between the IRA and Al-Queda/Hezbollah/Hamas. Yet deep down, the problem of detached support by the masses for foreign violence is the same. And while in the Middle East, we now have declining views of terrorism, in Europe, it is still alarmingly high.

 

[Annie]

My dear Kathianne, from the essay.



Needless to say, I am quite sure that many Irish charities at the time were by and large unknowlingly bankrolling the IRA, just as (a few in this case) several notable and worthy muslim charities have done the same for jihad.

There are notable differences between the IRA and Al-Queda/Hezbollah/Hamas. Yet deep down, the problem of detached support by the masses for foreign violence is the same. And while in the Middle East, we now have declining views of terrorism, in Europe, it is still alarmingly high.

LOL My dear Eddie, as I said, late 70's, early 80's. I Know, I frequented those South Chicago taps. :teeth: Once the word came down, the funds dried up.

Much like the Israelis, wanted to do the right thing. I think with IRA the Irish/Americans were right, not so sure about the Israelis under the circumstances.

 

[NATO AIR]

LOL My dear Eddie, as I said, late 70's, early 80's. I Know, I frequented those South Chicago taps. :teeth: Once the word came down, the funds dried up.

I concede to the power of personal experience

Wonder if there are any exceptional books about the IRA cause in America?

 

[Annie]

I concede to the power of personal experience

Wonder if there are any exceptional books about the IRA cause in America?

Not that I'm aware of. Funny thing about the Irish, lots of 'stories' but little real history.

 

[NATO AIR]

Not that I'm aware of. Funny thing about the Irish, lots of 'stories' but little real history.

Interesting