The IRA pledge to Disarm and the New War on Terror

The IRA’s pledge to end all armed struggle in Northern Ireland comes at a welcome but strange time.

At first the IRA pledge seemed to come at a moment chosen to support Mr Blair’s waning fortunes. Mr Blair did contribute considerably to the Good Friday agreement, at the time a great step forward towards a lasting peace settlement in Northern Ireland. I sincerely hope the IRA’s latest initiative will also make a lasting contribution to the end of hostilities in that particular part of the world.

But it’s hard not to be cynical about the IRA leadership’s decision regarding the timing to end that particular “war”, when Mr Blair now faces the prospect of an altogether different type of war. One that is largely of Mr Blair’s own making and will prove to be also his undoing, one that will make the IRA look like a bunch of sweet, old darlings… One in which a dangerous but identifyable enemy is replaced with an army of faceless and virtually invisible suicide bombers.

Keywords: IRA, IRA pledge, Gerry Adams