You've found Father McKenzie. But are you really looking for Eleanor Rigby?

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Failure to Grasp the Concept

If Mark Shea wasn't currently on blogging hiatus to finish his book A Catholic Discovers Matthew 12:48, it would be his office to link to this story below under the heading "Failure to Grasp the Concept". In Mark's absence, we perform this vital public service instead:

THE Irish Republican Army (IRA) said today it had offered to "shoot" those who killed a Catholic man following a pub brawl, but the victim's family rejected violence and wanted the case taken to court. The IRA, the main Catholic paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, said it had told the family it "was prepared to shoot the people directly involved in the killing of Robert McCartney", who died on January 30 in Belfast. His murder prompted not only a campaign for justice by his family but caused wide protests from areas of Belfast where there is traditional support for the IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein. [...]

-- Agence France-Presse, "IRA offer to execute killers" (9 March 2005)

"We're not a gang of killers! Just to prove that, we'll kill any of our members who commit homicide!"

1 comment:

John H said...

And this after years of hotly denying claims that the IRA engages in punishment beatings, let alone shooting people.

The Daily Telegraph today suggests that all this is an indication of how the Provisional IRA is in freefall, following the reaction to the McCartney murder.

The dear old BBC were wittering on this morning about whether this will make Sinn Fein more willing to sever "their remaining ties" (!) with the IRA. Like asking whether I plan to sever my remaining ties with my right arm any time soon...