DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
Don't shoot the messenger
LIKE all of us, Lindy McDowell was clearly upset by the Omagh bomb; but she is targeting the wrong person by attacking Tony Blair in her columns of Saturday 22 and 29.
We all fear for our children's future after horrible events like Omagh, but Draconian legislation will not "clamp the lid on terrorism forever." If it could it would have worked in the past - and it didn't.
I am not a particular fan of Mr Blair, but he came to Belfast a few days after the Omagh explosion and visited the most seriously injured victims in the RVH, where he was clearly deeply affected by what he saw. He was not responsible for the horrific carnage - the only people responsible were the bombers themselves.
Mr Blair visited Omagh the following week and, with Bertie Ahern, announced Draconian measures to crush the bombers and put them behind bars. I don't see how his response can be considered inadequate, as Lindy says. Quite the reverse.
Unfortunately, allowing suspects to be jailed on questionable evidence, like the word of a police officer, is open to serious abuse. In the past the search for convictions at any price resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of the innocent, like the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, the UDR Four and the entire Maguire family.
As for decommissioning another issue which Lindy raises, surely it is obvious that decommissioning can't be achieved simply by sending in the army to dig up floors and search for weapons. If it is to work it must be voluntary and must apply right across the board. A commission has been appointed to deal with it - why not leave it to them, as it is clearly a complex process?
I don't share Lindy's pessimism for the future, for I think at long last we now have a chance of permanent peace based on agreement. Unfortunately a number of people are deliberately holding it up - like the Real IRA and other murderous splinter groups and individuals and Unionist politicians who are still refusing to talk face to face to Sinn Fein. Until they do the peace process will get nowhere - so why doesn't Lindy have a go at them instead of the hapless Mr Blair, who is doing his best to prod them along?
As for lambasting Tony Blair for not replying to her letter - did it occur to Lindy that he might not have read it? Not everyone in Northern Ireland reads the Belfast Telegraph, so why expect those on the other side of the sheugh to read it? If she wants a reply she should have sent him a copy.
ANOTHER MOTHER Belfast 9
LIKE all of us, Lindy McDowell was clearly upset by the Omagh bomb; but she is targeting the wrong person by attacking Tony Blair in her columns of Saturday 22 and 29.
We all fear for our children's future after horrible events like Omagh, but Draconian legislation will not "clamp the lid on terrorism forever." If it could it would have worked in the past - and it didn't.
I am not a particular fan of Mr Blair, but he came to Belfast a few days after the Omagh explosion and visited the most seriously injured victims in the RVH, where he was clearly deeply affected by what he saw. He was not responsible for the horrific carnage - the only people responsible were the bombers themselves.
Mr Blair visited Omagh the following week and, with Bertie Ahern, announced Draconian measures to crush the bombers and put them behind bars. I don't see how his response can be considered inadequate, as Lindy says. Quite the reverse.
Unfortunately, allowing suspects to be jailed on questionable evidence, like the word of a police officer, is open to serious abuse. In the past the search for convictions at any price resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of the innocent, like the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, the UDR Four and the entire Maguire family.
As for decommissioning another issue which Lindy raises, surely it is obvious that decommissioning can't be achieved simply by sending in the army to dig up floors and search for weapons. If it is to work it must be voluntary and must apply right across the board. A commission has been appointed to deal with it - why not leave it to them, as it is clearly a complex process?
I don't share Lindy's pessimism for the future, for I think at long last we now have a chance of permanent peace based on agreement. Unfortunately a number of people are deliberately holding it up - like the Real IRA and other murderous splinter groups and individuals and Unionist politicians who are still refusing to talk face to face to Sinn Fein. Until they do the peace process will get nowhere - so why doesn't Lindy have a go at them instead of the hapless Mr Blair, who is doing his best to prod them along?
As for lambasting Tony Blair for not replying to her letter - did it occur to Lindy that he might not have read it? Not everyone in Northern Ireland reads the Belfast Telegraph, so why expect those on the other side of the sheugh to read it? If she wants a reply she should have sent him a copy.
ANOTHER MOTHER Belfast 9
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0370
Published Date: 03-Sep-98
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