STANDING SIDE BY SIDE WITH OUR GOOD FRIENDS
Standing side by side with our good friends in America
There is a special reason why Northern Ireland people can understand and sympathise with Americans on this day of mourning for the victims of September 11, 2001. They, too, have suffered their equivalent of the Twin Towers atrocity, many times over, and know what it means to be targeted by hate-driven fanatics.
Out of a clear blue sky, on a single day, Islamic terrorists destroyed almost as many lives as have been lost in 30 years of the Northern Ireland troubles. They gave no warning, looking for the maximum effect, just as did the bombers and gunmen who for so long stalked the highways and byways of Ulster, from Greysteel to Loughinisland and from Omagh to Enniskillen. The vacant space at Ground Zero has its echo in the vacant spaces around many a kitchen table here.
Northern Ireland is emerging from its dark age, blinking in the light, while Americans are still coming to terms with the reality that terrorists can strike at any time, even in mainland USA. America is facing an implacable enemy and the only reaction possible, to such a ruthless foe, is to disrupt his organisation, wherever possible. That was the purpose of the war in Afghanistan, where the Taliban offered protection to Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida network.
It has not been defeated, however, and as long as there are religious fanatics who blame the world's ills on the American way of life, it never will be. The coalition of nations which helped to rout the Taliban must stay together, despite the strains created by the Iraq question, if Islamic militants are to be prevented from staging another calamitous attack.
Today, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters across the Atlantic in the enormity of their loss. We have many reasons to do so. The foundations of democracy in America were laid by people from our shores. There is hardly a telephone directory in the USA which does not list names with an Ulster origin.
The older generation will recall with pride the links that were forged with Northern Ireland during the second World War when many thousands of American servicemen and women were stationed in this province.
More recently, we are indebted to Washington for the positive and constructive role it has played in political developments and peace-making here, and also, to many American businesses for the much-needed investment they have brought to our people. Only last week, that was exemplified again by the major economic conference focussing on Northern Ireland's interests in Washington.
The attack on America was seen as an attack on all who cherish freedom and democracy. It follows therefore that support for the stand that America has taken to repel the evil of terrorism cannot be diluted. We in Northern Ireland and many other countries around the world have experienced at first hand the insidious nature of terrorist organisations, hiding within society, threatening, intimidating, maiming and murdering. As even the most powerful nation on Earth has found, there is no easy answer, no quick-fix, only a long and often painful haul, to overcome this evil by word and deed.
Here in Northern Ireland, our problems pale beside the immense global threat that stretches from the skies over New York and Washington, to far-flung corners of the Middle and Far East. However, the terrorist guns and bombs still harboured somewhere on this island, have no place in this order. It is time that some of our local politicians on both sides of the divide faced up to that reality.
The world is entering a dangerous phase and none of us can shirk our responsibility, no matter how small, in the challenges ahead. What happened a year ago, 3,000 miles away, cannot be isolated from our own homes and families and future. We are all in this together as the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has rightly stated. The people of the United States should recognise that today by the wave of sympathy and support both here and throughout the free world. This is no time to stand idly by in the face of the evil of terror.
There is a special reason why Northern Ireland people can understand and sympathise with Americans on this day of mourning for the victims of September 11, 2001. They, too, have suffered their equivalent of the Twin Towers atrocity, many times over, and know what it means to be targeted by hate-driven fanatics.
Out of a clear blue sky, on a single day, Islamic terrorists destroyed almost as many lives as have been lost in 30 years of the Northern Ireland troubles. They gave no warning, looking for the maximum effect, just as did the bombers and gunmen who for so long stalked the highways and byways of Ulster, from Greysteel to Loughinisland and from Omagh to Enniskillen. The vacant space at Ground Zero has its echo in the vacant spaces around many a kitchen table here.
Northern Ireland is emerging from its dark age, blinking in the light, while Americans are still coming to terms with the reality that terrorists can strike at any time, even in mainland USA. America is facing an implacable enemy and the only reaction possible, to such a ruthless foe, is to disrupt his organisation, wherever possible. That was the purpose of the war in Afghanistan, where the Taliban offered protection to Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida network.
It has not been defeated, however, and as long as there are religious fanatics who blame the world's ills on the American way of life, it never will be. The coalition of nations which helped to rout the Taliban must stay together, despite the strains created by the Iraq question, if Islamic militants are to be prevented from staging another calamitous attack.
Today, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters across the Atlantic in the enormity of their loss. We have many reasons to do so. The foundations of democracy in America were laid by people from our shores. There is hardly a telephone directory in the USA which does not list names with an Ulster origin.
The older generation will recall with pride the links that were forged with Northern Ireland during the second World War when many thousands of American servicemen and women were stationed in this province.
More recently, we are indebted to Washington for the positive and constructive role it has played in political developments and peace-making here, and also, to many American businesses for the much-needed investment they have brought to our people. Only last week, that was exemplified again by the major economic conference focussing on Northern Ireland's interests in Washington.
The attack on America was seen as an attack on all who cherish freedom and democracy. It follows therefore that support for the stand that America has taken to repel the evil of terrorism cannot be diluted. We in Northern Ireland and many other countries around the world have experienced at first hand the insidious nature of terrorist organisations, hiding within society, threatening, intimidating, maiming and murdering. As even the most powerful nation on Earth has found, there is no easy answer, no quick-fix, only a long and often painful haul, to overcome this evil by word and deed.
Here in Northern Ireland, our problems pale beside the immense global threat that stretches from the skies over New York and Washington, to far-flung corners of the Middle and Far East. However, the terrorist guns and bombs still harboured somewhere on this island, have no place in this order. It is time that some of our local politicians on both sides of the divide faced up to that reality.
The world is entering a dangerous phase and none of us can shirk our responsibility, no matter how small, in the challenges ahead. What happened a year ago, 3,000 miles away, cannot be isolated from our own homes and families and future. We are all in this together as the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has rightly stated. The people of the United States should recognise that today by the wave of sympathy and support both here and throughout the free world. This is no time to stand idly by in the face of the evil of terror.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0872
Published Date: 11-Sep-02
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