THE WORDS THE WAR IS OVER REALLY DO MATTER
The words 'the war is over' really do matter
THE front page motto of the Irish News is 'Where words matter'.
I wish that was so in the analysis of the statement from Gerry Adams which contains the significant line "Sinn Fein believe the violence we have seen must be for all of us now a thing of the past ... over, done with and gone".
The SDLP leader, John Hume, was quick to conclude that this amounted to a republican declaration that 'the war is over' which many people expected after the atrocity in Omagh.
And if words matter, that is the sentence Mr Adams should have used and it should have been uttered by the IRA.
The significant thing is that the republicans have not said 'the war is over'.
No one could doubt the full commitment of Sinn Fein to the peace process and the vital role the party has played in it quite simply because peace will yield advantages that violence never could and violence always carries with it the risk of mass slaughter such as happened in Omagh which turns people against the perpetrators.
It also seems that Sinn Fein has received certain assurances from Dublin and Washington at least, that the process will develop in an irreversible way towards achieving the political aims of Sinn Fein, assurances that are compatible with the working of the agreement and did not have to be part of it.
The agreement imposes an evil form of institutionalised sectariansm and brings to government people who should not be allowed to wield power over any people who opposed violence down through the years.
It is a charter for croneyism and patronage and the Irish News and the yes lobby can thank their stars that the only vociferous opponent is Ian Paisley, who has no credibility to lead what remains of the 'no to violence' section of the community who have seen their principles betrayed by the politics of expediency.
I would like this agreement to break down, not because I want to see a return to violence by loyalists or republicans under any banner but because I think it is wrong, totally wrong.
Yet I read into the Adams statement the thought that if it fails in any respect, there will be a return to violence.
That is why there is no decommissioning of weapons, no clear 'the war is over' statement.
All we have is a ceasefire and Adams saying to the three governments and other political leaders that they have a responsibility to ensure it continues and that violence is a thing of the past by following to the letter the debauched agreement reached at Stormont on Good Friday.
J McC, Strabane
THE front page motto of the Irish News is 'Where words matter'.
I wish that was so in the analysis of the statement from Gerry Adams which contains the significant line "Sinn Fein believe the violence we have seen must be for all of us now a thing of the past ... over, done with and gone".
The SDLP leader, John Hume, was quick to conclude that this amounted to a republican declaration that 'the war is over' which many people expected after the atrocity in Omagh.
And if words matter, that is the sentence Mr Adams should have used and it should have been uttered by the IRA.
The significant thing is that the republicans have not said 'the war is over'.
No one could doubt the full commitment of Sinn Fein to the peace process and the vital role the party has played in it quite simply because peace will yield advantages that violence never could and violence always carries with it the risk of mass slaughter such as happened in Omagh which turns people against the perpetrators.
It also seems that Sinn Fein has received certain assurances from Dublin and Washington at least, that the process will develop in an irreversible way towards achieving the political aims of Sinn Fein, assurances that are compatible with the working of the agreement and did not have to be part of it.
The agreement imposes an evil form of institutionalised sectariansm and brings to government people who should not be allowed to wield power over any people who opposed violence down through the years.
It is a charter for croneyism and patronage and the Irish News and the yes lobby can thank their stars that the only vociferous opponent is Ian Paisley, who has no credibility to lead what remains of the 'no to violence' section of the community who have seen their principles betrayed by the politics of expediency.
I would like this agreement to break down, not because I want to see a return to violence by loyalists or republicans under any banner but because I think it is wrong, totally wrong.
Yet I read into the Adams statement the thought that if it fails in any respect, there will be a return to violence.
That is why there is no decommissioning of weapons, no clear 'the war is over' statement.
All we have is a ceasefire and Adams saying to the three governments and other political leaders that they have a responsibility to ensure it continues and that violence is a thing of the past by following to the letter the debauched agreement reached at Stormont on Good Friday.
J McC, Strabane
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0356
Published Date: 03-Sep-98
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