MEDIA TELL POLITICIANS TO ENSURE BOMBERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WIN
Media tell politicians to ensure bombers are not allowed to win
From Rachel Donnelly, in London
IN THE immediate aftermath of the atrocity in Omagh on Saturday afternoon, British newspapers yesterday echoed the words of the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, who said the bombers should "never be allowed to win", with some calling on the Labour government to use emergency powers if necessary.
As the media spoke with one voice to condemn unequivocally the horror and pain visited upon the people of Omagh, their families and friends and offered their sympathy and prayers, the Observer pointed to the particularly heavy responsibility on Sinn Fein in the coming days.
Encouraged by the response to the bombing by the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, who condemned it "without any equivocation whatsoever", the Observer saw some alternative to the "hell" of Omagh if those words, and others, shamed those who shelter terrorists into withholding their support.
Unionism too was on trial, it said. Calling on unionist leaders, the Observer said that while the outrage at Omagh was always a possibility given Ireland's bloody history, every politician must "rise to the gravity of the moment".
With all the British newspapers carrying tragic pictures of the injured on their front pages and regular updates on the situation on the television and the radio, the coverage of the bombing concentrated, inevitably, on the loss of human life.
The Independent on Sunday described the fragile peace in Northern Ireland as being shattered in a "few, terrible seconds". But it held out some hope for the future saying that while it believed the killings would continue, the peace process would carry on: "The virtue of hope will ultimately triumph over the vice of despair, even in the mean and seemingly intractable streets of Northern Ireland."
The Sunday Times, which moved its leader comment to its second page, and the Sunday Telegraph, both took a strong line on the possible legislative options available to Mr Blair. The Sunday Times repeated the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern's, determination to "ruthlessly suppress" the bombers saying it was time for him and Mr Blair to "set to". If emergency laws were needed, it said, they should be introduced. "If internment is judged necessary, let the suspects be rounded up without delay... If Northern Ireland's peace process is to survive, British and Irish leaders must prove that they mean what they say. Otherwise, the ceasefire will break down, the new Northern Ireland Assembly will be a non-starter and the bombers will have won after all."
A possible security clampdown would be endlessly debated in the coming days, but the Sunday Telegraph highlighted its unease at the "over-hasty relaxation" of security in Northern Ireland by describing its scaling down as the "greatest flaws" of the peace process. In private, its leader page said, Mr Blair had often indicated his sympathy for a much tougher security regime if violence resumed, "and it is time for him to turn that inclination into reality".
From Rachel Donnelly, in London
IN THE immediate aftermath of the atrocity in Omagh on Saturday afternoon, British newspapers yesterday echoed the words of the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, who said the bombers should "never be allowed to win", with some calling on the Labour government to use emergency powers if necessary.
As the media spoke with one voice to condemn unequivocally the horror and pain visited upon the people of Omagh, their families and friends and offered their sympathy and prayers, the Observer pointed to the particularly heavy responsibility on Sinn Fein in the coming days.
Encouraged by the response to the bombing by the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, who condemned it "without any equivocation whatsoever", the Observer saw some alternative to the "hell" of Omagh if those words, and others, shamed those who shelter terrorists into withholding their support.
Unionism too was on trial, it said. Calling on unionist leaders, the Observer said that while the outrage at Omagh was always a possibility given Ireland's bloody history, every politician must "rise to the gravity of the moment".
With all the British newspapers carrying tragic pictures of the injured on their front pages and regular updates on the situation on the television and the radio, the coverage of the bombing concentrated, inevitably, on the loss of human life.
The Independent on Sunday described the fragile peace in Northern Ireland as being shattered in a "few, terrible seconds". But it held out some hope for the future saying that while it believed the killings would continue, the peace process would carry on: "The virtue of hope will ultimately triumph over the vice of despair, even in the mean and seemingly intractable streets of Northern Ireland."
The Sunday Times, which moved its leader comment to its second page, and the Sunday Telegraph, both took a strong line on the possible legislative options available to Mr Blair. The Sunday Times repeated the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern's, determination to "ruthlessly suppress" the bombers saying it was time for him and Mr Blair to "set to". If emergency laws were needed, it said, they should be introduced. "If internment is judged necessary, let the suspects be rounded up without delay... If Northern Ireland's peace process is to survive, British and Irish leaders must prove that they mean what they say. Otherwise, the ceasefire will break down, the new Northern Ireland Assembly will be a non-starter and the bombers will have won after all."
A possible security clampdown would be endlessly debated in the coming days, but the Sunday Telegraph highlighted its unease at the "over-hasty relaxation" of security in Northern Ireland by describing its scaling down as the "greatest flaws" of the peace process. In private, its leader page said, Mr Blair had often indicated his sympathy for a much tougher security regime if violence resumed, "and it is time for him to turn that inclination into reality".
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH TIMES
Ref: IT/032
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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