How the Provos 'sold out'

[Robo]

Both sides were sectarian...........

Back on topic, the PIRA when it give up it's armed strugle didn't sell itself out. Rather it came to terms with the fact that, it's armed strugle had failed. To have carried on would have been a sellout. As for us Unionists well we have not gained or lost anything other than the PIRA stopping it's murder campain.

We still have Stormount.
We still have a majority in Stormount.
We still have our British links.
We still join the British Army and police.
We still pay tax.
We still have to pay to use a TV.
We still like to go for a walk on the 12th.
We still have nutjobs planting bombs.
We still have interface riots.
We still have peace walls.
We still have the IRA (with different prefixs) playing silly buggers.
We still have not got round to fighting our armed strugle as a UI doesn't look likely to happen in my life time.

[Garibaldy]

well the thing is the provos were well aware that if they escalated the sectarian war beyond a certain level - say by an 800lb bomb in the Shankill which they could easily have done but never did - they would have been unable to control the results. The reality is in any open or massive sectarian war there would have been far more Catholic casulties than protestant ones, and their own communities would have blamed them. The provisionals were not only fighting a sectarian war but it is impossible to deny that they committed many sectarian murders and actions. And that they set themselves up as the representatives not of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, but of Catholics. That is the reality.

[Aindriu]

But the religion of republican victims was incidental,

Was it bollix. Don't blame the British because your RA heroes went out and deliberately murdered innocent protestants going about their lives. I would say exactly the same to someone trying to justify the murdering loyalists as well.

[Garibaldy]

The religion of the victims was not incidental if they were targetted for their religion.

[Aindriu]

And that they set themselves up as the representatives not of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, but of Catholics. That is the reality.

Absolutely! In total contrast to the ideals of the United Irishmen under Wolfe Tone.

[Marcus Garvey]

If it was the IRA's aim as a "sectarian" organisation to kill as many "prods" as possible then why were there so few (relative to other conflicts) actually killed and why were their more Catholics killed in IRA actions.

It really doesn't add up.

your showing either your ignorance or denial, The pira targeted many Protestants from it's inception, possibly because they were deemed to be Unionists rather than a certain faith but the point is they were still targeted for a belief. The La Mon House Hotel for instance, This hotel was in a Unionist area, the staff and patrons would most certainly have been from a Protestant/Unionist background yet Pira planted blast/fire bombs around the windows of the hotel to incinerate as many people as they could, when the bombs ignited they sprayed a fine mist of fuel into the hotel and then ignited literally melting people. This was no accidental killing of Protestant/Unionist civillians. Of course there are countless other attacks on pubs and shops etc in Protestant/Unionist areas killing many people, they also targeted many Protestant/Unionist small buisness's with firebombs. Do you class the firebombing of a small Newsagent in Dunmurry Village by PIRA as a strike for Irish Freedom? The fact is that Protestant /Unionists were a legitimate target for Pira, to cast assertions that all these people were members of (as you put it) the British War machine is just ludicrous, you may not accept it but it's fact, I could reel of 100s of incidents if you want.

Im sorry to have to quote myself but this is just an example of how PIRA were Sectarian, I don't believe it was Sectarian against being soley Protestant but it definately was sectarian against Protestant/Unionist, PIRA deliberately targeted the Protestant/Unionist community countless times as it saw them as part of the british occupation.

[Theobald]

Was it bollix. Don't blame the British because your RA heroes went out and deliberately murdered innocent protestants going about their lives. I would say exactly the same to someone trying to justify the murdering loyalists as well.

YOUR MAKING ASSUMPTIONS AGAIN. But please enlighten me, with what you are suggesting above, because reading through your posts, they are inherently anti republican and but no way anti loyalist.

Do you support loyalism?

[Big Bobo]

The PIRA were always an extemely sectarian organisation. They wrote off 60% of the population of the 6 counties as all being nothing more than bigots who understood nothing but violence. They had no clue how to tackle things on a class basis. They were essentially bead rattling old school naive republicans who were unable to identify the real enemies.

[Theobald]

PIRA deliberately targeted the Protestant/Unionist community countless times as it saw them as part of the british occupation.

EXACTLY! They were seen as part of the BRITISH OCCUPATION, a political NOT RELIGIOUS ideology.

Their war was therefore idelogical.

[slap_harry]

Glad to see the occupation of Ireland is a source of great amusement to you. I dare say you haven't been affected by the fascist British/loyalist regime there in the last few decades.

Fake plastic paddy so-called-republicans amuse me. They would sooner sit on their bar stools, toasting the 'brave' PIRA and blame all of Irelands woes on the British instead of doing something positive about it. It's no longer an occupation. The majority have spoken on both sides of the border. NI is an official part of the UK and will remain so until a democratic majority decide.

These folk don't even know what the word republican means anymore. They wear it like some tribal badge instead of treating it as a political ideology. And what do people who want to spread a political ideology do elsewhere in the world? They go out and try to find new people and persuade them that their political ideals are the right way forward. They don't go out and bomb grannies and granddads and people at a dog show.

There's nothing amusing about the last 30 years, except the deluded ramblings of those who try and justify murder.