Northern Ireland Dilemma
With 2 soldiers being shot this weekend and then 48 hours later a policeman too, Gordon Brown has some challenges to convince those involved that they should not react and risk slowing down the peace process. What is clear from the public is that they do not want to go back to how things were say 15 years ago, clearly they enjoy peaceful times. It was interesting how Gordon brown called them murderers rather than terrorists, the message seems stronger somehow and it was always easy for a terrorist to say they were an army at war.
To send the army in world send the wrong message to those who may still not have any trust, but are the police correctly trained to deal with such issues, especially with automatic weapons. Of course this was what the real IRA (who claimed responsibility for the soldiers’ shootings) wanted. Let’s get people thinking the troubles are not over and force them to bring back the troops or heavy handed checkpoints and the rest must ne the aim of the game. It would not take long before the news would be focussing on the security measures rather than why they were implemented in the first place.
On saying this, the murders are in a minority. It is unlikely there will be many who will put them up in safe houses, or protect them should their identity before apparent. Let’s hope it is a temporary blip and these people are captured and prosecuted. They will then see who their friends are