From Liam O’Flathertaigh Sir: Peter Oborne contends that al-Qa’eda’s objective
— to remove US and coalition forces from Arab soil — is ‘neither more nor less reasonable and legitimate than the IRA terrorists who sought the removal of the British presence from Ireland’.
I beg to differ. It is as absurd to talk about ‘the British presence in Ireland’ as it would be to talk about ‘the British presence in Yorkshire’. Northern Ireland is British, as every signatory of the Good Friday Agreement and all well-informed political commentators know. So it is perfectly proper and indeed necessary for Britain to have a presence there, including soldiers.
The American military presence on the Arabian peninsula and in Iraq is utterly different. It is in fact much easier to produce a convincing rationale for the use of al-Qa’eda violence against America, its forces and client regimes in the region, than for republican violence in Ireland.
Another reason for al-Qa’eda’s choosing London to attack could be that they noticed how much Irish republicanism has achieved by doing so: as a target, London was likely to deliver better results than Washington.
Liam O’Flathertaigh Belfast
Previous page
