America and The IRA?

Question

Many American's feel a certain sympathy for The IRA, and view them as noble freedom fighters, yet the campaign of teoor against the UK and Northern Ireland was bloody, and directed against civillians. Do You thing Americans would have the same view if the IRA had attacked America?

Answer 1

double standards, they funded IRA to fight against the British & inocent people,
but as soon as they get attaked by freedom fighters all of a suddan they become terrorists,
the ira are terrorists so are every one who calls them selfs freedom fighters,
look back through history you will see terrorist/freedom fighters
who actualy do take over the country they are suposed to be freeing,soon become dictators or tyrants, will just give one example but there are hundreds, iddie amin of uganda

Answer 2

i dont think an awful lot of Americans had any sympathy for the IRA but the thing is an awful lot of rich Irish Americans did and they had the money to finance these despicable death squads.
I've been personally affected by the actions of these so called " brave freedom fighters " they where so brave that they planted a bomb in the middle of the housing estate that i was living in at the time. they managed to blow up at least 25 family homes and really struck a blow for Irish Republicanism that day.
while on holiday in the Dominican republic at the time of 9-11 there where a lot of Irish Americans present. they couldn't understand why i didn't really react too badly to the images i was seeing on the news. when they asked me why i explained to them how we where used to it in northern Ireland they seemed to go a bit quiet. over a few drinks they proceeded to tell me of their support for the IRA and they didn't realise what harm they where doing in that country when they sent money to support the republican movement. after 9-11 i think they got a better grasp on what it's like to be living under fire from a terrorist organisation and have changed their views on the subject.
the big irony was it took this to really send it home to them.
i don't have a great opinion of bush but the best move he ever made was to make it illegal for the Republicans to fund raise in America.

Answer 3

The only good thing to come out of 911 is that thousands of Americans realised that terrorism was indiscrimintate and very unglamorous, and therefore raising money for the IRA to buy explosives to blow up shopping centres was a bad thing to do.

Many Americans also realised that the only country who stood by them and commited troops and other armed forces was the Brits.

This is what forced the IRA to the peace table, not Gerry Adams or Tony Blair.....they simply ran out of dollars.

Answer 4

I wouldn't say that the conflict is over, but the IRA is not active anymore.

The IRA is just doing what the colonists in the United States did during the American Revolution. That is why I think that there is some sympathy for southern Ireland. No the US would not have the same thoughts if they attacked the US, but that is the beauty of not being directly involved. You can say you see thier point but never become involved. I wouldn't say that most americans feel sympathy. I am sure that many don't.

Answer 5

Do the British think it is ok for the so-called police in N. Ireland to be a South American style death squad?

Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola) is the term used to describe an incident in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 30 January 1972 in which 26 civil rights protesters were shot by members of 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment led by Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Wilford and his second-in-command Captain Mike Jackson, who had joint responsibility for the operation; during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the Bogside area of the city. Thirteen people, six of whom were minors, died immediately, while the death of another person 4½ months later has been attributed to the injuries he received on the day. Two protesters were injured when run down by army vehicles.[1] Many witnesses including bystanders and journalists testify that all those shot were unarmed. Five of those wounded were shot in the back.

Also the numbers in 30 years of the Troubles are a little over half of 9/11:

Two very detailed studies of deaths in the Troubles The CAIN project at the University of Ulster and Lost Lives[30] differ slightly on the numbers killed by the PIRA but a rough synthesis gives a figure of 1,800 deaths. Of these, roughly 1100 were members of the security forces - British Army, Royal Ulster Constabulary and Ulster Defence Regiment, between 600 and 650 were civilians and the remainder were either loyalist or republican paramilitaries (including over 100 PIRA members accidentally killed by their own bombs).

Anyway don't know about others but I think the IRA turned into common criminals and psychos, and any sympathy that I may have had when I was younger has evaporated. Of course so has the violence, so what is your point?

Answer 6

The "many Americans" who've sympathized with the Irish Republican Army have been a small minority of descendants from Irish immigrants. And yeah, I suppose they would have felt differently if for some illogical reason, the IRA attacked the USA.

Heck, I'd feel differently about the Iraq war if IRAQIS had attacked the USA.

Answer 7

Where are you getting the impression that "many Americans" are sympatheics for the IRA

The IRA is old news, I cant recall the last time I have heard anything about the subject on the news, newspapers, radio, magazines or general discussion. I dont think most Americans would even be able to tell you what IRA is.

Answer 8

No, I didnt know anything about the IRA. I mistook it for IRS when I opened the questions, lol at me.....:O)

I dont like the idea of the IRA or what it has allegedly done. I will have to research it. Have a good day, and do see this link.

Answer 9

Tiocfeadh ar la!: No Surrender!

Both slogans are important in the heritage of Irish communities, and there is evidence to suggest that the communities in the North can start to accept their differences and look at them as cultural issues, rather than as strategies for survival. Thirty years of war has drained the Northern Irish people, especially as the war, per se, achieved nothing.

When Ian Paisley dies, the Nationalists should look for a political solution that will enable the Loyalists to maintain a British connection within the context of a united Ireland. External association with Britain, or Commonwealth membership, will do a lot to assuage remaining Protestant angst. I am convinced that this was what Michael Collins was aiming for when he signed the Treaty.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and it is worth noting that there was a Protestant unit in the IRA in the 1960s. A lot of expatriate persons of the Irish diaspora did actively support the IRA, but a lot of Canadians of Irish extraction actively supported the UVF - hence the attachment that the UVF has to the Ingram MAC10 MPI. The fact is, Ulster was a lousy place for Catholics in 1969, and, whatever the casualty list (which includes members of my own family), it took a military campaign, eventually supplanted by a masterly political stategy ably directed by Gerry Adams, to move the Unionist troglodytes from a an entrenched position of unrelenting Calvinist stonewalling, to a position in which they have accepted that they have a case to answer, and a case to present.

It is interesting to note that the initial English interest in Ireland was authorised by a Pope, and that the campaign of William, Prince of Orange, was also approved by the incumbent Pope of the time. Supposedly rabid Catholics anually venture to Bodenstown to commemorate the Irish patriot, Wolfe Tone, who was a Protestant.

The great Irish Patriot, Micheal Collins, formed a police force at the time of partition to protect the Protestants of North Louth and Monaghan. He disbanded the force in disgust at the pogroms conducted against the captive Nationalist community in Belfast by Crown Officers. (Collins never did anything by halves!). As a result, my grandfather's family had to leg it PDQ from Clones, Co Monaghan, to Enniskillen, after their house had been burned down and the family bible torn to shreds and chucked into the street.

Do we really want to go back to this merde?

At the moment we have an Ireland which is leading Europe in terms of culture. Seamus Heaney will go down in history as a great poet. The Ulster Orchestra demonstrates considerable Irish verve in its performances, and has attained a reputation second to none in Classical music circles. Are we going to sacrifice this in favour of endless choruses of 'The Sash' and 'Sean Sabhat of Garryowen'?

Us Prods are down, but not beaten, but the opportunity exists for Nationalists to achieve a united Ireland with consent from the entire community, minus a few diehards. Find a solution that will appeal to the majority of people on both sides of the sectarian divide. Eschew De Valera, great man that he was, and embrace Collins. Prods - look again at Tone, and see what he was fighting for. 'The Sash' and 'Sean Sabhat' can still be sung, but in an historical context, rather than one of rivalry and antagonism. We have had one hell of a fight, and there is good and bad on both sides. Let's sort it out as Irishmen, and let the Yank sixth generation mob stay out and keep their mouths firmly shut.

Answer 10

No, "many Americans" don't feel sympathy for the IRA. Get your facts right before asking questions.

Answer 11

What I could never understand about Irish Americans is if they went to America because conditions were so bad in Ireland why didnt they go back with their dollars instead of sponsoring death and destruction in the land they are supposed to be so devoted to.