Why did people in the USA support the bombing of British cities by terrorists?

Question

I'm refering to the IRA bombing of London, Birmingham, Manchester and Belfast on a regular basis. There was active American campaigns for fund raising for weapons in the support of terrorism in British cities for many years while Irish and British civilians were being torn apart by bombs in their home towns.

Post 9/11 the UK has done everything to support the USA and has never allowed collections towards terrorist bombing to take place in England

See the article below and also Wiki or Google Noraid

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946419,00.html

Amazing that people in the US don't about this, Irish Republican supporters in the US were raising money in New York when Manchester (The UK's second city) had it's main shopping mall and business centre ripped apart by a big truck bomb, there were bombings and shootings on a daily basis. London's Financial centre was badly hit a number of times. Before anyone goes on about British oppression, The Irish government had outlawed the IRA at that time and the Irish Protestants wanted the UK army to stay in Northern Ireland

Peege

Fact - Belfast is not in Ireland, it's in Northern Ireland. It is still part of the United Kingdom, governed by London and with Ireland we are all part of the EU. The Irish Protestants would never stand for rule by the Irish government. The IRA didn't want rule by the Irish or the English government. They were a semi-socialist organisation who cared nothing for the wishes of the Protestants in NI and were supported in terrorism against both Irish and English governments by some residents of the USA .

Another nice try Peege, Argentina - Falkland Islands, are British and still are, nothing illegal there, the Falkland Islanders were invaded by General Galtairi's commando's in defiance of the UN. The opening shots in that war were made by the Argentinians firing phosphorus grenades into the living quarters of the Marine garrison

Cynthia E.

I ask questions of Americans because many of them appear to know precisely nothing of the world. Their poor knowledge of basic geography, science, and history leaves them wide open to manipulation. My friends in Germany and Australia know far more. It is extremely worrying when such a powerful country is about to vote again and the population appears to be so ill informed.

Answer 1

Anyone in the US that supports any terrorist group will go to prison, the IRA included. After 9/11, we are no longer kidding about terrorism, and you will find our attitudes have changed dramatically. That includes the Irish in Boston as well, my friend.

Answer 2

The government would. But then the government would support the US if it proposed the killing of all British first born children. There is a rather naive doctrine in government circles that if we back the US, it will back us when we have problems. The only flaw with that doctrine is the only time it has been put to the test, during the Suez Crisis, it didn't work. If Iraq, where 80%+ opposed the war before it started, is anything to go by the people won't. Perhaps the issue is that most people actually see their being a spectrum rather than "You are either with us or with terrorists". We don't always see that bombing the sh*t out of other countries is the best way to resolve problems. Often it just makes matters worse. I might be inclined to agree with precision strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure, as a LAST resort. However, that last resort is a long way off and I see no reason to bomb cities. The Russians are increasingly on-side and they can leverage a lot more diplomatic influence against Iran than the US or UK ever can. Bomb Iran, (unilaterally or even with UK support) and if you aren't very careful, you could find Russia being sucked into the opposite side of a war.

Answer 3

Well JS57 you may not get a clear answer from the yanks as they have a very stunted view of the world. The fault lies with their own Government and media for this. Most Americans could not tell you where the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland lay geographically on a map. The reason for this is because they have never been told there was a need. As for terrorist funding it was predominantly from the Northern states. The west were and still are the liberal states and the Middle States or bible belt is the Conservative and extremist. However we have had and probably still do have terrorist fund raising here in the UK, it's called budgeting for the security services who generate terrorism along with the yanks. I'd rather raise money to help the homeless or children but hey I'm a nobody with a loony theory of how the world works. Bush said if you aint with us then your with the terrorists. Sorry but Bush is an idiot puppet controlled by a power crazed administration. So no I'm not with the Americans on this. I'm a brit with a better view of the world as our democracy has always been better than the USA until the last 5 years.

Answer 4

I don't support terrorism in any way nor do I support any country occupying a foreign land. Calling Belfast a British city, is an insult, to the majority of Ireland's people. Who is the real terrorist? Give Northern Ireland back to it's mother country. AOH-- In seeking sovereignty; Why would you include any of the existing government? You never mention what the catholics want. Ask Argentina who the terrorists are.-- What about the rest of the question?

Answer 5

America has a significant population of Irish origin, many of whom fled the potato famine in the nineteenth century and were bitter and hateful towards the British due to the lack of aid offered by England. They probably entertained romantic notions of the old IRA in the Easter Rising in 1916. They possibly saw (misguidely) the provos as the legitimate successors of that struggle for a united Ireland. I do not think they saw their donations as buying bombs and bullets, naive as they were.
In the present struggle the US and the UK are united against islamic terrorism.

Answer 6

If you read your own article you should find at least one reason right off the bat. Customers at a bar peer pressured to give money. Also, it was not American campaigns raising money, but IRISH-american campaigns. Key word IRISH. These immigrants were the ones supporting the IRA by finding ways to manipulate the system. Don't assume the whole is represented by a minority.

Answer 7

I think that it was mainly misguided people on the East Coast who knew nothing of what the money was going to other than it was for "romantic freedom fighters".

Klute - How in the HELL is coming over from Northern Ireland to Manchester, London etc and bombing and slaughtering innocent civillians "DEFENDING YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY"? Thats the most idiotic thing I've ever read!!! Grow up, its attitudes like that that have caused all this misery and strife in the first place.

Answer 8

Because may of them were second or third generation immigrants who were brainwashed at their culture centres into raising funds for the so called downtrodden of a certain country, and when those fund raisers got their hands on the money it didn't go to the people who it was meant for. It was diverted to the terrorists to buy guns and bomb materials. Fortunately by now many of those contributing Americans are aware of the true situation.

Answer 9

Sounds like you have CNN over there as well as Time magazine. Don't believe propaganda spread by the anti-America liberals that want to split our two nations apart. I'm not Irish, but, have friends that are Irish decent and not one of them liked the bombings. I can't dispute that the Kennedy's could have been involved, after all, they're still supporting terrorists that are attacking both our forces in the mid-east.

Answer 10

You're wrong, there were irish-Americans like Ted Kennedy raising money for the IRA. That extremely small percentage of the population doesn't even come close to qualifying as an AMERICAN position.

Lets not forget that Clinton also had Yassar Arafat and drug dealers in the White House. Anything for a legacy and anything for DNC money. Did I mention Colonel Lee of the Chinese Intelligience service and her money. Yep, she was a hottie. Wonder what happened on the desk in the Oval Office that day.