Great hurt has been inflicted once again on the loyal people
of Northern Ireland by the insensitivity of mainland politicians
and people who should know better.
The comments by Prime Minister Tony Blair when comparing
the terrorism of Islamic groups like Al Quieda with those
of the Provisional IRA, in which he seemed to imply that there
are 'good' terrorists and 'bad' terrorists, caused great offence.
The Prime Minister, in replying to a question at a press
conference, certainly seemed to imply that the IRA was carrying
out their terrorism in support of a political objective, while
the same could not be said of the Islamic brand of terrorism.
Whatever his motive, and however much his spokesmen tried
to explain away the comment, it certainly caused understandable
outrage on the part of most Northern Ireland people.
They know only too well how vicious, cruel, evil and monstrous
was the IRA bombing and shooting campaign of murder, and they
reacted with anger and revulsion.
Atrocities like Claudy, Teebane, Oxford Street and Bloody
Friday, La Mon House, Kingsmill, and many others sprang immediately
to mind.
Of course, the Islamic outrages in London are equally reprehensible
and all decent Ulster people utterly condemned them and have
felt great sympathy for the victims of the London bombings.
But they just could not stomach the insinuation that there
are 'good' and 'bad' terrorists, especially when the impression
resulted from a comment by the Prime Minister.
The remark damaged the credibility of Tony Blair in the eyes
of Ulstermen and Ulsterwomen whose community has been on the
receiving end of the violence carried out by the 'good' terrorists,
and for the actual victims, both Protestant and Roman Catholic,
it was a case of pouring salt on the wounds caused by the
IRA terrorists.
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