Terrorism is Terrorism...

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... well not according to all-knowing Tony Blair:

Well the London bombings are blamed on the occupation of Iraq, but the IRA bombings were blamed on the occupation of Ulster.

If they had the chance to kill 30,000 British people they would, after all they did not shy away from bombing shopping malls, hospitals and even primary schools (children aged from 5 - 12). Saying that is an insult to anyone that had family or friends that died because of the IRA. He should not be thinking in numbers.

But anyway, the IRA even went as far as Germany and Gibraltar to carry out killings.

Surely its a bad idea to show favouritism in this way?

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I don't think you're making an accurate comparison. Muslim fundamentalist terror attacks started far before there was any occupation of Iraq - or any other middle eastern country for that matter. Not only was 9/11 before any occupation, but so was the 1993 WTC bombing. That's just in the U.S. There were several attacks orchestrated by OBL in the 90s ranging from Yemen (USS Cole) to multiple embassy attacks throughout the middle east and Africa.

It may be correct that the main (and possibly only) reason that the London bombings occured was Britain's occupation of Iraq. But if that is true how do we explain the other bombings and terror attacks of the last 15 or so years?

 

It's just a diplomatic stance. Seeing have the IRA have cooled down a bit recently, he doesn't want to go setting them off again by trying to dirty their reputation even more.

... Maybe.

 

I think Blair is wrong too. Terrorism is terrorism. The goals and the means are the same. The hotels that were bombed now are just like the bombs that went up in hotels in Nothern Ireland. Both are following the exactly same pattern. And of course would change their priorities, if the political situation in Saudi-Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt would end up, as planned, in turmoil.

Actually, it's because Blair is one of those "big" oversized countries. It's the math that all went wrong in proportion.

 

Aldeth, I did not say that al-Qaida started because of Iraq or Afghaninstan, its just that the London bombing was blamed on this. As for what the origins are, that made Muslim terrorists hostile to the West are unknown to myself... I can see your point here, but I was concentrating on the attacks on London.

Barmy, the IRA are taking a more political stance at the moment, but with vast stockpiles of weapons still lying around, don't count on this ceasefire for much longer. I mean if Sinn Fein are not welcome in the Republic of Irelands government, why should they have influence in British govermnent? It would be unwise for the IRA to be hostile to Britian during this time, as this would anger their vast fan-base and thus stop the $'s flowing in...

 

What about the Israeli occupation of Palestine since 1948, at least from the Palestinians point of view?

 

Under current geography there is no such thing as "Palestine". But point taken nonetheless.

 

Here's why Blair chose to make the comments he did:

IRA Ends Armed Conflict

By separating the IRA from Al Qaeda, Tony Blair was able to have everyone see the attacks as a work of an evil entity. Had he labeled them together, this whole process would have been derailed . As it stands now, the IRA appears to view AQ as a common enemy.

 

Thats because al-Qaeda gave terrorism a bad name - those bastards!

Anyway, are we forgetting that the IRA are different to the 'Real IRA', 'INLA' and 'CIRA'? These groups have not ended, and the 'Real IRA are the worst of the worst, just type in 'Omagh bombing' into any search engine.

The Real IRA seeks to maximise the killing of civillians:

If the IRA wants to continue getting funding from abroad, they have to distance themselves from terrorism, at least until terrorism comes back in vogue again. Actually the IRA had quite a few 'ceasefires' and arms dumps, but we see what came of them...

From the ashes of the IRA... comes more splinter groups.

 

Hm, Al-Queda is terrorism, IRA is not... It smels a bit of the good ole times when "their" dictators were totalitarian, "ours" - just authoritarian. The fact that both murdered their own people was just a detail.