-Caveat Lector-   <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-

From
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2000/0304/north5.htm
{{<Begin>}}

Saturday, March 4, 2000
SF is criticised on its strategy
By Suzanne Breen, in Belfast

A former IRA commander in Belfast and leader of republican prisoners in the
Maze has criticised the Sinn F�in leadership and its political strategy. Mr
Brendan Hughes said republican goals had not been achieved and without the
IRA's armed campaign politics had no substance.

Mr Hughes, a former associate of Mr Gerry Adams, attended a press conference in
west Belfast yesterday to launch a new magazine, Fourthwrite, edited by former
IRA prisoners who advocate debate among republicans.

In an article in the magazine, Mr Hughes said: "In 1969, we had a naive
enthusiasm about what we wanted. Now we have no enthusiasm. It is not because
people are war weary - they are politics weary.

"The same old lies regurgitated week in week out. With the war, politics had
some substance. Now it has none. The political process has created a class of
professional liars and unfortunately it contains many republicans." Mr Hughes
said loyalty had previously made him reluctant to speak out and he accused the
leadership of "exploiting" its activists' loyalty.

He denounced the Belfast Agreement: "Overall, the facade has been cleaned up
but the bone structure remains the same. The state we set out to smash still
exists. All the questions raised in the course of this struggle have not been
answered and the republican struggle has not been concluded."

Mr Hughes said a central plank of British "counter-insurgency strategy" had
been "to mould [republican] leaderships that they could deal with". People were
"demoralised and disillusioned" but it was possible "to pull enough together to
first question what has happened and then try to change things". Fourthwrite is
edited by former IRA prisoners including Mr Anthony McIntrye from west Belfast
who served 18 years in the HBlocks, and Mr Tommy McKearney from Co Tyrone who
served 16 years.

Mr McIntrye said he left Sinn F�in in protest at the Belfast Agreement and the
"culture of censorship". He said attempts had been made to stop him criticising
the leadership.

ein leadership and its strategy. "Serious questions must now be asked," he
said. Mr McIntyre said there was considerable disillusionment among grassroots
activists in Belfast and debate was needed on the way forward.

Mr Brendan Hughes, former IRA Belfast brigade commander, at the magazine launch
in Belfast yesterday, in which he is critical of the current republican
leadership. Photograph: Pacemaker

{{<End>}}

>From http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2000/0304/north8.htm

{{<Begin>}}
Saturday, March 4, 2000
Adams insists British must
restore the institutions

By Miriam Donohoe, Political Reporter

The Sinn F�in leader, Mr Gerry Adams, has warned against placing too much
significance on the latest round of consultations aimed at getting the Northern
institutions working again.

Talks aimed at resolving the current impasse will continue next week in
Belfast, the following week in Washington and the last week of March in Lisbon
on the fringes of the EU summit.

However, Mr Adams warned yesterday that while consultations were important, too
much significance should not be placed on what could be "recycled discussions
we have all been through so many times in the past". He said the onus was now
on the British government to restore the institutions and to replace the
political centre of gravity.

"I am not interested at all in doing meetings just for the optics," he said
after a one-and-ahalf hour meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in Government
Buildings.

Mr Adams said he had been single-mindedly devoted since the Belfast Agreement
to all aspects of the peace process, including trying to resolve the
decommissioning issue on terms which would be satisfactory to unionists.

"I have failed to do that because no terms have been acceptable to the
unionists for a surrender by the IRA."

ein leader said the strategy to deal with the decommissioning issue in terms of
symbolism and gestures had failed.

"If we are to find a way of resolving this issue we have to go back to the
peace process. The Good Friday agreement is the only way. The reality is if the
Good Friday agreement is not implemented, it is only a piece of paper when
pieces of paper are useless in what is a very defining period in the history of
the two islands."

Mr Adams said the Belfast Agreement had to work but had to be worked at. "You
cannot have a situation where a British government tears up that agreement."

He warned if there was a long vacuum in the current impasse, the Irish
Government might have to consider its own legal position in relation to the
Southern leg of some of the institutions.

A Government spokesman last night described yesterday's meeting between Mr
Adams and the Taoiseach as "useful".

Meanwhile, the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, yesterday said that now that
we had amended Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution there was absolutely
nothing to stop loyalists being the first to decommission.

"Beatings and murders within the loyalist community and the illegal use of
loyalist arms are an almost daily feature of life in Northern Ireland.

"If loyalists made the first move on decommissioning they would prove their
sincerity," Mr Bruton told a Rotary Club of Dublin meeting.

{{<End>}}

A<>E<>R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said
it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your
own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut." Ernest Hemingway
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing!  These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html

http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Om

Reply via email to