Sunday
22Nov2009
400LBS OF EVIL...
Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 01:34PM 
I see that is now revealed that the car bomb left by Irish Republican terrorists outside the Policing Board Offices in central Belfast contained 400lbs of explosives. That is a HUGE bomb and I can remember seeing the vast damage caused by bombs one quarter of that size. Had this exploded, it would have been devastating to life and property in the area concerned. I wonder what Sinn Fein Policing Board member Martina Anderson makes of this? Readers will recall that she was convicted of conspiring to cause explosions. We have the irony here of one gang of Irish Republican terrorists trying to unsettle the gains won by another gang of Republican terrorists.
tagged Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland. 
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Reader Comments (18)
so much for making deals with terrorists and giving them a seat at the table. It really has made you safer hasn't it.
Troll - which period during the Troubles did you find less violent than this year? The level of violence has declined dramatically, and people are living far more peacefully with each other than previously.
Yes mahons, but this is still a worrying development. All the dissidents now appear to be working much more closely together than previously:
There has been a marked upsurge in republican dissident terror attacks this year. On 7 March, the Real IRA killed sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, at Massereene Army base in Antrim.
Two days later the Continuity IRA shot PSNI Constable Stephen Paul Carroll in Craigavon, County Armagh.
Since the three murders the International Monitoring Commission has said there have been 11 attempts to kill members of the PSNI across Northern Ireland. The IMC – the body set up to monitor the activities of paramilitary groups – has also warned that the three main dissident groups, the Continuity IRA, the Real IRA and Oghlaigh na hEireann, are now working more closely together than in previous years.
here
Like the TUV these people want to bring us back to what was before.
mahons is correct.
While comment is best made by those who live there, I've been in Belfast during the Troubles, and I've been there after the GFA, and the difference is night and day.
There is principled opposition to the various deals with the Devil that have been made, but the fact is that things are much, much safer.
but the fact is that things are much, much safer.
How long are they likely to stay that way in a political vacuum? (which I may add is contributed to in no small way by Dorothy the chest beating political no no who is the leader of the obscure TUV, Davids political soul mates.
An important question indeed, G
"So much for making deals with terrorists and giving them a seat at the table. It really has made you safer hasn't it"
Well Troll if you knew anything about the realities of life here you'd realise that yes, it has.
As to the faux moral outrage regarding "terrorists in government" the delicious irony is that those who shout about their moral indignation loudest have exactly the same objective as the people who carried out this attack - destruction of the power sharing Assembly.
The worry must be that (worst case scenario) if Sinn Fein fails to get what it wants through power sharing, it resorts to using maverick/dissident splinter groups acting "by proxy."
It could then say it has no control over what they do, but complicitly or not, it raises the awful vision of a return to violence. Other commentators have mentioned recently that Marxists etc. have not gone away; they are instead seeking to achieve their aims by infiltrating the system.
The question must therefore be, "Has Sinn Fein given up its long term goals?"
The best thing has to be that politicians and commnunity leaders stay on their guard, without abandoning a process which has brought some positive progress; and most importantly peace to that long suffering population.
1. Irish republican terrorists seek to kill and maim.
2. The TUV seeks to ensure terrorists are removed from government and the basis of good government put in place.
3. GM/Troll. You are quite right. But natural born appeasement is tough to eradicate.
The objective of both groups is the same David they only differ in the tactics they use to bring about this objective.
"Other commentators have mentioned recently that Marxists etc. have not gone away; they are instead seeking to achieve their aims by infiltrating the system"
I think it's called politics Dan.
The objective of terrorists is to terrorise,
The TUV are a political group which seeks to ensure terrorists are kept OUT of government.
Oh look, another impasse at Stormont and the "dissidents" re-appear.
What a coincidence.
Yes Paul,
But in this case a particularly nasty version.
And as David said,
"..........natural born appeasement is tough to eradicate.
It's easy to be objective if you're not directly involved or affected: -and I'm not meaning you. I mean anyone, including meself.
Politics is a nasty game Dan and I don't pretend to be objective in the slightest, as someone from Belfast how could I?, the situation in the state of NI has affected most of my life.
"Natural born appeasement is tough to eradicate"
Don't understand this natural born appeasement lark, where?
"The objective of terrorists is to terrorise"
All armed groups, including state ones, use terror as a means to an end. To suggest otherwise is intellectually lazy. The adjectives 'dissident' or 'principaled' could easilly be added to either the unionist or Republican groups discussed here depending on political opinion, both groups having the same objective.
"The TUV are a political group which seeks to ensure terrorists are kept OUT of government"
Please David, let's not waste everyone's time discussing the blatantly obvious lacuna inherent in your "no terrorists in givernment" principal.
yes it's always peacfull till the 400lb bomb goes off....lol
well paul I hate to even comment against someone who spells as bad as I do, but since your a lifelong resident of belfast and believe in terrorism as a LEGITIMATE PATH TO OFFICE.
and how many bombs have you planted to help achieve that goal?
Peace republican style. Deport them all to the free state.
Firstly, as someone who’s normally a stickler for legible grammar and spelling let me apologise for the three spelling mistakes in my above post. These typos were a result of typing in haste rather than crass stupidity and crude laziness in the use of language.
“Since your a lifelong resident of Belfast and believe in terrorism as a LEGITIMATE PATH TO OFFICE”
Born and bred in Belfast yes, and if you had the slightest idea about the history of this place you’d realise that the undemocratic state of N.I. was built on capitulation to the threat of terrorism, [perhaps that what David meant with his “natural born appeasement remark?].
Just to make the brass on your neck shine that little bit more here’s a few names for you: Agosto Pinochet, Geulah Cohen Yitzhak Shamir, Menachem Begin and not forgetting of course those nice people in The Contra’s. If you’re not personally familiar with the first and last listed then I’m sure that previous leaders of that Party that you vote for are and, remind me again, just what did those three politicians do before coming to the nexus of political power in that state you so admire?
Your arms must be extremely sore having to clean all that glass in that house of yours.
“How many bombs have you planted to help achieve that goal?”
This rhetorical question was so dumbfoundingly asinine that I’m consciously debasing myself by taking the bait, however.
None Troll, I’m sure that you and your military background have been in the vicinity of much more bombs and guns than I ever have so I’ll leave all that militaristic, gung ho, real men shite to you.