MAKING SOLDIERS OUT OF TERRORISTS
I was very interested to read Jenny McCartney's take on the issue of the British Government formally declaring it will not use the term "war on terror" anymore. Here's what she has to say...
Our Government announced the end of the "war on terror" last week. It is not that terrorism has disappeared, simply that British officials have been warned to desist from declaring openly that we are at "war" with its exponents.
This is a sensible move: there is nothing that terrorists crave so deeply as the moral status of soldiers, even while they reserve for themselves the terrorist's freedom to do horrific harm to the softest possible civilian targets. We should not afford them even the name of combatants, since terrorism works specifically by attacking ordinary, helpless people in their everyday lives.
In Northern Ireland, the IRA and the loyalist paramilitaries often spoke high-mindedly of themselves as being at "war", just as they were devoting their greatest energies to murdering blameless churchgoers, children and cab-drivers. There, the surreally named Consultative Body on the Past - set up to look at ways of healing the rifts caused by 30 years of violence - last month foolishly suggested that the IRA and loyalist campaigns could perhaps be officially reclassified as part of a "war".
The truth is, of course, that had the Troubles really been fought as a war, most IRA and loyalist gunmen would be dead and their leaders tried for war crimes, since they routinely flouted the Geneva Conventions. I'm sure that it has not escaped even al-Qaeda's attention, however, that - in Northern Ireland at least - terrorism has paid off rather better.
David Vance
28 Comments
View Printer Friendly Version
Reader Comments (28)
Brilliant. She's 100% right.
She is indeed
"I'm sure that it has not escaped even al-Qaeda's attention, however, that - in Northern Ireland at least - terrorism has paid off rather better."
Totally and the world is a more dangerous place because of it.
gee I am surprised they haven't drug this woman through the streets and tarred and feathered her.
I mean my God a journalists that recognizes that the IRA/SF TERRORISTS have been rewarded for blowing up woman and children Let alone the fact that they are TERRORISTS and NOT soldiers.
If I was her I would be scared that they would never let me write another story
Troll,
Jenny is the youngest daughter of my former political colleague Robert McCartney. She's been brought up to know right from wrong. Needles to say she no longer works or lives in Northern Ireland - the media don't care for us dissidents!!
C'mon David, we have our dissenting jurno's, one you often quote from is Suzanne Breen. Also I heard Liam Clarke use your term today on the politics show re IPJ - "the clown prince". Did you hear it?
She seriously is spot on about the daftness of the WOT too.
This bit
"This is a sensible move: there is nothing that terrorists crave so deeply as the moral status of soldiers, even while they reserve for themselves the terrorist's freedom to do horrific harm to the softest possible civilian targets. We should not afford them even the name of combatants, since terrorism works specifically by attacking ordinary, helpless people in their everyday lives"
is so well put. She's a terrific writer. I loved that piece she wrote on torture porn too. She covers all sorts of topics which is cool.
Typhoo,
Good point, I forgot about Suzanne who is EXCELLENT. Not so keen on Liam. Name one dissenting unionist commentator who opposed the GFA.
"Name one dissenting unionist commentator who opposed the GFA."
On the unionist side hmmm...consider-
I forget the jurnos name, who was murdered for exposing links between Loyalist paramilitaries and the UDA. I believe he had a background of involvement and then became a journalist and exposed them, wrecking my head to come up with his name, but - sorry.
The other thing is the DUP opposed the GFA all along and it was widely reported by the msm, whether by dissenting jurnos or not - so it hardly counts.
Some of our commentators have taken great risks to expose the truth.
sorry should say links loyalist paramilitaries and drugs.
This blog could use an edit facility lol
martin o'hagan is the name.
It is truly heart warming to see everyone on ATW rejecting WOT, since "the term Bush used is a rhetorical device" of no value in actually dealing with terrorism. The other observation David alluded to recently:
advises us to stop using (and listening to) empty rhetoric.There are real conflicts in the world, but the WOT is a phony solution.
Suzanne and Jenny are great as is Lindy. I also like Anne Palmer. Four journalists that I trust.
Takes the women eh
(and yes I know there are exceptions) ;o)
Alan F-D,
Surely rhetoric is only used to raise awareness of a problem, and perhaps to inspire others to find an answer.
Obviously, in this case the rhetoric failed to inspire a long term solution.
Just how did the events of 9/11 appear to you? Did you see it as just an isolated incident, to be ignored, or did you see it as anything more significant?
Certainly a lot of people thought a war had started, so perhaps the rhetoric was not so out-of-place at that time, and given the world wide occurence of similar attacks,, perhaps it was appropriate - 'at that time'.
You mention other 'real conflicts' - what would they be, and are they not really all part of the same problem that inspired the WOT label? i.e religious fanatism.
Jenny McCartney is riding on her old mans coat tails, it is wrong for ATW to set her up as a leading voice of dissent. She ain't. She's no where near it.
There have been far to many jurnos and commentators who have had to take great personal risks to say what they had to say to expose the truth. Jenny, AFAIK isn't one of them - no where near.
What David is doing as regards Jenny is favouratism, and nothing short of it. OK so he was pals with her old man,that doesn't make the daughter a leading voice of dissent.
No she isn't. I dont even know who her old man is. She writes very well in her own right. Why is it favouritism? He has never put her up here before. I did once. About something totally unrelated to N.I and only afterwards David clued me in on who she was. She's a very good writer.
"He has never put her up here before."
I think you'll find he has. I'm not saying she can't write, I'm saying lets not make soldiers of dissent out of people who aren't. Jenny is not a leading commentator of dissent against the GFA, nor indeed anything as regards NI. She is one jurno among others who writes from her own perspective (and that of her father), not a leading voice of dissent.
David ought to know better than to set her up as such, considering how people have been murdered and intimidatede for what they have said. Infact we even had one play writer who had to move home from a loyalist/unionist district because of a play he'd written. Not on the same scale as Salman Rushdie I'll grant you, but he was intimidated out of his home none the less.
Jenny may write well, David may even like what she has to say - but thats the height of it as regards her NI dissent.
Typhoo
"Jenny McCartney is riding on her old mans coat tails, it is wrong for ATW to set her up as a leading voice of dissent. She ain't. She's no where near it."
How so? Most of Jenny's readers know her far better than her dad.
To be a voice of dissent you have to voice dissent, the level of danger in doing so is another matter. The quality of the writing is more important factor in being a dissenting voice.
Why wouldn't a blog owner quote jounralists that he favours? Why wouldn't any of us?
"Most of Jenny's readers know her far better than her dad."
How do you know? I knew who her old man was from the get go. I can't speak for her other readers, but David knew and he reads her. I expect you did also Aileen. But Alison said she didn't, if that were a poll it would be 3-1 in favour of know who her dad was.
"To be a voice of dissent you have to voice dissent, the level of danger in doing so is another matter. The quality of the writing is more important factor in being a dissenting voice."
Voicing dissent against the WOT is hardly dissent from the mainstream. Is there any main stream writer who is for it? The level of danger is more of a factor than writing well Aileen. Considering how so many have suffered.
"Why wouldn't a blog owner quote jounralists that he favours? Why wouldn't any of us?"
Nothing. As long as no one tries to protray her as a leading voice of dissent against the GFA or anything to do with NI. Which I think David tried to do in a round about way.
She is one writer whom he and others like due to her particular take on things, not a figure of dissent.
'leading voice of dissent'.
He doesn't say that anywhere. Just that she does dissent - which is pretty accurate here. He said he found her opinion interesting. If anything he didn't agree with her view that the name "War On Terror" is a bad idea as demonstrated in the post the other day. Anyway im not fighting over "David's soul" as that would be a bit silly. Why can't he post her opinion on it though?
"Needles to say she no longer works or lives in Northern Ireland - the media don't care for us dissidents!! "
Quite obviously I don't know why Jenny moved to mainland Britain, but I'll hazard a guess it was not down to her dissenting. Most likely a career move. David saying the media don't care for dissidents is a bit rich. He is often on H&M's, local radio, letters to the newsletter, what ever.
But he knows as much as anyone else that dissent was hard fought for here and Jenny was NOT involved in it.
I'm not saying he can't post her opinion, I'm questioning him placing her as a dissenting jurno.
Just for info, did you know that Jenny married the brother of Meera Syal ,the lead actress in the Kumars at Number 42? How about that for trivial details???
Typhoo
We are from Nothern Irelnad and that is why we know who Bob is. Most of Jenny's readers aren't. I can't imagine that Bob's name cut any ice in the Sunday Telegraph.
Jenny has been a voice of dissent re appeasing terrorists in NI and there have been few of them on the ground.
"The level of danger is more of a factor than writing well Aileen. Considering how so many have suffered"
I disagree, writing well and actually writing is the major factor for me in being a voice of dissent. What you risk is a measure of committment but for a "voice" for me the message and how it is articulated is for me the major factor. Putting your life at risk may make someone a hero but it does not make them a voice of dissent. Articulating publically the contrary argument does.
She was one of the few not to climb aboard the Belfast Agreement bandwagon and indeed write against it. As far as I am concerned she is a voice of dissent and has been for a long time.
"Just for info, did you know that Jenny married the brother of Meera Syal ,the lead actress in the Kumars at Number 42?"
Yes. He is a journalist as well and they had two wedding cermonies.
"Make no mistake we are at war with the IRA (provisionals) were the words used by Ted Heath's Home Secretary, Reginald Maulding.
It seems to me that the British like to define any conflict in whatever terms suits their propaganda needs at any particular time.
Whatever it was Jenny, her father and this house appear to believe the IRA won it. It is usually for the victors to define the conflict and the IRA do indeed call it a war.
If the IRA were terrorists in the Al Qaeda mode with the objective of killing as many civilians Britain would have been counting her dead in tens of thousands. Comparisons between eh two situations do not stand up to any examination.
I have to say that Jenny McCartney is a good writer on other subjects and one of the most reliable film reviewers I know of.
For a lesser crime a bunch of crooks can rob a house and get away with it and so they win. They can call it whatever the hell they like. It is still a crime.
"Jenny has been a voice of dissent re appeasing terrorists in NI and there have been few of them on the ground. "
Thats NOT true. In the beginning there was a small amount of them, at the forefront paving the way for the others, many others who followed, and at great personal cost to themselves and their families.
Jenny is NOT one of them.
Typhoo
Who are these people?
Very few of the commentators (bar politicians) spoke out against the BA.
"on the ground" was a figure of spech BTW.
Jenny has been a voice of dissent re appeasing terrorists in NI and that she was not in particular danger from doing so does not alter that.
Aileen,
Do you think the GFA has been supported by all? The msm have reported widely on it without it being referred to as 'dissent'. As for dissent in general, I've already named a few, martin o'hagan murdered for trying to expose LVF's murky world, Suzanne Breen on a whole host of issues, Liam Clarke has done his fair share - having his home raided, and his wife catherine johnson also.
"Jenny has been a voice of dissent re appeasing terrorists in NI and that she was not in particular danger from doing so does not alter that."
Then we are going to have to agree to differ. Her contribution towards dissent of appeasing terrorists is almost nil. Ask anyone on the streets of NI who she is and I'll bet they'll think its a pop singer.
Ask anyone who Liam Clarke is or Martin O'Hagan was and most will be able to tell you.
There isn't much more to say on the subject really Aileen except to agree todisagree.