War
crimes reparations – that’s the sweetener
disgruntled Unionists should use to swallow the
supposed £700 million Southern peace boost
for the North.
For
a generation, republican terrorists used the 26
counties as a springboard for gun and bomb attacks
throughout the North, slipping into the Southern
comfort zone once their acts of ethnic cleansing
had been committed.
So
it's about time the South donated bucket loads
of dosh to make up for allowing its territory
to be used as a launching pad for sectarian genocide.
Let’s
hope, too, Unionists don’t resort to their
daft notion of ‘Not An Inch’ when it
comes to working the cross-border institutions.
For
the first time since partition, Unionism now has
the opportunity to have an active role in the
running of the Occupied Twenty-Six (26) Counties.
If
the South is close to completing Bertie’s
Bunker in leafy south Belfast to house its Northern
operation, then Unionists need to set up Paisley’s
Palace within a stone’s throw of Leinster
House.
The
real Achilles’ Heel of the St Andrews Agreement
would be Unionist manipulation of the cross-border
bodies which would have the Red Hand of ‘Loyal
Ulster’ holding the Dail – and the Celtic
Tiger – to ransom by their big green balls.
But
Unionists have spent so much of the past 40 years
fighting each other, they’ve forgotten who
the real enemy is. Already a new brand of dissident
Unionists seem prepared to launch the unthinkable
– a Paisley Must Go campaign to opposed official
pro-deal DUP candidates in any future Stormont
elections!
‘Loyal’
Prods love to indulge in the ‘No Surrender’
politics of the Siege of Derry, but conveniently
dismiss the Williamite Settlement of the late
17th century giving them total control of all
32 Irish counties.
When
are Northern Unionists going to waken up to the
historical reality of reclaiming their birthright
– real political influence in the South?
What
about undoing the Great Betrayal of partition
when Unionist icons Edward Carson and James Craig
turned their backs on the 14 per cent Southern
Protestant Unionist population?
And
with British intelligence’s new estimated
£20 million super fortress being built at
Holywood, surely the time has come to give MI5
an all-Ireland role in the war against international
terrorism?
The
American State Department has already warned half
a dozen militant Islamic groups now have cells
in Ireland, including Islamic Jihad, Hamas and
al-Qaeda.
The
Hallowe’en firebomb blitz is burning proof
dissident republicans haven’t gone away.
The
genuine danger to the entire peace process would
be dissidents murdering a leading DUP MP or MLA.
After all, this month marks the 25th anniversary
of the murder of South Belfast UUP MP Rev Robert
Bradford in November 1981.
And
another worry is at what point do dissident republicans
form an unholy alliance with Islamic militants
to unleash economic havoc and mayhem on both sides
of the border?
In
practical terms, the SAS, PSNI and MI5 need to
be given the cover of legislative powers to operate
officially in the North and South. Both governments
need to learn the lessons of the Troubles.
How
many Provos could have been nabbed if the SAS
and RUC had been able to indulge in ‘hot
pursuit’ across the border into the South
after republican death squads?
Could
the Gardai have caught the loyalists behind the
Dublin and Monaghan bomb massacres if they’d
been able to ‘hot pursuit’ it into the
North?
If
the Shinners enter a power-sharing Northern Executive
with the Paisley camp, how long before we see
the Real and Continuity IRAs’ firebomb blitzs
become Provo-style murder campaigns?
On
their own, republican dissidents don’t stand
a chance of orchestrating the Provos’ and
INLA’s slaughter of the past generation.
But
a militant Islamic/republican dissident coalition
could bring tourism in Ireland to a grinding halt
and economically castrate the Celtic Tiger.
What’s
to stop the dissidents gathering the intelligence
and the militants using their suicide bombers
to carry out the atrocities?
Its
time for Dublin and Stormont to face some harsh
realities. The North is part of the United Kingdom
which is a major coalition player in the Iraqi/Afghan
conflicts.
The
South allowed alleged American ‘torture flights’
to land at Shannon airport. The solution - MI5,
the American CIA and the Israeli intelligence
service, the Mossad, all require bases in Dublin.
9/11
happened because American intelligence warnings
went unheeded. Are Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern
going to wait until suicide bombers attack Dublin’s
O’Connell Street or Belfast’s Royal
Avenue before an all-Ireland anti-terror policy
is implemented?
