Return to the bad old days?

[TiggerCCW UK]

Just been on the news here, there has been a drive by shooting on an army base not far from Belfast. Two confirmed dead so far plus four - six wounded. The base is home to an Engineer regiment. I truly thought we were past this sort of thing here, but the threat level has been at a high level for the last couple of weeks. My thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and the families of the deceased.

[TiggerCCW UK]

Links to the news about the shootings so far;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7930837.stm

http://www3.u.tv/news/LocalNews/index.aspid=94496&sel2=1&local=1

[kcdusk]

A little bit removed, but along the same lines. There was the attack against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

A Merc mission in the making maybe

[O'Borg]

Just saw this on the BBC website too

My memory is a bit hazy but ISTR what really kicked the peace process into line all those years ago now was the IRA calling a ceasefire for a year and the locals in NI thinking "Hey, this not getting shot at or blown up business isn't so bad."

Of course Sinn Feinn are spouting the usual lines about "Its the BRITISH ARMY's fault for being there.."

[jester]

A question, could it have been a drug deal or some other criminal act gone bad, or something the victims or the victims mistaken for and their colegueas in crime wanted some payback

[Mohoender]

I just heard that this morning. The time being and the world situation may result in the wolves coming out of the wood.

Our president and several government members here (about ten) have received a bullet and a death warrant.

[kato13]

It is indeed a strange situation when I am hoping that it is either drug dealers or Islamic terrorists who happen to be armed with high powered weapons. Let us all hope whatever it is, that it is only a small scale action and not the beginning of something bigger.

[TiggerCCW UK]

A question, could it have been a drug deal or some other criminal act gone bad, or something the victims or the victims mistaken for and their colegueas in crime wanted some payback

Best guess at the minute is dissident republicans - most likely Continuity IRA or Real IRA. Current rumour is that the dead and wounded were part of the security on duty and that they were expecting a pizza delivery. The terrs turned up in a pizza van and targeted those that came out of the barracks. Hopefully this is an isolated incident, but the dissidents did target the police last month with a 300lb IED in Castlewellan. They left the bomb near a primary school and phoned in a warning so vague that it took a couple of days searching to find it. There have been a number of shooting incidents involving the police as well, including one off duty policeman being murdered last year after dropping his children to school.

I've said it here before that I truly believed that the province had started to grow up and move away from this sort of shit. This is a great country and far and away the vast majority of the population want to live in peace. Its just a shame that the actions of a very small minority of scum on both sides could drag us all back to the bollocks of the past.

[Mohoender]

I have the feeling that the probability of them being die-hard IRA (or IRA want-be) fueled by general insatisfaction has a good chance to come up as being the truth. I agree with you all that we should hope that it doesn't go any further. As long as this remain isolated and as long as the officials on all side don't get paranoy, there is a good chance that this will be the case.

Nevertheless, If I remain optimistic, I'm also convinced that everything remain possible nowadays. I'm pretty sure nobody truly understand the current situation, I would doubt of anyone planning on the future, and I'm equally convinced that the current situation can drive the world to the best as much as to the worse. The longer the crisis, the most uncertain the situation.

On one side, I can believe that the economy gets better, that Obama reduces the world tension, that many local conflicts end up in peace and that we build a new world order .

On the other side, I could trust that our civilisation collapses to be replaced by another one, that we start to see general unrest and even revolutions, that local terrorism rises again, or that we end up with a global conflict of unprecedented scale .

However, this is fantasy from a writer and gamer. Let's live and see . About Northern Ireland, I hope that it remains as it is and continue its path to final peace. I'm convinced of what Tigger says about the people and I trust them to keep to their senses. Best wishes.

[jester]

Mo;

What is with the Obama idea I just don't get it. He is 1 man, who is a good speaker and the media loves him. Otherwise he has an unproven track record. How on earf can he bring about peace throughout the world making people who have animosities that go back milennia set their hate aside Human nature being what it is, well I'll be pesimisic,.

[kato13]

I would rather keep the pure political talk to a minimum. Passions regarding Obama run high on both sides.

[Mohoender]

I would rather keep the pure political talk to a minimum. Passions regarding Obama run high on both sides.

I agree and what I was saying had nothing to do with Obama as a man (it simply reflects an impression given through the french media). My only true point was that we are now in a time of uncertainty and changes were everything could be possible. Ok, I have been a little longer but that's sunday after all.

If you want to draw a conclusion from it just retain two ideas:
- This event is terrible and the consequences could be dramatic.
- I trust the people of Ireland and they can make a difference (If what I heard from G.Brown was true, he seems to me that he is on that line).

I also heard that tensions have been growing over the past 18 months but the peace process is still under way (A good sign I hope).

[TiggerCCW UK]

Latest news on last nights shooting is that the squaddies had actually ordered the pizza delivery and the terrs followed the delivery van to the gate of the barracks. When the squaddies went out to get it the terrs opened fire. Two squaddies were killed, two were seriously injured and two civilians seriously injured, one of them the delivery man. Afaik the other civilian was just a bystander. This comes about 36 hours after the chief constable of the PSNI announced the redeployment of the Special Recon Regt in the province due to the elevated threat level. Lots of local politicians up in arms about this but maybe this will make them reconsider their stance. These were the first military deaths in NI since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was murdered by the South Armagh sniper in 1997 while manning a VCP. I'm truly hoping that this is an isolated incident and not the start of a new campaign. I hope that the majority of the population over here have realised that there is another way to live and that we can move on from this sort of thing into a modern sensible civilised society where we have properly marginalised the very small minority that want to fuck this country up for everyone.

[jester]

Yeah 97 to now is a pretty good record. Lets just hope this is an isolated incident by some hotheads. And their masters may do to the actors what they deserve for messing up a good thing and the potential of brining down vengance.

Moe,

As for uncertain times, you got it. As for your mention of how the media proports things. Not calling you one, but what kind of fool takes everything from any media source completley without their own knowledge Then again that is why invaders and dictators take over the media outlets first. I personaly never consider the media a primary source as they often have an agenda.

As for uncertainty, I do see a return to the bad old days. Let us remember the 20s and 30s when econimic unstability, nationalism and national rivalries were the norm. And from alot of the spin from the assorted politicians who craze power like a junkie needing a fix, they will make a traditional enemy the reason the population is suffering to divert the blame and unify the people. That is usualy the case and I see that happening more in the near future. And that will make the world a much more dangerous place. That coupled with the whole desire for dwilinding resources ie oil.

Just something I do tend to think about.

Jess

[Legbreaker]

The "Real IRA" have taken responsibilty. Apparently around 40 rounds were fired, first at the soldiers and then at the pizza deliveryman.

In the statement put out by the R IRA, the civilians (including the deliveryman) we targetted as "collaborators".

It's looking like the military are going to sit back and let the police track them down. A good call in my opinion and an approach which will avoid many of the issues of a decade and more ago.