[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

This helps reflect the opinion of people in Northern Ireland.

Yes, it is a British website, but Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. And Ireland (which I have always called Eire due to my heritage) is geographically part of the British Isles.

I am half Irish in the way Americans assess things. I was brought up Catholic - and only my brother and I have no faith. And I don't mean Christmas and Easter, I mean weekly Mass and fasting on Holy Days and denying yourself through Lent and reflecting through Advent and all the kit and caboodle. No, I don't believe a word of it, but if you're going to do it at least commit to it. And I heard not a word of support for the IRA from any of the priests or Nuns I was taught by.

I am far less tolerant than Dani. I already know that. I have admitted before that although I truly mean my liberal ideals, I am aware they are a veneer that can be scratched away. And I fight it. But even fighting it I have no acceptance of terrorists. We were set an assignment in Religion Education in class once, about how we would feel about the Romans if we were Jews - I was one of only two people that said they would not kill them. I might want to, but wouldn't. Because of my personal experience of terrorism

I know I am being reactionary here. I admit it. Of course I don't hate every pale skinned red-headed person. Or black headed person with wiry hair and freckles. Or anyone called Doyle. Literally, that is my family. And me (if I'd got the hair colour I deserved). But I hate people who kill innocents to get their way.

In my mind the bell tolls for the armed forces and the soldiers. But also for the pizza delivery mean. The builders. The taxi drivers. The people in pubs. The OAPs in Enniskillan who shined their medals up for Remembrance Day. The Dads out shopping with their kids for Mothers Day.

You had one attack in America.

How would you feel? How would you feel if it was your Grandad celebrating surviving WWII? Your Mum going into Woolworths in Omagh? Your sister's boyfriend in a pub in Birmingham? Your friend who was a pizza delivery man right up until last weekend?

I'll leave it to people more intelligent and balanced than me to argue the politics. I hate the fucking murderous bastards. Death is never a poltical tool , unless it's suicide (and even that I query).

I've posted this before. You might roll your eyes. But it was shown here at the time (in advance of the film Rattle & Hum). And I think it shows the true voice of the Irish. It was originally an atrocity by the British forces. So was Amritsah (look it up). But so was American treatment of fellow Americans who happened to have different coloured skin. We are all guilty by our ancestry. But those of us who do not believe we are damned by the sins of our father's fathers (ad infinitum) can say, "I'm so sick of it!"

SG, I understand. I do. And I can honestly say I don't know how I would feel if we were under attack all the time. I can only say that I would hope I could overcome the hate in order to look at the issue objectively. Having said that, I do believe my country played some part in our being attacked, because of our foreign policies in other countries. I believe in cause and effect. Things do not happen in a vaccuum, and the actions we take in other countries have consequences for those of us here at home.

By the same token, the way we chose to handle the whole thing, by starting a war in a country that had nothing to do with that attack, I believe ultimately that decision may come back and bite us on the ass. While Saddam Hussein was a very bad guy, he did help stabalize that part of the world. In the end, I have to wonder if, after we finally leave, the very people we helped will turn on us. Because let's face it, that is exactly what happened with both Saddam Hussein and also with Osama bin Laden. If that does happen, I think we will have to examine our part in creating that reaction. But most people in this country, when talking about this issue, they don't want to look at where we are culpable in helping to create the environments that allow these kinds of things to occur, because they don't want to think we are ever guilty of anything bad.