Another area where the world has changed since Sept. 11 is Northern Ireland. Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political wing, has just announced his recommendation to the IRA to decommission its weapons in order to save the province’s power-sharing government. The Unionists had threatened to pull out of it over of a lack of progress on the issue.
This is a major breakthrough. Although it promised that it would decommission, the IRA found the move impossible to take. For most Republicans, the struggle for Irish freedom and unification (they see them as one and the same) has always been a military one, going back centuries. To hand over their weapons while part of the country remains within the United Kingdom is an admission of failure. This is the end of history as they know it. It is a bitter moment for them. That is why the IRA constantly stalled on decommissioning.
Gerry Adams, a master of political manipulation and presentation, would not have made this announcement had the IRA’s military council not already discussed and agreed it. He hopes to seize the political high ground with decommission. He already presents it as an attempt to save the Northern Irish Assembly. It would certainly close and power revert to London if the Unionists stick to their guns and quit the Northern Irish government: it cannot work without them.
This is an astounding development. Sinn Fein and the IRA have ridden to the rescue of the assembly which the Unionists threaten to close. History is turned on its head. In the past, any Northern Irish assembly was anathema to the IRA; conversely it was the treasure and joy of the Unionists. There is no doubt what caused this sea change. It was the attack on America on Sept. 11. America is at now war with terrorism — and for the first time the IRA feels seriously threatened. Its funding comes largely from Irish Americans. But like other Americans, they are bitter about terrorism and determined that it be crushed. They do not want to be seen to be linked to any form of it. The same goes for the very powerful pro-Irish lobby in Washington which in the past was remarkably tolerant of the IRA, refusing to see it as a terrorist organization. Both funding and support are now at risk. The offer to decommission is made as much with America in mind as with Northern Ireland.
The other remarkable aspect about the offer is the part the Unionists have played in it. Ever since the Good Friday agreement, they have been consistently outsmarted by Sinn Fein which, despite continuing IRA violence (including efforts to ethnically cleanse Protestants from some areas of Belfast), has managed to portray its people as the victims, not the aggressors. That is because men like Adams have learned to play the international stage. The Unionists, on the other hand, apart from their leader David Trimble, have been their own worst enemies: squabbling, arrogant and demanding. But Trimble has now outflanked Sinn Fein. He effectively gave the IRA an ultimatum: decommission or watch the whole show go down in flames.
Perhaps if Sept. 11 had not happened, the IRA might have called his bluff. Given the events, it had no option but to agree.
