As the McCartney sisters arrive in the US a lot seems to have changed for Sinn Fein and the IRA.
From the Independent: http://tinyurl.com/4zk2f
The McCartney sisters arrive in America today with the full weight of international support behind their campaign to bring their brother's killers to justice in contrast to the fortunes of a fellow visitor, Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein.
Mr Adams' trip has been eclipsed by the arrival in Washinton of the McCartney sisters from Belfast, whose quest to find Robert McCartney's murderers has propelled them into the international limelight and exposed what they say is Sinn Fein's attempt to cover up the killing. This year it is the sisters who will have pride of place in a city which has for years fêted the Sinn Fein leader.
The whole incident started in a Belfast pub as reported in the Washington Post:
http://tinyurl.com/672vd
McCartney was killed Jan. 30 in a brawl at a Belfast pub. By most accounts, the fight started after a friend of McCartney's made a crude comment to a table headed by a senior IRA figure. "Do you know who I am?" the figure thundered upon hearing the remark.
After the killing, the IRA men allegedly mopped up forensic evidence, stole tapes from a surveillance camera and warned more than 70 potential witnesses in the pub not to say anything to police -- or face the IRA's traditional death sentence for informers.
For once members of the community stood up to the IRA and quickly garnered a lot of support for their brave and dangerous stand. With the pressure mounting on them Sinn Fein and the IRA came out with a series of offers:
The bizarre offer of the IRA to the McCartneys to kill 4 of its own members seemed to just justify everything being said about the IRA now only being a criminal organization. The IRA now seem hell bent on imploding and going down in history as an organized crime mob rather than the liberation movement it likes to see itself as, and led to US calls for disbandment:
From the same WaPo article Mitchell Reiss (words echoed by Edward Kennedy later):
"It's time for the IRA to go out of business," Reiss said in an interview with the BBC. "And it's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say that explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated."
Reiss questioned Sinn Fein's claim that most IRA activities -- including robbing banks and shooting petty criminals in the limbs -- shouldn't be considered crimes. He said Sinn Fein should begin cooperating with the Northern Ireland police, a mostly Protestant force that once suffered heavily from IRA attacks and today is being substantially reshaped with support from moderate Catholics.
The invitation to the sisters to attend the Sinn Fein Party conference where although they sat stony faced as Sinn Fein uniquely called on Republicans to talk to the police seemed to lighten pressure for a short while until it came out from the local community that Sinn Fein election candidates had been in the pub as Robert was murdered. The sisters quickly lost faith with Sinn Fein's approach and accused Sinn Fein of a cover up. BBC: http://tinyurl.com/6h3v2
With the sisters on their way to the US and threatening to stand in elections against Sinn Fein Martin McGuiness, just identified as a current and senior IRA Army Council member (http://tinyurl.com/47529) warned them not to get involved in politics in a manner seen as a threat. Quickly Sinn Fein were back on the defensive again:
From The Times of London: http://tinyurl.com/5u7ju
MARTIN MCGUINNESS was last night forced to deny making veiled threats against the McCartney family after stating that they needed "to be very careful" about running against Sinn Fein at the election.
With the McCartney sisters campaign for justice through the courts gaining more momentum as the IRA's whole reason d'etre is questioned in the modern Ireland and support crumbling, where now for Sinn Fein? Could this cause a final and real seperation of a political Sinn Fein and the military IRA with the disbandment of the IRA and a final deal? It now does seem ironic that the Sinn Fein couldn't agree to photographic evidence of an IRA disarmament as this was humiliating. It is hard to imagine what is more humiliating than being abandoned by your own supporters and publicly exposed as a criminal gang.