Basic HTML Version
on brink
?
What's behind the troubles in
Uls ter? ls the Emerald ls le des –
tined to become another Viet –
nam? ls there any hope for peace
in Britain's war-torn province?
by
Charles
Hunting
and David Ord
Be lfast :
' 'IUNITED I RELAND
is not on,"
thundered Protestan! loyalist
Ieader lan Paisley.
He was addressing a vic–
tory rally of 3,000 jubilant Protes–
tants on the day following the
collapse of the Ulster Executive -
the Brilish government's latest peace
effort - at the hands of the Protes–
tant strikers .
Paisley had come to the rally " to
bury the execut ive, not to praise it."
And with its death, the British gov–
ernment would have to hear the
loudening cry of Ulster's Protes–
tants.
"We have got them." shouted this
militant minister, "and by God's grace
we are going to tighten the vise!"
The first turo of the vise carne
with a demand that British troops
move swift ly and decisively against
the Irish Republican Army. " If Brit–
ain doesn't finish the IRA." threat–
ened Paisley. "we will!" And if
Britain wouldn't give Protestants the
tools to do the job it had so far
refused to do. they would "get them
from somewhere."
"We are not going to have
another four years of bomb–
ings and killings." asserted País–
ley. " 1 teU the IRA - you are
better to !ay down your guns
now and quit the bombs,
the destruction and tbe
killing, because if you
don't quit we will de–
stroy you! "
Wherever
Plain
dents went in
this victory celebration day, a new
spirit was evident among Protes–
tants. T here is determination to deal
with the problems - mili tantly if
necessary.
Loyalist member of the sus-
pended Northern lreland Assembly,
James Craig, spoke out at the same
rally warning what would happen
if
a fea red IRA backlash should come.
" 1 say to all able-bodied men now,"
he roared, "band yourselves to–
gether .. . . we will have an army of
Ulstermen t hat will ensure the
safety of Northern Ireland."
Britain ' s Mini-Vietnam
Years of efforts to end freland's
troubles had fioally brought Ulster's
capital city to a standstill. Protes–
tants, tired of British failures in
dealing with the problem, are in–
creasingly talking about finding
their
own
solution.
The violence which has raged in
Ulster (Ireland 's northern six
counties) these past six years has
now engulfed well over a thousand
victims. BeJfast is an armed camp -
the conftict merely held at stalemate
by gunpoint. The situation is remi–
niscent of another - Vietnam.
The parallels between Ulster and
Vietnam are inescapable. Like Viet–
nam. the Trish problem involves a
land divided into north aod south.
And like the Vietnamese, the frish
are torn by opposing ideologies -
poli tical and religious.
Factions in the north and south
contend that an outside power is in–
volved. They view the Britisb mili–
tary involvement in Ulster as the
intrusion of an alien force paral–
leling the Americans in Indo-China,
although the declared intent of the
army is to restore interna] stability
in this province of the United King–
dom. The army's policy is one of
Vietnam-style "containment." No
war has been declared.
There is one major difference,
however.
Unlike the Vietnam of the Orient,
Britain's "Vietnam" is in her own
territory - on her back doorstep.
Tt
is an erupting volcano whose fiery
ashes have spread into Eire to the
south and across the waters into
England itself, with spates of IRA
bombing throughout England and
especially in London. The people of
the United Kingdom and of Eire are
PLAIN
TRUTH
August 1974