W2E-002 Ulster editorials 2-5.txt
Airport delays mean more than murders

THE IRA has, according to the evidence of the past few days, adapted the nation of talking peace and carrying a big stick.

Three attacks on Heathrow Airport, the possibility of further'spectaculars' and now the sweet-sounding statement about peace show that the Provisionals are just as capable as anyone else of looking in two directions at the same time.

The Heathrow attacks were not just designed to hit the headlines. The fact that three were launched on such a sensitive target served to embarrass the British security forces. The IRA seemed to send a mocking signal with the fact that none of the mortars exploded. The next time things could be different.

It proved total security is a myth and that the IRA retains the abiltity to strike a range of targets. It also served to make ordinary members of the British public feel threatened by the IRA's bombing capacity.

Before, it was the City of London and the London Underground. Now, it is London's main airport. Even Queen Elizabeth is threatened. She landed at Heathrow during one of the alerts.

For many ordinary British people, the bombers of the IRA must seem to be everywhere. This, in turn, will filter through the British political system and increase pressure on the establishment to divert from its present course.

As always, the fact that lives have been lost in Northern Ireland during the airport bombings has been all but ignored. Delayed planes at Heathrow mean more than dead police officers or civilians across the Irish Sea.

Last night's underlining of the republican movement's proclaimed dedication to peace must be seen in the context of the violence of recent days and it demands a response.

In an interview given to this newspaper by Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, the IRA has its answer. The declaration signed in Downing Street should be enough to enable an immediate cessation of violence.

Then, and only then, can initial contacts with other parties and the Irish government be made through a Forum For Peace And Reconciliation which will pave the way to full inter-party talks and negotiations with the British.

Mr Reynolds and Mr John Major have declared their commitment to the declaration and the process it initiates in such a way that backing down is not on the agenda. The IRA should recognise that.

It should be made clear that participants in future talks do not, as the taoiseach makes clear in the Irish News today, need to endorse every syllable of the Downing Street document.

But what they should be in no doubt about is the fact that since December 15 and the agreeing of the declaration, both governments have gone further than either - and especially the British - has done to date. It is unlikely that more significant movement is likely.

The Provisionals are great believers in the 'one last push' theory of violence.

To believe that now would be a deadly mistake which will be measured only by the size of Northern Ireland's death toll.

If that theory held any water, why have centuries of conflict and, more recently, 25 years of vicious violence not delivered Utopia?

The two premiers have stressed their belief that the airport bombers and all the rest of them are tragically mistaken if they think that another London blitz will change the status quo.

Progress will come but only via constitutional politics. To Sinn Fein, the door is open.
