Intelligencer

Terrorist Conspiracy, Or Hype?

NEWSWEEK magazine once again trotted out that hairiest of old chestnuts, the vast terrorist conspiracy that explains every dastardly act all over the globe. Of course the IRA is still in the middle of it, even though the fact is that the organization has effectively been out of business for a decade.

The magazine reports that “nationalist terrorist groups have a long record of what Bruce Hoffman of the Rand Corporation calls ‘cross-pollination.’ The ETA (the Basque separatists first suspected in the Madrid bomb) has ties to various Irish Republican Army factions including the Provisional IRA . . . which quoting intelligence sources ‘has the most accomplished engineering department of any terrorist group in the world.’”

The article adds, “Some Irish bomb makers were traced to Afghanistan where they were working with al-Qaeda before 9/11 according to two U.S. government sources who saw intelligence reports in that connection.”

It is the kind of one size fits all theory of terrorism, that al-Qaeda, IRA, ETA and who knows what other groups are all interconnected and help each other out.

There has not been a single shred of evidence to this effect. Indeed, the report of the IRA being in Afghanistan is a new twist. Doubtless some British spook decided he might as well throw them into the mix as they do in so many other places.

Surprising that Newsweek would publish such a hodgepodge of unsupported facts and fictions. The fact that the IRA has essentially been on ceasefire since 1994 has been inexcusably overlooked in this report. 

The fact that one of the authors was Mark Hosenball, for years a London Sunday Times writer who was noted for his conspiracy theories on the Irish Troubles, perhaps provides the key.

Of course all this nonsense started in 1982 when conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Claire Sterling published The Terror Network, linking every terrorist group in the world together. 

It was all so neat and understandable, but unfortunately, subsequent events completely discredited the book. Now of course, the theory is back. 

One report even had IRA men operating with Palestinian bomb makers a few years back. The explanation given was that the bombs exploded by Palestinian militants were similar ones that the IRA had used. 

Well, we guess a bomb is a bomb, and maybe it was similar to ones the British or Americans used too.

Woodward Gets it Wrong

PLAN of Attack, the new Bob Woodward book that portrays the White House as deeply split on going to war in Iraq, has come under fire for its accuracy in reporting events leading up to the Iraq war.

Woodward has certainly got it wrong in the one Irish reference in the book which recalls a St. Patrick’s Day event at the White House attended by President Bush and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern.

Ahern is referred to as “Bernie Ahern,” and it makes us wonder how accurate the rest of the book really is. After all, misspelling the name of a prominent leader seems a trifle careless to say the least.

Gerry and The Jet Set

SINN Fein leader Gerry Adams was in fighting form this week with the cancellation of the talks in London and the report on IRA wrongdoings by a special commission.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce, however, supplied one bright note. True, the chamber is not the kind of organization you would necessarily associate with Adams and Sinn Fein.

It seems, however, that Adams is such a popular speaker among chamber members that the organization has been forced to rent a much bigger venue when he comes to address them shortly.

Interesting, isn’t it, that Adams, still very much a left wing, anti-capitalist politician, proves so interesting to a group of well-off businessman. Perhaps it also speaks volumes about where Irish business thinks the country is heading in terms of future leaders.

Carter Backs Robinson

OUR news report last week about former Irish President Mary Robinson being accused of anti-Semitism by some staff and students at Emory University in Atlanta certainly caused a furor, including a follow up report on page one of The Irish Times.

Now former president Jimmy Carter has stepped into the fray, roundly defending Robinson against the anti-Semitic charges. Carter, a long time admirer of the former Irish president, made clear his support for her in a statement.

“We have been heartened by her leadership and courage in speaking out for the voiceless in our world. The Emory community is privileged to have as commencement speaker such an eminent scholar, activist, and diplomat as Mrs. Robinson,” the Carter statement said.

Robinson was high commissioner for Refugees at the UN and hosted a conference in Durban, South Africa that was widely accused of reaching anti-Semitic conclusions. However, Robinson has a history of pro-Jewish stances which make the Emory charge very hard to make stick.