Northern Ireland: the paramilitaries, terrorism, and September 11th.

• Author: McCabe, Zachary E.

[P]erhaps just once in a fairly bleak international situation,... when many Irish-Americans and people of 60 other countries were killed in the dreadful explosions in the USA, and there are 6.5 million people on the cusp of starvation in Afghanistan. Perhaps against that bleak scenario, against the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East, maybe hope and history is reigning in Ireland, and there's a little signal to everyone that them is a way to go forward if there's a political will to do SO. (1)

INTRODUCTION

On Good Friday, April 10, 1998, the Peace Process in Northern Ireland took a giant step forward. On that day, representatives of almost every political party in Northern Ireland came to a general agreement on how to proceed in the interest of peace. Officially called the Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations, this agreement is known as "The Good Friday Agreement." (2) Despite the progress reached, important issues remain unresolved and violence continues to plague Northern Ireland, primarily at the hands of paramilitary organizations. The Peace Process has suffered major setbacks resulting in the disbanding of the power-sharing arrangement that was the cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement. (3)

Three and one-half years later, on September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four American commercial airliners, plunging two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth in rural Pennsylvania. Near 3,000 people died in these attacks. (4) Since the attacks, the United States began a global "war on terrorism." (5) Along with diplomatic and financial efforts, the United States began a military campaign in Afghanistan to find Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organization al Qaeda, which the United States believed was responsible for the attacks. The United States also sought to punish those who harbored him. The global perspective on terrorism, and in particular the United States' approach towards terrorism changed since September 11th. The United States asked for, and received, worldwide condemnation of the attacks and support for its war on terrorism. The United States likewise took a significantly more aggressive stance on terrorist attacks occurring on the soil of other countries. (6)

This article addresses the effects of September 11th on the Peace Process and the paramilitaries of Northern Ireland and comes to the conclusion that the impact, is relatively small. Part I describes the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland and briefly addresses the history of the Peace Process. Part II of this article identifies the major paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland. Part III addresses the definition of terrorism while Part IV addresses whether the Northern Irish paramilitaries are terrorists. As points of comparison, part V discusses the effect of September 11th on other conflicts in the world. Part VI addresses the effect of September 11th on the Northern Irish paramilitaries and the Peace Process. Finally, some conclusions are reached concerning the Peace Process and consequences of the recent terrorist attacks on American soil.

PART I: THE HISTORY OF CONFLICT IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Any treatment of the "Troubles" (7) in Northern Ireland is difficult to comprehend without first addressing the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland dating back to at least the twelfth century. However, for the purposes of this discussion, the author begins with the partition of Ireland in 1921.

1. PARTITION

   After 750 years of English-Irish conflict on the island of Ireland and six years after the 1916 Easter uprising, (8) representatives of the British government and Irish Nationalist rebels signed the Government of Ireland Act of 1920, which provided for the partition of Ireland. (9) The British Empire released the southern twenty-six counties of Ireland to become the Irish Free State. (10) Six counties in the northernmost part of the island remained part of the British Empire. (11) The British government renamed this area "Northern Ireland" and installed a local subsidiary government. (12) The settlement reached in the Government of Ireland Act led to a civil war within the Irish Free State pitting those who accepted the settlement against those who saw the settlement as a betrayal of the Irish cause. (13) Eventually settlement forces were victorious. However, even until 1998, the Irish Constitution included clauses claiming the area of Northern Ireland as its own. (14)

   Not coinciding with any traditional boundaries, Northern Ireland was the largest area in which a majority of the people wished to remain part of the British Empire. (15) This was, in fact, the purpose of partition. (16) Northern Ireland was also drawn to have two Protestants for every Catholic while the Irish Free State remained predominately Catholic. (17) Protestants tended to be Loyalist, desiring to remain in the British Empire, while Catholics tended to be Republicans, desiring a unified island under an Irish flag. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) emerged in 1918 and launched armed campaigns in Northern Ireland in the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s. (18) In response to these campaigns, the Northern Irish government established a police force and police reserve, both of which were almost entirely Protestant. (19) The Northern Irish government manipulated election district boundaries to keep Unionists and Protestants in power and also introduced systematic economic discrimination against Catholics. (20)

2. The Troubles

   Over the past thirty years the conflict in Northern Ireland came to be called the "Troubles." (21) The starting point of the "Troubles" was the civil rights campaign of Northern Irish Catholics in the late 1960s. (22) This movement began with the formation of The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967. (23) The Association's campaign, inspired by the American civil rights movement, sought an end to discrimination against Catholics in the allocation of jobs, rescission of permanent emergency legislation, and a stop to electoral abuses. (24) The Association utilized protests, marches, "sit-ins," and the media to advance its cause. (25) These tactics proved too much for the Northern Irish administration to handle and, in 1960, the British government sent military troops to restore order. (26) The return of the British military stimulated the revival of the Republican movement. (27) The Provisional IRA, descendant of the IRA of 1918, formed and waged war against the British army, utilizing mostly terrorist tactics. (28) Increasingly, the conflict moved beyond clashes between Catholics and Protestants and took the form of "violence between the Provisional IRA and the British Army, with occasionally bloody interventions by loyalist paramilitary groups." (29) Rather than religion, the conflict became one of identity, British or Irish. (30) In 1972, the violence reached a peak when 468 people died. (31) Since then, the violence has gradually declined to an annual average below 100. (32) This level of conflict continued through the 1990s. (33)

3. The Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement

   The current Northern Ireland Peace Process originated in the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement between England and Ireland. (34) This agreement recognized that Northern Ireland's constitutional status within Great Britain could not change without the consent of a majority of its citizens. (35) In December of 1993, Ireland and England released the Downing Street Declaration, which recognized that "it is for the people of Ireland alone ... to exercise their right for self determination." (36) After intense negotiations facilitated by former United States Senator, George Mitchell, the major political parties of Northern Ireland entered into The Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations, also known as "The Good Friday Agreement." (37) Among the most significant participants was Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, (38) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which represents the views of Unionists (those Northern Irish who wish to remain part of the British Empire). The parties to the Agreement admitted Sinn Fein after the IRA pledged and observed a "complete cessation of military activities" dating back to 1994. (39) At the time, the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), the largest paramilitary organization representing Unionist's views also observed a cease-fire. The Good Friday Agreement "recognizes the 'opportunity for a new beginning' and the need for 'reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust.'" (40) The Agreement also recognized, among other things:

   * Northern Ireland's constitutional status is dependant on the consent of the majority of its citizens;

   * Northern Ireland's current position is as part of the United Kingdom;

   * Should a majority of people in Northern Ireland wish to bring about a united Ireland, they can vote for it and both governments are obliged to legislate for it,

   * The Irish Constitution is to be amended so that its territorial claim over Northern Ireland is redefined to take account of consent;

   * A substantial range of human rights legislation will be introduced;

   * A Northern Ireland Victim's Commission will be established;

   * The parties "reaffirm their commitment to the total disarmament of all paramilitary organizations;"

   * A "normalization" of security, "consistent with the level of threat," is to take place;

   * A Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland is to be established. And there is to be a review of the criminal justice system;

   * There will be an accelerated program of prisoner releases;

   * A new British-Irish Agreement is to be signed to replace the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. (41)

   On May 22, 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was put to a vote before the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland in simultaneous referenda. (42) The agreement won overwhelming endorsement. (43) On June 25, 1998, elections to the new...