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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7609856.stm

What a lovely, sensitive thing to say.

Stupid Cow.

This is like someone saying had they been in Afghanistan when the Taleban were ousted, they'd sign up to fight. A Terrorist is a Terrorist. The IRA might have a romanticised view in some circles of 'Freedom Fighters' but I'm afraid you lose all right to that monicker when you target civilians.

Yah....not sure what to make of that. Not my nation(s) and I have no idea how to say anything about that one without stepping on some toes.

Is a bit like most Terrorist related subjects. Best thing to say is nothing at all. And if you really must, in the full spotlight of the worlds media is hardly the place to say it.

I have my opinions on 9/11, and especially today of all days, I know to keep them to myself. Nothing to do with the general populace or the Government, but the victims, their families, and even more so, the survivors.

I would be most disappointed if this doesn't cause some kind of backlash on her...

*Edited because a bit didn't read terribly well!*

She will probably become even more popular in liberal Hollywood.

I sincerely hope not.

I'm very much a liberal voter, but tolerance should only go so far.

It doesn´t surprise me at all. Actors nowadays are sooooooo deep into their alter egos that soon we´ll see how I´mnotsayingnamesbutyouchooseyourfavouritestupid prepared himself for his last role as a KKK member in the 60s South beating black people before filming the movie.

(Bunch of %&/(ing bubbleheads)

M.

Most actors are morons (not all but most), and she's probably just saying what she thinks she needs to just so she can be in the spotlight a little longer.

yeah,
Ok first off she probabily isn't as thick as you might think.
she's probabily read alot of the back ground and with freespeach voiced her thoughts.

I grew up on a catholic councel estate in N'Ireland in the 80's & 90's that was policed by Sinn Féin (and by extention the IRA) this was because the Police/British soliders wouldn't enter the area in small numbers because of fear of both the paramilitary but also the hatred from the public themselves, we didn't trust them, they actively discriminated against catholics and It didn't help that they were 99% protestant.

So In the area i grew up Sinn Féin (and when needed the IRA) policed the streets... So while Sinn Féin was campaining for peace in N'Ireland, here in mainland UK the only mention of Sinn Féin and IRA was when bombs went off. So I'm not surprised that many people don't know the side of the story where these were the people protecting civilians when the police would not.

You can't just say it's black and white, terrorists and heros... because for some the terrorists were heros and the heros were scum who wouldn't help an old lady who was mugged.

She's (the actress) heard a side of the story and simpathises with it, and thinks if she was in those shoes she would have done the same... and that's her buisness, you do not have to agree, but should it end her career? my opinion is No it should not cost her her career.

PaniC...

Edit: shortened my post to make my point clearer.... alot of the time i think of this quote ' "History is written by the victor." -- Unknown' when I think about how the troubles in N' Ireland are communicated via the media.

I think it will boost her popularity, if anything. There are a lot of Irish-Americans who support the IRA, even as they condemn all Muslims as terrorists.

Well, once upon a time, when my Brother still lived in Kent (we moved from Edinburgh to Kent in 1991), our Grandparents paid a visit, and our Grandad treated us to a trip to London.

We had a pleasent day out, and whilst waiting for a Train at London Bridge, Dougal went for a wizz. We got home safely, around 4 O'Clock. 6 comes around, and with it, the BBC's 6 O'Clock News. The Platform we had been stood on had been bombed, and the Police believed the Bomb had been planted in the Bogs.

So, when you've come that close, and had nothing to do with anything going on there, you will excuse my views that the IRA were little more than Terrorists.

I don't really care if the Police did or didn't attend every call out. A climate of fear had been established, and that takes two to Tango.

Yeah,
Indeed it does take two to tango, as agreed by the 26 civil rights protesters shot by the police on bloody sunday. 13 died including kids.
Panic

Two wrongs do not make a right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army#Casualties

As with Bloody Sunday, nothing can excuse the hurting of innocents.

yeah.
agreed.
Panic.

The Irish/UK situation is certainly complex from the perspective of the US. We have had massive waves of Irish immigration, and the conflict has been romanticized and the Irish side explored in depth in fiction, documentaries, etc. Over here they are considered substantially more sympathetic than other terrorists. I’m not saying that’s necessarily right, but that’s the way it is.

Though I must say I am happy to report the IRA decided to seek a more peaceful approach in the aftermath of the atrocities on 9/11.

And they would at least *warn* the authorities of their intended targets.

However, whether they chose to seek peace because of conscience, or that their funding from the US suddenly dried up, is anyone's guess. I would like to think it was the former.

I'd say it's because they realized that the jig was up once the "giant" had been roused by events 7 years ago. Terrorism had no real importance to America at that point, just like everything else that doesn't touch our shores in notable ways. However, once it did, the smart and/or less-wedded-to-the-tactic got the f--k out of the business, since the hammer was coming down. Conscience could have had some impact, but more likely there was a lot of calculation at the core of the decision.

yeah,
I think both sides involved in the troubles realised that the scale of their problems paled in comparison to what was going on in the bigger picture.
no-one cares about a school yard fight when there are wars happening.

Panic.

With regard to America's reaction, I really did not like the Bush Administration's 'With Us Or Against Us' stance.

Loved how it suddenly became a case of Black and White once it hit their pocket. But this is not the place, and definitely not the time.

I don't think it'll effect her career much at all. For the typical consumer of a movie or tv show she might be in, the IRA and its crimes are largely irrelevant.

When her career really gets a start then we can decide whether it is going to end.

What an eejit.
These days the IRA are just another gang, but more well armed than all the others. They were recently caught making bombs for use in a drug war in Dublin.
I have never, and will never support the IRA. I think that peaceful solutions are much better, and more effective. At the same time, one must remember that what Panic was talking about did happen, and it's equally terrible.
American two-facedness on this issue really, really pisses me off. Half the drugs gangs in dublin are funded in part by that sort of romantic bs. Romanticise heroin addiction all you want, it's still fething awful.

I read this from the perspective of someone, who as a youngster was repeatedly pulled over by the police in johnson county, KS and issued bogus traffic tickets and had to endure multiple searches of my person and car for no better reason than I was a long-haired scumbag from wyandotte county in an old car. I was not the only one of my group of friends that this happened to, but we had no choice because kansas city, kansas sucked back then and with the exception of the ritzy area around the speedway still sucks. I continued to impose my presence on them for one reason, to let them know their petty tactics didn't work. Did I ever consider blowing up a police car or lashing out at a cop who said to my face that I was no better than a (N-word)? Naw, I just stared really hard in their beedy little eyes and went on my way. Violence in situations like these only makes things worse, and idiots from hollywood running their mouths doesn't help anyone.

I am a Scottish-American and I sympathize with my distant brethren from Northern Ireland. A long history of English tyranny over your own land puts a bad taste in one's mouth. It is still terrorism though. When you have to resort to such a desperate level such as that, it crosses the line for today. In some respects I can in a way regard it as a comeuppance to the English for the various infractions she has put upon her closest neighbors in past history.

Almost all actors are idiots. A large majority of them should get a real world education, instead of hiding behind the shields of their money and groups.

the problem with saying who's a terrorist and who's a hero falls into the eye of the beholder. for example how civilians did the allies kill during WWII yet they are considered heroes

I don't see it as comeuppance at all. Hundreds of years ago the english military beat the snot out of the irish and scottish tribes because they were better equipped, trained and led, and because the tribes weren't united enough. The land was conquered and exploited- that was the way of the world. Winner takes all. It's the same today.
Over the occupation, various personalities in power inflicted some pretty horrible gak on the populations of the conquered regions, but it's not like your average english peasant or even soldier was doing a whole lot better under the rule of those tosspots.
The Troubles in northern ireland aren't about english people, they're about northern irish people. Northern irish people doing gakky things to each other. (I often think not enough attention is drawn to unionist terrorism but whatever.) The average person in the UK again didn't really care about the North, except possibly seeing it as a security liability. When the IRA started bombing in the UK they made it WORSE. They turned public opinion negative. They made the horrible collusions and the gakky decisions made by the police and army more palpable. In some ways, like panic describes, the IRA were *alright*, but the same could be said of their unionist counterparts in their localities. Like panic said, there are rarely clear cut heroes and villains in history, and looking at it that way leads to a whole lot of stupid.

I'd say pretty much overwhelmingly in the republic anyway the sentiment is anti-IRA. These guys murdered completely innocent people for no good reason. Groups like the PIRA intentionally called in false bomb warnings which lead to more deaths in the Omagh bombing.
Romanticising that is just plain wrong.
VermGho5t : Only the first two paragraphs are directed at you. The rest was just me going on a bit of a tirade.

Ah, thank you for the more in depth view, it helps to have another viewpoint from someone who actually lives there.

I should point out though that I'm from the Republic- someone from the North would have a different perspective again. Variety is the spice of life of course!

Darrian13 wrote:She will probably become even more popular in liberal Hollywood.

This is absolutely true because liberalism is all about supporting terrorism. And hating America. And treason. And wanting Saddam to rule the world.



Meanwhile, it looks like McGowan took a fairly philosophical look at the IRA. She might be right that she would have seen their view and joined them, after all plenty of people did. But she probably hasn't realised that the murders of the IRA are recent history, and it really isn't the kind of issue that needs foreignors to start spouting off philosophical answers.

Da Boss wrote:I don't see it as comeuppance at all. Hundreds of years ago the english military beat the snot out of the irish and scottish tribes because they were better equipped, trained and led, and because the tribes weren't united enough. .

Indeed. All of this occurring after centuries of raiding and butchery by Scoti, Picts etc etc.

I wholeheartedly concur with the rest of your sentiments though.

And pretty much all of the invasion forces were a mixed bunch with mercenaries/troops from all across the (now) United Kingdom.

It doesn't really even come down to it being about the people being D%^$s, it is, as usual, about their leaders being bigger ones.

Seems that people suffer loads whenever we take our lead from old men with beards.


..... should we ban beards ?

How would the Irish (Republic of Ireland) have seen the IRA if every time there was an attack by the IRA or mainland UK, a protestant group blew up something in the Republic?

My Great Grandfather was a protestant chemist in Northern Ireland and he moved to Australia after a Catholic group destroyed his chemist shop.

So if it wasn't for 'The Troubles' I guess I wouldn't be here.