Terrorist or Freedom Fighter.

In what war, and what army, has fought against an oppisition without 'terror' being as big a weapon as the tank or fighter plane?

Wars are not fun, they are TRAGIC and EXTREMELY REGRETTABLE''.. none more so than the one on my land.

If not for the Birtish thieves raping an entire nation and declaring war on its innocent son's, NO-ONE need have died, whether they lifted the Armalite to fight, or if they were caught in cross fire.

niceities in war?!?! ive lost immediate familly in the struggle, there are no niceities in war im afraid

 

They had terror used against them for centuries.

 

I could quote both Martin's post and yours Belfast Bhoy but it would make this post the length of the Bible..lol

Not gonna get into a * contest lads, we've all got point of views and we're all entitled to air them, but my point has been proved in that we've all got our own sentiments and usually our heart leads on discussions like this one. I'm personally one of THE biggest critics of successive Israeli government policies and didn't once defend them in my post Martin...so behave wee man

To answer both of you on the point of the IRA and in respect to the initial question...there was no mention of the levels or forms of intimidation which led to the acts of each organization in the poll, simply how we perceive them. I perceive them all as terrorists as they all use terror in one form or another.

If the initial question had been more rounded maybe I'd have stated something different...but as it stands, I stand by my opinions.

 

i hear what your saying, but i think that in modern day life, the press heavily influence the way in which people perceive different parts of the world and what happens there... so without knowing much about a certain situation people are quick to judge.

i have no idea about most of the other groups on the board but simply find it hard to let someone judge the IRA as Terrorists without explaining my point of veiw, which i hope, you can repect as i do yours.

 

This thread is getting very interesting, learning a lot about different terror groups and there agendas. Some I already have knowledge of but some I have never heard of, very informative.

I have been thinking about commenting further, however there is little point. As so far my own opinion falls in very closely with Feed the bear’s and he is clearly much better at articulating his posts in relation to this topic than I would be. I think almost all of his comment on this thread, the Mugabe thread and the Guantanamo one are excellent & I agree with almost all of them. Brilliantly put.

 

Of course I respect your point of view mate and believe me I'm grateful you can debate and keep it civil. There are some on here who resort to name calling and bullying just because someone doesn't agree with their viewpoint.

Look, the IRA is an emotive issue with my family. We're Irish catholic and split on how we view them. My old man thinks the sun shines out their collective arses...I don't however. Maybe my judgement on what constitutes terror is clouded by the fact myself and my wee girl were closer than I'd want to be to a Palestinian suicide bomber and thank G*d we escaped harm. Although some of the horrors I seen that day will live with me till the day I pass.

I just can't see any justification for targetting civilians and I never will. The fact you suffered years of provocation doesn't make you any better than them because you've now sunk to their level....if anything it makes you weaker of spirit and you lose the moral ground.

 

IRA freedom fighters.

 

The IRA never had the agenda of going out and attacking/targeting innocent civilian. Their targets were british security forces. as mention before on several ocasions civilian casulties is part and parcel of war.

I wish in my heart of hearts there never was a war, but as there was, i have to take the same standpoint as your Father


Im off to work now, cheers bear, you gimme a few things to think about tonight on my night shift, great discussing this with ya!!

All the best, spk tomorrow!

 

Just to clarify before I vote, a vote cast signifies that they are terrorists or freedom fighters ?

 

Dunno if I'll be on tomorrow mate but here's food for thought...

If there was never an IRA agenda to target civilians, why didn't they confine their targets to specific Army or Military personnel/equipments etc?

Bombing a pub or a building to kill a few soldiers is guaranteed success but also guarantees that you'll take out a good few civilians along the way...soft, easy targets mate....that's what they were and the use of warnings were nothing more than a half arsed attempt by the IRA to justify their actions.

Enjoy the shift...am off to my scratcher, got an early rise and a long one the morrow.

 

oh *. i voted for the ones i thought were freeedom fighters.
hamas, plo, ira, pkk and hezbollah are, imo, freedom fighters. the west are the real terrorists. the iraq war has killed more civilians than 100 9/11s

 

The history book is usually the most accurate judge of who is a terrorist.Were the leaders of the American War of Independence considered terrorists by the British?Or the leaders of the French Revolution?They undoubtedly were at the time.However,perspective and opinions change over time.

It would have been unthinkable twenty years ago for Martin McGuiness or Gerry Adams to have been considered suitable candidates for political office.And it isnt too long ago when Margaret Thatcher referred to Nelson Mandela as a terrorist.

When Israel was fighting for its independence,they conducted a guerilla war against the British.Among its leaders was Menachem Begin who was jailed by the British for these crimes.Begin became Prime Minister of Israel,and one of their staunchest allies was....Britain.

Terrorist is an obviously emotive term,and there are obviously groups who hide behind the freedom fighter tag to further their own aims(justified or not)History shows however that the enemy you are trying to blow to bits one day,may someday be someone you are sitting round a table, trying to negotiate with.

 

youre way of the mark m8... it was never british land .. its Irish land. It was illlegally occupied by the british.

 

And the Israelis destroyed people's homes and killed their sons and husbands and brothers. The Israelis are probably bigger terrorists than the Yanks.

 

And the British have been using terror as a weapon against the Irish for centuries. Why is it okay for the British to do it to Irish civilians but not for the Irish to do it to the British?
This is the kind of biased * I'm talking about.

The poor British have suffered so much over the last 30 odd years.
Nothing compared to the suffering over the hundreds of years the Irish have endured at the hands of successive, brutal British governments.

 

Albeit in a separate thread but you posted this about Israel earlier

'And who are the Israelis threatening at the moment? Maybe you mean those countries and terrorists who have sworn to destroy the State of Israel, an internationally recognised democratic nation, a member state of the UN and the ONLY country in the Middle East who give arabs the power to vote!'

I accept that these points are true but in the context you were praising Israel. That's why I said that I felt you were showing a leaning towards Israel. Which is natural enough, just as most folk on here will have a leaning towards the IRA.

This is true. But somehow the 'terrorists', and not the governments' use of terror is always deemed worse. It's not. It's as bad but not worse.

That's a fair point. The thread only asks for opinions on 'terrorist' organisations, and not governments.

 

I don't understand why it makes you weaker of spirit if you retaliate with the same violence. If you genuinely believe that it is going to take that to force your opponent to stop abusing your people then as a last resort there is something almost inevitable about it.

 

The only one i did not have to think about Al Qaeda as i truley believe that they are terrorist.

 

i dont like to comment on things like these as i havent lived with the most of them and it really does * me off when i hear some yank saying the IRA are scum or i hear bout some yank funding the ra. All i can say until you have lived with these groups being an everyday occurence your judgement shouldnt be too critical or visa versa, personally i resent the IRA for the bombings they conducted however i recognise as a youngster growing up in belfast they protected our community as well as many others and my life would of been a lot harder if not for them