Shake Hands With The Devil

The State Department has given Gerry Adams the nod. He can raise funds in the USA, money needed to support Sinn Fein, and he'll be leaving for New York next week. If you've $500 to spare, you might be able to buy your way in to the dinner in Manhattan.

Government approval, after a long ban, has been ascribed to Sinn Fein's movement towards accepting the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Washington, along with Dublin and London, have been pressurizing the lads to recognize the authority of the local constabulary as part of the overall devolution process. If all goes well, the Stormont body should sit on the 24th of this month. You know it won't, but it sounds pretty all the same.

And against what backdrop will the Shinners be squeezed? According to a report commissioned by the Pat Finucane Center in Derry, the old Royal Ulster Constabulary, since dissolved into the PSNI, colluded with loyalist thugs in the murders of up to 74 innocent people over a five year period. Recognize the PSNI, all you Shinners, and don't mind the fact that their antecedents helped to gun down six harmless men who were guilty of sitting in a pub, watching a soccer match. The old crime of "being Catholic", you see.

In general, Catholics in the north don't want anything to do with the police, and this report only confirms their suspicions. The boys in blue, duty bound to protect, were a bit busy giving aid and comfort to the Ulster loyalists. Professor Douglass Cassel of Notre Dame University cited a case in which RUC and British army officers were fully aware of what their subordinates were up to, but they encouraged rather than stopped it. The panel found evidence that the murdering thugs got arms, ammunition, training and information from the RUC and the British army, clear proof that the men in charge were colluding with those who fomented sectarian killings. No wonder the murders were never properly investigated. No surprise that the killers were never brought to justice.

Put it all behind you, Sinn Fein, and recognize the authority of the police force. Is it any wonder that the two sides cannot come together? And is it any surprise that the DUP dreads the notion of a Shinner taking charge of the PSNI? Shake hands with the devil, indeed, and what filth might be shaken out of the rafters if Sinn Fein did a bit of housecleaning.