It Isn't Always Easy Wearing Green

I read in Saturday's papers that Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party of Northern Ireland, was detained by the TSA at one of Washington D.C.'s airports. Of course, once reported everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off to avoid having to confirm or deny.

My question is what was he doing in the country in the first place if he's on a " terror watch" list?? He was here to attend a Saint Patrick's day party at the WHITE HOUSE? I've heard the expression that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter but this is a double standard that should NOT be tolerated - even by an administration as inept as this one.

The fact that Congressman Brian Higgins, D, NY would state that "Gerry Adams should not have been on a "terror watch list" is even more egregious.

Just who is this guy? He was jailed as an IRA suspect from 1972 to 1976 and was convicted of attempted jailbreak while in custody. From May 1971 to March 1972 Adams commanded the IRA's second battalion which murdered three policemen, 19 soldiers and 27 civilians. July 21, 1972 Adams was running the Provisional IRA's Belfast Brigade when it detonated 19 bombs killing 9 and mutilating 130.

Sound just a bit like Iraq does it?

There is supposedly a peace process, the 1998 Good Friday Accord, underway but neither side of the conflict is pushing very hard. It is, guess what folks, a religious war. Between Catholics and Protestants. And the IRA has been designated by the U.S.State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. The gist of the accord is this: Protestants are to share political power with the minority Catholics, and gives the Republic of Ireland a voice in Northern Ireland affairs. In turn the Catholics are to suspend their goal of a united Ireland unless the heavily Protestant North votes in favor of it. It also contains provisions encompassing disarmament, police reform, human rights, prisoners and demilitarism by British armed forces.

The hang up seems to be that the largest of the Protestant Parties refuses to enter into local government with Sinn Fein and Sinn Fein is refusing to support the police in Northern Ireland among other things; they still seem to engage in criminal activities and it is questioned whether they have decommissioned their weapons as they'd like us to believe. There are apparently no checks in place.

So beware the wearin' o' the green; there are those who do who are every bit as dangerous as those in traditional middle eastern garb. Don't be fooled by a charming accent, nor by the fact that a lot of Irish Americans contribute money to his cause nor that some of our congressional members embrace him. If "profiling" isn't politically correct and those of us that look a lot like Mr. Adams - white and western - must suffer the indignities imposed on us by our own government then the least we can demand is that they keep the likes of him OUT. That's an IRA bomber's casket Mr. Adams is helping to hoist.