Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
There's a big difference between fighting a war and mounting a campaign of terror.
There's a huge difference between being a soldier and being a thug with a gun or a murderer.
The concept that the IRA or any of those groups was fighting a war of independance is laughable at best, mainly because they went after soft unarmed civilian targets.
They were fighting a vendetta, nothing more. They're no better then the thugs that took the planes into the World Trade Center.
They're not soldiers fighting a heroic battle, they're death dealers blowing up pubs and shooting teenagers.
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I agree with the theme of your post, but I do disagree with some of the statements. There were two sides to this conflict. The PIRA was not the only group to use terrorism or to go after soft unarmed civilian targets. What about the Ulster Volunteer Force? What about the atrocities of the Ulster Freedom Fighters? Especially the Shankill Butchers, where random civilian Irish Catholics were severely beaten and tortured before having their throats slashed.
Are the British Forces heroic for shooting Innocent people in the back on Bloody Sunday? For terrorizing and destroying innocent civilians property during the Falls Curfew? The PIRA did kill hundreds of innocent civilians much like their paramilitary loyalist opponents. Still over 700 British soldiers were killed as well so not all of the PIRA paramilitary actions were solely against protestant civilians. There were atrocities and terrorist tactics used by both sides.