Antrim killings -An affront to human decency

It is impossible to find the words to express adequately the revulsion of all decent people at the cold-blooded murder of the two British soldiers in Antrim on Saturday night, and the wounding of four other people including two civilians — one a Polish man — going about their own business delivering pizza.

We offer our condolences to the families of the men so callously cut down and pray for the speedy recovery of those wounded.

These reprehensible murders were not just an attack on unarmed British soldiers; they were an affront to democracy.

To call the perpetrators “dissident republicans” is an insult to republicanism, which recognises the right of people to choose their own form of government.

The Irish people voted overwhelmingly — in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland — to ratify the Good Friday Agreement. What happened at the Massereene Army base in Co Antrim was “an attack on the peace process”, according to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

He went on to say “there should be an end to actions like the one in Antrim”.

Of course, any words would have been inadequate, but his language was so sanitised as to suggest a degree of equivocation, with the result that his statement was a further affront. He confined his description of such outrages as “actions” and referred merely to what happened as an “attack”, as if it were akin to a bilious eruption after overeating.

“Sinn Féin has a responsibility to be consistent,” he said. “The logic of this is that we support the police in the apprehension of those involved in last night’s attack.” But he then continued with remarks that could well raise questions about whether he was suggesting that the police service, or the British Government, were somehow responsible for what happened.

“The police also have a responsibility to give leadership and to behave at all times in a transparent and accountable manner,” Mr Adams continued. “The British Government has a duty to uphold the new political arrangement and the peace process.” There may be elements within Unionism and within the British system who do not wish for the Good Friday Agreement to succeed, but Mr Adams is playing into their hands by not denouncing what happened in unambiguous terms.

“I condemn absolutely this murderous attack,” Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said. “The targets of this attack are the Irish people, north and south.”

“Irish republicans and democrats have a duty to oppose these actions and defend the peace process,” Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness stated yesterday.

All should express revulsion and denounce these murders in unequivocal terms. Those responsible are fascists who sully the name of Ireland and republicanism. Their murderous activity must be denounced in the most explicit manner, without any equivocation or reservation.

It is an affront to human decency. All true republicans, no matter what party they may support, have a moral obligation to facilitate the bringing to justice those responsible for these murders.