Trimble must have the numbers on the guns
He tries to portray Trimble as being obstructionist in demanding to know what amount of weapons the IRA has put beyond use. General de Chastelain said the IRA had put a significant amount beyond use significantly more than it had done before.
What does that mean? If it had put one of each item beyond use previously, then putting two of each category aside now would be a significant increase.
Pat Brosnan may not like David Trimble, but the Ulster Unionist Party leader is not stupid. If the IRA wishes to portray this as a significant step, why does it not want to let us know how significant it is?
Gerry Adams has stated that Sinn Féin only wishes to pursue a political agenda and that the war is over, but many times he has stated also that he does not speak for the IRA.
So David Trimble has to concern himself with P O'Neill who does not wish to disclose how many arms have been decommissioned. P O'Neill has bombed, murdered and maimed more people in Northern Ireland, the Republic and Britain than any other paramilitary.
The DUP, and 50% of Trimble's UUP, think that the Belfast Agreement is a fudge in any case. However, Trimble and Adams have agreed that nothing is agreed until all is agreed. That is the realpolitik that Trimble has to deal with.
Only Sinn Féin is represented in Westminster, Stormont and the Dáil, and of all the political parties in the British Isles, only Sinn Féin has an army outside the door. Plainly stated by Gerry Adams, "they haven't gone away, you know".
As a very adroit politician and negotiator, David Trimble cannot afford to fall between Sinn Féin and the IRA and if the IRA desires peace, it is up to them to spell it out or for Trimble to drag it out of them.
If he succeeds, he will have accomplished what Dublin, London and Washington have been unable to do, and he should receive the accolades.
Terry O'Hanlon,
Killarney Road,
Macroom,
Co Cork.
