politics: End of an era

I don't know whether the IRA story will be everywhere or nowhere today, but it struck me in a profound way this morning. It didn't come out of the blue, so I wasn't surprised since it's been brewing for awhile now. But a defining undercurrent of life in the British Isles for the last 30-40 years (well, 80, 90 or more, really, but who's counting?) is making a radical change.

Having been involved in various capacities in the Celtic music community for the past 18 years or so, I've met a lot of musicians, agents, record label people and assorted hangers-on. I've had long talks with registered Sinn Fein partisans. I've shared in the frustration of all involved when said Sinn Fein members were denied visas to the United States. I've heard from all sides of the whole Irish republican question. And I've seen how Irish Americans with a lot of money, a lot of idealism and no understanding of reality have kept the Frankenstein's monsters that are the various militant republican factions going. Even the most vehemently pro-republican people I meant spoke with something between anger and infinite sadness about the whole idea of blowing up school buses and London commuters.

Anyway, time was, the IRA was arguably the most prominent terrorist organization in the West. Did it really take watching a far-reaching network of extremists using planes as missiles and such for them to finally realize that violence only takes you farther away from a solution, rather than closer? And what will it take for the Bush crime family to realize the same thing?