British army leaves Northern Ireland

[Cappinator]

It's only taken 38 years...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/n...nd/6923342.stm :

Army ending its operation in NI

The British army's operation in Northern Ireland will come to an end at midnight on Tuesday after 38 years.

Operation Banner - the Army's support role for the police - has been its longest continuous campaign, with more than 300,000 personnel taking part.

A garrison of 5,000 troops will remain but security will be entirely the responsibility of the police.

British troops were sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 after violent clashes between Catholics and Protestants.

When the first soldiers were deployed in August 1969, commanders believed they would be in Northern Ireland for just a few weeks.

But the Army quickly became involved in what came to be known as Operation Banner.

A total of 763 military personnel were killed during the campaign.

At the height of the Troubles, there were about 27,000 soldiers in Northern Ireland. From Wednesday, there will be no more than 5,000.

The head of the Army in Northern Ireland, General Nick Parker, said the operation helped create the conditions for a political solution.

"What I believe the military have done here is make a significant contribution to the security in Northern Ireland that has allowed other people to make the difference through politics, social programmes and economics," he said.

Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP, paid tribute to the Army.

"If they had not been here to hold the line against terrorism, I don't think we would have made the progress that we have made," he said.

"I think that we owe them a great debt of gratitude for a huge sacrifice that they have paid to help make this possible."

Gerry Kelly, Sinn Fein, said it was the government who made decisions concerning the Army.

"Was there a honeymoon period when people were relieved that they weren't the heavily armed RUC? Of course there was," he said.

"That was short lived. The reason why is because they are an Army, a blunt instrument, it was the British government who made the decision to use them against republicans, nationalists and Catholics."

In future, soldiers based in Northern Ireland will be involved in training and will be available for deployment in foreign trouble spots, not on local streets.

[CptSternn]

Troops are out. Sinn Féin is in power. Need I say more?

[Methadrine]

About bloody time...

[Edward Strange]

Hopefully the PSNI will do a better job than the RUC...

[CptSternn]

So far, they haven't been much better. They are still up to their old tricks, just now they all dress like ninjas so you can't see who is beating you.

That being said, since SF has accepted policing, they have backed off. With the whole world paying attention to the Ombudsman, they have been on their best behaviour.

There still are incidents almost weekly, but they are not *as* bad as a few years ago.

Still not where they should be.

[ArtificialOne]

Hmm... I heard about this too.

Seems funny, all the talk about the short time we've been in Iraq when Britains been playing nanny for 38yrs.. where's the outrage over that? And still political turmoil... seems very Iraqish...

Funny how the media hasn't been batting this thing around like a big cat with a mouse.

[CptSternn]

A1 - It's big here, but not there. Think about it mate...

The british government is pulling out the troops. That is big. Why? Because the government is being run by the former 'insurgents'.

You think the American government wants that on the news? After 38 years of war, the brits pull out and leave the government over to the very people they were fighting?

It's what happened in Vietnam, it's what happened in N. Ireland, and it's what will happen in Iraq. The very people the US/UK forces are fighting now will one day be running the show there, on their own terms.

It's best not to inform the average American of this, else they really will lose hope in their own current war.

[HumanePain]

Sorry in advance, but I am a little ignorant of the situation there: will it descend into roving gangs dispensing "justice" after the troops leave or is it more civilized than in Iraq?
O_o

[CptSternn]

Not at all, it's good to have people ask these questions.

The answer is no. The Nationalist community, who are represented by Sinn Féin took a vote a few months back at a special Ard Fheis where representatives from each county, from the North and the Republic - all 32 counties, voted on supporting the police in N. Ireland. It passed.

So there will be no more para-militaries policing the estates, at least on the Catholic side of things.

The Catholic communities will now actively support the PSNI. This was a hard won vote, because many still don't trust the police, but it came with many concessions on the british side. For one, a national body to over-see abuses reported, with representatives in the Republic Of Ireland as well.

This was one of many arrangements put together for the new legislative assembly. The new N. Ireland government works with the Irish government on many all Ireland agendas now. Removing the border - lowering taxes in the North, integrating schools on the border areas, and much more.

It's ironic really - it's what we Republicans in Ireland have said was going to happen for years.

The loyalists, those who support british rule, have finally come around and see things from an Irish perspective. THATS what changed things.

That, and of course, money.

See, for years the british let N. Ireland slide on many taxes. They did this to keep Sinn Féin and other Nationalist groups from unifying the masses against them.

In the UK, you pay tax on the amount of water used. Like in America. If you use X amount of gallons, your billed for it. In Ireland, we pay a small fee once a year and use all the water we want. To keep the masses from taking the Nationalist side, the british removed their water tax in N. Ireland so to keep their political opponents who wanted to united the 32 counties from being able to use that as a political tool.

Thats one of many taxes, fees, and items the british government changed to keep a hold on the N. Ireland providence for so long.

The problem is, the rest of the UK is now complaining after they have found out how low taxes are for the people in N. Ireland, along with the fact they get lots of other perks.

The people there, both pro-british and pro-Ireland have now joined forces against the british government. It's kind of humourus. I mean, the pro-british crowd still wants to be a part of britian, but they want to pay even less tax like Ireland, and have a school system more like Ireland, and have a social welfare system more like Ireland, but still want to be british.

For some time, that was the way things were. They had their cake and were able to eat it too, because britian didn't want to let go of N. Ireland.

Today, the rest of britian is angry about this, the economical value of N. Ireland has dropped, unemployment is up, and the brits are now stuck with a quandry.

They could anger the vocal majority, or just raise the taxes and what not on N. Ireland. The pro-biritish parties then were forced to join sides with their mortal enemies in efforts to stop the british from making them pay british taxes and recieve british services.

Ironic, eh?

Either way, the former loyalists, who still claim to be pro-british now find themselves on the side of the people who want to reunited Ireland because Ireland offers so much more with less taxes.

The average Joe Soap no longer cares about the british government and saluting a union jack as much as they do paying double the amount of tax they could if they just lived one mile down the road.

Even businesses are now pro-Irish. We have a 12% tax on business here. In the UK, it's 21%. In N. Ireland, its 17%. The companies in N. Ireland have been relocating a few miles south of the border to save on their taxes for the past decade. Now, the ones who are based there are fighting to have the taxes put on scale with Ireland, not britain, as they see they are getting screwed by competitors who set up shop just a few minutes down the road.

So to answer your question, no, you won't see armed gangs. In fact, more and more you will see less people being pro-british as they realise that the only thing they get by supporting britian is higher taxes, less social social services, and a headache when it comes to politicians.

Currently, Sinn Féin has started various 32 county groups (all Ireland). We have various groups now working on making the school system work as one, the road systems, the tax systems. Slowly, we are making N. Ireland equal to the rest and not to the british system which is current is set for.

By having our elected official serving as First Minister of Northern Ireland, we are the only political party which exists in both Northern Ireland and in the Republic Of Ireland, allowing us to do things no one else can do.

[Tha Duckman]

The short answer is :
No, so long as the orange men stop being douche bags.

[CptSternn]

Well put.

Besides, we don't need any paramilitaries to battle the OO anymore, they are being nice enough to come down to O'Connell Street so we can deal with them here in the Republic up close, in a more personal manner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvJjCb9s5Ys

We're the bhoys from south of the border,
Fuck the queen and the orange order

o/~ Cel-tic, Cel-tic, Celtic till I die o/~