It's yet more lies and spinning from the Provos. Publishing photographs of
IRA decommissioning equals humiliation so all republicans and nationalists
should be against it.
Yet that's not the case. Most unionists don't concern themselves with the
sensitivities of the IRA and its supporters but, even from a republican
viewpoint, it's difficult to defend the objection to pictures.
For the republican base, opposing decommissioning itself is completely
logical. IRA weapons were bought to oppose British rule in Northern Ireland
and the British remain here so the weapons should stay as long as they do,
it's claimed.
But once the principle of decommissioning has been conceded, that argument
falls. It's the decommissioning that could be construed as humiliating, not
the publicity about it.
If your behaviour is publicised, you are only humiliated if it's something
you are ashamed of. If you are proud of or at ease with what you've done,
you won't care who knows about it.
It's the cheats, the fakes, and the liars who fear transparency. There is
no reason for ordinary IRA members themselves to oppose photographs. It
will let them see with their own eyes exactly what is being done in their
name.
They are the people who raised money for the guns, hid the guns, and used
the guns. Surely, they would want to see what happens the guns rather than
take the word of a Sinn Féin suit?
Why should any political or military organisation be humiliated by the light
being shone on something it has agreed to? Doesn't it have the courage of
its convictions to stand its ground and defend its position?
The Rev Ian Paisley went to Dublin in September. He didn't sneak in by the
back door. He faced the cameras. He believed what he was doing was
consistent with his principles and he told the media so.
The Provo leadership is camera-shy because it knows decommissioning isn't in
keeping with its traditional beliefs. By the standards of republican
orthodoxy, it's an immoral act.
It's akin to the Pope being pictured leaving a brothel. Followers will have
difficulty keeping faith afterwards. The Provos are surely looking for a way
out of the mess.
The governments probably reckoned that publishing their proposals last week
improved the chances of bridging the gap between Sinn Féin and the DUP. The
opposite has been the case.
The DUP won't budge from its demand for pictures so Sinn Féin will have to
be imaginative. The Provos might well consider going ahead with
decommissioning anyway and presenting the DUP with a fait accompli minus the
photos.
Unionists would still be immensely suspicious of the process but a huge
chunk of international opinion would be satisfied. Sinn Féin would then
demand devolution be restored. It would denounce the DUP as the party which
can never be pleased if it opposed the move.
An unfortunate element in this whole scenario would be that the plain people
of Northern Ireland - unionist and republican - would be completely in the
dark as to what exactly happened in a Border bog with Gen de Chastelain.
And that isn't healthy in any democracy.
