Irish not "amused" by Bush

[MIKE BURN]

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April 08, 2003



The Times, London U.K.



Irish republicans accuse Bush of using visit to justify war

By Rosemary Bennett and David Lister in Belfast



PRESIDENT Bush arrived in Belfast last night to face rare criticism from Irish republicans, who accused him of using the Northern Ireland peace process to prop up support for war in Iraq.



On the eve of crucial talks between Mr Bush and Northern Ireland’s main party leaders, Gerry Adams called the President’s decision to hold a war summit with Tony Blair in the Province “insensitive”.



“We would be wrong not to point it out . . . the insensitivity of having a war summit which then discusses peace in the margins, of having a war summit which appears to be trying to use the Irish process as a stage or as a prop,” the Sinn Fein leader said.



Staunchly opposed to the war in Iraq but eager to stay on good terms with the White House, Sinn Fein has been placed in an awkward position by Mr Bush’s visit. The party is attempting to maintain its opposition to military action without attacking the President personally.



Senior Sinn Fein figures joined anti-war protesters who marched towards Hillsborough Castle where the war summit took place amid tight security. About four thousand protesters carrying anti-war placards made their way to the outskirts of Hillsborough, where they were addressed by Mitchel McLaughlin, the Sinn Fein chairman. They jeered and whistled as the President’s helicopter flew overhead on the way to the castle.



However, the anti-war protesters who marched towards Hillsborough were less than convinced about Mr Bush’s sincerity in travelling to Northern Ireland. While the majority listened to anti-war speeches, a tense stand-off took place between up to 1,000 demonstrators and riot police blocking the country road into the village near Belfast. In farcical scenes, two demonstrators at the front of the crowd — one banging a pot with a stick, the other beating a frying pan with a metal lid — advanced to within inches of the police.



The protesters, singing “This is what Democracy Sounds like” and “Shame, Shame, Shame”, carried Palestine flags and anti-war placards bearing the messages “Osama Bin Bush”, “USA — Unsanctioned State Aggression” and “Boycott Bush, War Criminal”. As the protest threatened to turn violent, a group of up to 40 jumped over a hedge into a neighbouring field guarded by a line of riot police with alsatian dogs.

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[Social Spit]

Will b1tch about anything and will make any situation all about THEM.



Let them clean up their own protestant/catholick issues before they have anything VALID to say about this war at all.

[Galmin]

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Let them clean up their own protestant/catholick issues before they have anything VALID to say about this war at all.

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The Inglese invaded them (and still occupies them), remember? They know a lot more about the effects of invasion and war than the average person.





"A nation once again.

a nation once again.

And Ireland long a province be,

a nation once again"