The True Face of Insanity : Extremists lob mortars toward London’s Heathrow Airport

Peace is invariably the victim when the extremists are in a position to inflict their bitter and irrational pain. That’s certainly the case in the Middle East, whether the perpetrator is a hardened and trained Hamas operative or a fundamentalist Jewish settler who suddenly snaps. And it is the case in Northern Ireland, where, it seems, no good deed ever goes unpunished.

For the hardened criminal elements on both sides of this insatiable hatred, the great fear appears to be that reason will get the upper hand, peace will settle over the land, and some day--many years down the road--the Catholics and Protestants of Ulster will live together in relative harmony, as of course they do in both Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

That prospect is so frightening to the psychotic elements on both extreme ends of the political spectrum there that any slight movement forward--as, for example, the recent and highly laudatory efforts of the British and Irish prime ministers to find new common ground--seems to trigger yet another spasm of destruction.

The latest violent reaction was the attempted mortar bombing of London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest and most efficient airline terminals in the world. No less than four mortars were fired from the back of a vehicle toward Britain’s chief airport. Not surprisingly, of course, British authorities believe the culprits were members of the feared Irish Republican Army--the Hamas-like element of Northern Ireland. Almost miraculously, there was no reported damage or serious injury.

As bad as the IRA is--and its activities are an affront to all civilized people--the other side has its extremists, too. And they have scarcely been inactive. Last November, for instance, police authorities intercepted a huge clandestine shipment of arms intended for the Unionist Ulster Defense Assn., which represents the hard core of the anti-Irish and anti-unionist Protestant majority.

There is no gainsaying the vileness on both sides. A recent film--”In the Name of the Father”--brilliantly dramatizes the deceptions and ineptitudes of British security forces when they arrested the wrong suspects in a notorious 1974 British pub bombing case. While the movie takes many liberties with the facts, its central contention--that the wrong people were imprisoned--was correct.

What the film fails to convey, however, is the difficulty of coping with such violent terrorism in a democratic society that wishes to allow all accused people the maximum possible legal protection. Criticisms of the British are fair enough, and proper enough; but for perspective, imagine some group firing mortal shells from the back of a van at a crowded airport. What you see in that picture is the true face of insanity.