John Major and No. Ireland

Alexander Cockburn is right about the foot-dragging of British Prime Minister John Major (Commentary, March 7).

The 17 months between the IRA cease-fire and the recent London bombings were marked by one maneuver after another by Major to stall peace talks on Northern Ireland. No doubt hard-liners in the IRA took the intransigence to mean that their cease-fire would never elicit a quid pro quo from the British.

In late January, the prime minister rejected a call for all-party peace talks by the Mitchell Commission, the prestigious international body headed by the former U.S. senator from Maine. Only hours after the Irish government in Dublin accepted the commission’s recommendation that the talks begin immediately without preconditions such as an IRA weapons surrender, Major took the opposite position in the House of Commons.

The prime minister has only a small majority of support in Parliament, where his continuation in power depends on support from Ulster politicians who oppose reunification of Ireland in general and any dialogue with the IRA in particular. And so he rejected the Mitchell Commission, telling the House of Commons that Britain would continue to block talks until the IRA started giving up its guns. Two weeks later the IRA responded with the horrible bombing in the center of London.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN

Santa Barbara

* President Clinton has once again yielded to pressure by Irish-American voters ty allowing Gerry Adams to reenter the U.S. later this month. This is the leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

No doubt, by the time Adams completes his upcoming visit, his pockets will once gain be stuffed with enormous amounts of money. A large percentage of these contributions will end up in the IRA’s hands, where it will be used to finance further terrorist activities.

To my mind, there is absolutely no difference between the people who pay for the bombs and the terrorists who plant them. Let me correct that statement. There is a difference. The people who plant the bombs at least have some guts. They don’t sit comfortably at home, while somebody else murders innocent men, women and children thousands of miles away.

GERRY HOUSE-PETERS

San Juan Capistrano

President Clinton’s invitation of pro-British unionist party members to an Irish St. Patrick’s Day celebration (March 10) bears all the sensitivity of inviting Nazis to a Holocaust remembrance. The president has conveniently forgotten that the misery Britain inflicted on Ireland for 800 years as an occupying army would make the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia look tame.

While Britain voices a desire for peace in Northern Ireland, one must remember that actions always speak louder than words. Britain’s foot- dragging during the 17- month IRA cease- fire destroyed its credibilty. How ironic that is is Sinn Fein that is being denied access to the Northern Ireland peace talks!

MARY ANN DUGGAN

Santa Clarita