Message From the Dark Side

There’s no question who speaks for the Irish nationalists in Ulster. Not Sinn Fein, the political party angling for a role in political talks in the British province. No, it’s the dark side of Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army, which dispatched its gunmen Monday to send a lethal message. By killing two policemen in an ambush outside Belfast, it ensured that the prospect of talks would be dead.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced the assassinations for what they represented--”cynicism and hypocrisy”--and declared there would be no further contact between London and Sinn Fein on a settlement in the British-ruled province.

Those who would claim by force of arms all of Ulster as part of Ireland are clearly in command of the nationalists, despite the position of the new Irish government and its predecessors that talks toward a democratic solution should be the goal. It is the underground IRA, breaking cease-fire after cease-fire, that has crushed the majority’s hopes for peace and accommodation.

Blair is right to pull in the political lines. In recent years, as Northern Ireland’s aptly called Troubles diminished--certainly Belfast is not the shooting gallery it was 10 years ago--there were prospects. And Blair’s new government seemed hopeful that it could bring fresh impetus to intermittent negotiations. Now once again the IRA has torpedoed them.

Why would London talk to Sinn Fein? Gerry Adams, its leader, surely must realize he is but a puppet of the IRA’s hard men. The nationalist political arm is powerless to command the underside. Progress that could have been measured in miles will once again be counted block by block. Hope is dashed.