Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Hain hits back over OTR legislation
I came across this letter in the Guardian from British Secretary of State Peter Hain in response to this article from Simon Jenkins.Jenkins was critical of the "blathering" Secretary of State and accused him of treating parliament as "a colonial official might have treated Victorian Nigeria" and of dispensing "political expediency as justice".
Peter Hain has hit back at Simon Jenkins accusing him of "ranting from the comfort of his moral maze" and claiming that he "does not have a clue about the realities of trying to bring a complete end to a horrific conflict in Northern Ireland that has cost more than 3,500 lives."
"This was an immensely difficult move, but it was right. The subsequent decision to grant early release to paramilitary prisoners was difficult and victims of terrorism found it abhorrent. But it was the right thing to do to seal the agreement," said Hain.
"The intense moral and political dilemmas inherent in taking the peace process forward have to be worked out in the real world and not in the philosophic abstract. In the early 1990s John Major began the secret engagement with the IRA that ultimately led to the Good Friday agreement. This was an immensely difficult move, but it was right. The subsequent decision to grant early release to paramilitary prisoners was difficult and victims of terrorism found it abhorrent. But it was the right thing to do to seal the agreement."
I was fond of the previous Secretary of State Paul Murphy and I'm quite fond of Peter Hain too but I think Mr Hain is wrong on this issue. Terribly wrong.
A society needs justice. The terrorists and British State forces who murdered and maimed should be brought before a court of law and made to pay for their crimes against humanity.
They deserve no amnesty.
# posted by United Irelander @ 12:56 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
