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In reply to the discussion: Gerry Adams says Thatcher caused "great suffering" in Ireland [View all]FunkyLeprechaun
(2,383 posts)I have had Irish Catholic relatives who were murdered by the IRA. One in Omagh that I recently discovered, she was a devout Catholic and she was murdered by the IRA.
I have to agree though, Thatcher supported jailing suspected IRA terrorists (many were jailed just because they knew someone who in turn knew someone who was in the IRA) without any trial and that was truly terrible. I wish she had done differently there. If you look at Bloody Sunday, they planted guns on some of the Bloody Sunday victims to try to support the claim that they shot in defense. I understand what Thatcher's mindset was at the moment- her friends, the Queen's cousin, etc were being blown up by the IRA and it's hard not to take a somewhat sympathetic look at the hunger strikers with that sort of background. Like Apartheid, I wish Thatcher had approached the Hunger Strike a bit differently (Bobby Sands was an elected MP for goodness sake).
BTW It's not IRA it's Sinn Fein. Although Sinn Fein is headed by people who were/are associated with the IRA, Sinn Fein doesn't represent the IRA.