400-pound car bomb fails to detonate in Belfast

[discocrisco01]

Source: Associated Press

DUBLIN — Northern Ireland's police commander says Irish Republican Army dissidents left a 400-pound (180-kilogram) car bomb outside the police-reform headquarters in Belfast but the homemade device failed to detonate.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott said Sunday that the abortive attack on the Northern Ireland Policing Board represented an attack on the province's entire peace process.

The explosives-laden car caught on fire but didn't explode and caused no damage to the building, where a joint Catholic-Protestant panel oversees police operations.

Also Sunday, detectives arrested three suspected IRA dissidents on suspicion of involvement in a gun attack on a police patrol in the Northern Ireland border village of Garrison. Baggott said police returned fire, but nobody was hit.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jrVVZ...

[Historic NY]

1. Its a shame I just got back from there, the "will" to have a peace is strong...

I hope incidents like these will not break, for the old ways.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Indeed. There are crazies on both sides who are desperate for the violence and hate to resume

[Proletariatprincess]

2. I'm suspicious...

this smacks of a black flag operation to me. The loyalists are more opposed to the peace process than the nationalists and have proven they will stop at nothing to prevent it going forward. The Brits are not above suspicion either.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

3. I mean, maybe, but it remains true that there are Irish elements who are eager to resume bloodshed

[BolivarianHero]

18. Most of the are Unionists....

Unionism is dominated by the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church (learning that changed a lot for me...I always thought they were Anglicans)...These people hate freedom, hate science, hate Ireland, and hate those who are different from them...Most of them get off on bloodshed and suffering.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. Brits, too.

[amandabeech]

27. Why?

The troubles in the North were devastating for the Brits, and started their security state. There were many, many deaths due to IRA bombings.

Why would they want to get it started again? Britain has plenty of problems to solve without that.

I'm of both British and Irish heritage, if that means anything to you.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. What do you base that on?

I haven't seen anything that supports the conclusion that one side or the other is more opposed to the peace process. Clearly both sides have their crazies, but many more want it to be over. Also interesting to see the lack of support for/lack of interest in "marching season" as of late.

Since the UK and Ireland are both EU members, its not like there is really going to be that much difference in the long run.

[Andronex]

17. and you are probably right...

these things usually end up being false flags, giving a pretext to justify increased police powers and repression. When these operation are not directly managed by the security forces, they recruit people they can easily influence (morons), and supply explosives, organization and money. For those who don't believe me, do some research and you will find out the security forces are usually intimately involved, that often comes out during the court trials.

Terrorism is about influencing peoples perceptions and is always counterproductive for the "terrorist" but permits the powers that be to move "the agenda" forward as laid out in detail in the neocon PNAC document. As long as we believe in the official narrative, they will continue to use this deception, and innocent people will die.

[glitch]

21. Conflating "dissidents" with people who leave 400-lb bombs (aka terrorists) is a bit of a tell, IMO.

The blurring of dissidents into terrorists seems very convenient to states dependent on having enemies.

What next, "The War On Dissent" coming to a home theater near you?

[Hekate]

26. There was an incident while I was there this Spring. A man was beaten to death & his wife beaten...

... but survived. It was Protestant on Catholic (or Catholic on Protestant, what the hell does it matter, the poor man is dead). The pretext? He had the "wrong" soccer flags on his fence at home and somehow that proclaimed his status as a person of the "wrong" religion. It was in the papers at the hotel I was at; his poor widow with her swollen face and blackened eyes pleading that there be "no revenge."

Some of the Irish don't need any black flag ops -- they kill each other just fine.

the land of my ancestors.

Hekate

[HopeHoops]

4. Man, I HATE when that happens.

I do wonder if it was meant more as a warning or if it was a matter of incompetence. Either is plausible. The IRA has a weird sort of dance they do with the political atmosphere.

[Ghost Dog]

11. Not any branch of Sinn Féin nor IRA.

for sure.

[vadawg]

24. yup IRA splinter groups are still doing the same shit they did as members of the PIRA

[Ian David]

5. That shit's still going on? n/t

[iandhr]

6. I thought the IRA disarmed

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

7. Technically yes, but there are splinter groups

like the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA who are continuing to fight. They're smaller and not nearly as active, but they've pulled off some serious acts of violence in recent years.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Silly you

They gave up some, and revealed some arms caches, but never totally disarmed. I don't blames them, since they needed to know if it was really going to work as advertised. Fortunately it has.

There are also some fringe elements that will never disarm or give up.

[earcandle]

12. They should root out the death squad folks and heap praise on the peacekeepers.

no matter what side they are on. 

[Robb]

13. Quick! Round up all the brown people!!

Good no one was hurt.

[AuldLochinvar]

14. I lived there for 14 years

The troubles in Ireland have about three causes.
1. An undeniable history of British oppression.
2. Religion
3. Patriotism

The Irish patriot extreme still wants to kick the British out of the northern six counties (which are actually two thirds of the original kingdom of Ulster, the home of Cuchulain).
But the majority of those who like to call themselves Ulstermen are in fact descendants of people who went there in the 17th century. Few of the descendants of North America's immigrant Europeans would be willing to give the land back to original residents at the time of the Mayflower or the founding of Jamestown.

Two of the USA's presidents came from Northern Ireland.

I place great hope in the fact that the hold of the Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy upon the hearts and minds of the people is weakening. I am indeed of the persuasion that religious beliefs do more harm than good. Even although the belief that a Church is a place for good people to go causes a remarkable number of innately good people to be members. The fact that such an organization does good work may not necessarily be a consequence of its official belief system.

In a perverse version of the same idea, if the majority of people are persuaded that government is evil, (as conservative propaganda insists,) you should be surprised if your Government manages to be less wicked than that of Bush/Cheney.

Ah yes, during the time I lived there, in spite of the innate goodness of the people I knew, the government of Northern Ireland in Stormont was indeed somewhat more corrupt and stupid than that of Britain in Westminster. The election propaganda was even more patriotic and "religious" than it is in the most backward parts of the USA.

[amandabeech]

28. As you may know, many Ulstermen and their kin are here calling themselves Scotch-Irish.

They are an exceptionally feisty bunch here as well.

[vadawg]

29. dude scotch is a drink, Scots are a people :) its Scots-Irish

[amandabeech]

30. Alright, but you've had too much Scotch. I'm definitely not a dude. n/t

[vadawg]

31. hell at 2am everyone is a dude :) wish i was drinking

[amandabeech]

32. At 3:00 everyone is an insomniac, not a dude. n/t

[vadawg]

33. lol no at 3am im getting ready to feed my block, in the back straight now of a long weekend..

[amandabeech]

36. Are you saying that you've already had your night's sleep and are

preparing to face the new day?

If so, my hat is off to you.

[vadawg]

37. no way, im on the graveyard shift all this weekend, and them school run in the morning

i wont be to bed until at least 1pm today and ive been at work since 4pm yesterday.

[Bigmack]

15. Shur'in the bays must be outa practice......nt

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. islam is a bad bad religion.

oh wait. this is not islam. never mind.

[951-Riverside]

20. Religious fundies are bad bad bad

Muslim terrorists are the equivalent of the KKK.





Notice they all cover their faces like cowards.

[Andronex]

22. there are no muslim terrorists...

only the ones we organize and fund to give America a pretext to invade oil rich countries.

By the way the oil and gas pipelines that will service the worlds greatest untapped reserves has to pass through Afghanistan-and-Pakistan or they will pass through Russia and Iran, that should give you a clue...

[vadawg]

23. its not even religion, its just gangsters who hide behind a cause

they like to be the big man on the street and the peace process has taken away a lot of their power so the guys who enjoy this shit have continued on... Your always gonna get idiots on either side whether proddy or fenian who will want to use the cause to increase their cred or power...

[Hekate]

25. Horrible. I was just there this Spring -- I'm so sorry to hear this.

I went on a folk-music-oriented tour of Northern Ireland, something I wouldn't have thought of doing even 10 years ago, but it's been so peaceful -- I thought.

God damn all terrorists.

Hekate

[Heidi]

34. They took the time and risk to weigh it???? (nt)

[vadawg]

35. after teh device is made safe, the shit is taken away and weighed as part of the investigation

also with experience you can give a pretty good guestimate on the weight of an object,