The examples you cite were government sponsored acts. I'm shocked SHOCKED they would behave this way. Of course, the most memorable "Remember the Maine" incident was the Gulf of Tonkin non-incident.
Do you suppose these guys are MI6?
Monday August 13 8:25 PM ET
Colombia Arrests Three Men with Alleged IRA Links
By Ibon Villelabeitia
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - The Colombian army said on Monday it had arrested three men with alleged links to Irish militants, who were believed to have trained leftist FARC rebels in making bombs and non-conventional weapons.
The three -- all from Northern Ireland and carrying false passports -- were arrested at Bogota airport on Saturday while trying to leave the South American country.
Authorities said they did not know if the men belonged to the Provisional IRA or a splinter group such as the Real IRA, but that they worked for the IRA's ``engineering department.''
Defense Minister Gustavo Bell told a news conference the men had spent five weeks in a demilitarized area in southern Colombia that the government handed over to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia's largest guerrilla group, 2-1/2 years ago to launch peace talks.
``Everything seems to indicate that they were in the demilitarized area giving classes in explosives,'' Bell said.
The men face charges in Colombia of carrying false documents and providing illegal training. They will face a Bogota court on Tuesday and their legal status here should be defined within the next five days.
Colombia has notified British authorities but has so far received no extradition request.
Army chief Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora said Colombian authorities had evidence that the men had had physical contact with cocaine and amphetamines.
``It is obvious that they were here for some kind of payback. Whether that payback was drugs, cocaine, money or weapons we don't know at this point,'' Mora said.
Colombia is the world's No. 1 cocaine producer and state security forces have accused the 17,000-member FARC of being deeply involved in drug trafficking.
Two of the men were identified as James Monaghan and Martin McCauley. The identity of the third man, believed to be the leader, was not known. Their false passports bore different names.
Colombian intelligence followed the men from the moment they entered the country after receiving a tip-off from what officials would identify only as ``international intelligence agencies.''
Reporters were shown a video of the three men in handcuffs and flanked by soldiers with machine guns.
Colombia is gripped by a war pitting leftist rebels against the army and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups. The violence has killed 40,000 civilians in the last decade. Peace talks have failed to bring an end to the war.
The IRA is a mainly Roman Catholic guerrilla group which wants a united Ireland and is currently observing a cease-fire in the conflict with Britain. It backs the 1998 Good Friday peace accord but the Real IRA does not and has been responsible for a number of bomb blasts in Northern Ireland and in Britain.
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