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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (244109)	7/29/2005 3:20:54 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578339

If anyone thinks there will be a quick end to the war in Iraq, they need to note the particulars of N. Ireland and its period of insurgency. A ceasefire was called in 1997. Now, its 2005 and the Brits. still have a sizeable force there........nearly 8 years later: ****************************************************** British Army Launches Base Cutbacks** Friday July 29, 2005 7:01 PM By SHAWN POGATCHNIK Associated Press Writer BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - Reacting quickly to the Irish Republican Army's peace declaration, Britain began dismantling military posts Friday in the border ``bandit country'' of South Armagh, the IRA's rural heartland where it is still unsafe for troops to use the roads. British army engineers flown in by helicopter began taking down a watchtower code named ``Romeo 1-2'' atop Sugarloaf Hill less than a day after the outlawed IRA met international demands to declare its 1997 cease-fire permanent and to renounce violence. First to be removed were the surveillance post's high-tech cameras and directional microphones that monitored traffic on roads and eavesdropped on conversations. Also earmarked for immediate closure were an army fort in the border village of Forkhill and a watchtower overlooking Newtownhamilton, the only village in South Armagh with a significant Protestant minority. British authorities said more closures would be unveiled within weeks. Protestants complained the army was moving too quickly in response to untested IRA pledges. They noted that South Armagh remains a haven for border smugglers and IRA dissidents and that police still require military backup to patrol the area. But Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, said he expected Britain to accelerate military cutbacks, which began with the IRA's first major cease-fire in 1994. ``We want to see this proceeding as quickly as possible,'' said Adams, who also discussed the political fallout from the IRA statement in a phone conversation Friday with President Bush. The British army has about 12,000 soldiers in Northern Ireland, down more than 7,000 from 1998. It previously closed more than three dozen posts, but paused in recent months to await the IRA's next move. The IRA's declaration Thursday that it was ending its war to end British rule in Northern Ireland was years of negotiations in the making. The group began a new cease-fire in 1997 but had reserved the right to abandon the truce, which also contained many loopholes for violent activity. Thursday's statement changed that, announcing IRA commanders ``formally ordered an end to the armed campaign'' and instructed members to ``dump arms'' and adhere to ``exclusively peaceful means.'' guardian.co.uk