The Militant - November 26, 2001 -- Letters

Vol.65/No.45 November 26, 2001

Letters

IRA decommissioning
I felt that the description of Irish Republican Army (IRA) decommissioning in the November 12 issue might be misconstrued, because the article said the IRA would "destroy its weapons." I would like to point readers towards the statements issued by Óglaigh na hÉireann (the IRA) and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) on the matter. Many thanks for your otherwise good coverage of Ireland.

The IRA's October 23 statement noted that "in order to save the peace process we have implemented the scheme agreed with the IICD in August. Our motivation is clear. This unprecedented move is to save the peace process and to persuade others of our genuine intentions."

The IICD report on October 23 said:

"1. On 6 August 2001, the Commission reported that agreement had been reached with the IRA on a method to put IRA arms completely and verifiably beyond use. This would be done in such a way as to involve no risk to the public and avoid the possibility of misappropriation by others.

"2. We have now witnessed an event--which we regard as significant--in which the IRA has put a quantity of arms completely beyond use. The material in question includes arms, ammunition and explosives."

J.D.
San Francisco, California

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