It's getting hard to remember that the word terrorism in the UK used to mean people with Irish accents blowing things up. Last night another small step towards peace within Britain was taken with the Army stopping operation Banner. There was no symbolic striking of the Union flag, no bugles or fanfare, just a quiet fading away as from now on, the legal status of the Army in Northern Ireland will be same as it is in Wales or Scotland - no longer will it be "operating in support of the civil power".

A garrison of 5,000 or so soldiers remains, but they will be living and training in Northern Ireland, available for deployment to other theatres of conflict around the world.

So no more checkpoints, no more roadblocks, no more questioning from a soldier carrying a loaded weapon, peace really is arriving in every corner of the UK at long last. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Operation Banner had begun in 1969 and at first was warmly welcomed by the oppressed catholic minority in Ulster but heavy handed action by the troops soon got the IRA offside and the modern troubles began. Over 300,000 UK troops (including many members of my family) have served in Ulster since 1969, lets hope no more have to [img]graemlins/hippysmile.gif[/img]

"edited from the BBC"

Some good news for a change.

Indeed Johnny. Its hard to see an end to the Iraq bullshit but then this problem seemed just as bad. There is always hope but the people involved have to decide themselves enough is enough.

I'm not sure I would describe this as hopeful for Iraq. If it took the british almost 30 years to passify Ireland and 40 years before they could finally leave, how the heck can the US think that it could do anything in Iraq or Afghanistan in a reasonable timeframe.

I'd say pacifying Iraq is a mission impossible, especially when you hear reports of 190.000 weapons gone missing. I'm talking assaultrifles, pistols, and large numbers of bulletproof vests and helmets, and nobody seems to know where they went and who has them now. I bet i know who does though.

Also, spending bilions of dollars on boosting Saudi Arabia's and Egypt's military is not making things any easier in the future. Everyone who believes Saudi Arabia and Egypt are US allies should have his head examined. The only friends the US has in that region are the royal Saudi family, the rest of the country simply hates them, and Egypt has a double agenda, they too are far from trustworthy allies, the country is rapidly turning into terrorist breeding grounds. If you financially support nations like that, you might just as well shoot a bullet through your own foot, both situations will cripple you eventually.

Wasn't that what was on the banner when bush flew onto that ship, "Mission Impossible?". Oh wait.

Re: Another step forward for the UK (operation Banner ends)
 

Ireland and Northern Ireland yet another example of how partition does not work. Lets hope its over for good now.
But I can see problems in Iraq and Afghanistan going for a long long time :(