Sinn Fein deputy 1st minister, former IRA commander Martin McGuinness dead

[Hard_Rom]

Sinn Fein deputy 1st minister, former IRA commander Martin McGuinness dead
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/martin-mcguinness-obit-1.4033911

Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army commander who led his underground, paramilitary movement toward reconciliation with Britain, and was Northern Ireland's deputy first minister for a decade in a power-sharing government, has died, his Sinn Fein party announced Tuesday on Twitter. He was 66.

The party said he died after a short illness. He suffered from amyloidosis, a rare disease with a strain specific to Ireland's northwest.

McGuinness's transformation as peacemaker was all the more remarkable because, as a senior IRA commander during the years of gravest Catholic-Protestant violence, he insisted that Northern Ireland must be forced out of the United Kingdom against the wishes of Protestants.

Even after the Sinn Fein party — the IRA's legal, public face — started to run for elections in the 1980s, McGuinness insisted as Sinn Fein deputy leader that "armed struggle" remained essential.

 

[Sean]

In Stormont, he and Paisley got on like a house on fire. So much that people took to calling them the Chuckle Brothers. Never thought I'd see that day.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/16E0C/production/_93680739_mcguinnpaisley.jpg

 

[oggbashan]

A complex man with blood on his hands yet a major influence in Northern Ireland's peace process.

He should be condemned for his actions as an IRA commander and praised for making democracy and reconciliation possible.

Some will never forgive him; some will always condemn him; but the people of Northern Ireland owe him and other politicians on both sides of the divide in Norhern Ireland a lot for ending the violence and moving to another way.

His legacy should be peace and compromise. But the divisions still show.

 

[Hard_Rom]

In Stormont, he and Paisley got on like a house on fire. So much that people took to calling them the Chuckle Brothers. Never thought I'd see that day.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/16E0C/production/_93680739_mcguinnpaisley.jpg

Led to the end of Paisley's career.

 

[KingOrfeo]

He should be condemned for his actions as an IRA commander and praised for making democracy and reconciliation possible.

Apply the same standard as to Nelson Mandela: He was a terrorist and supported by Moscow early in his career, but should be admired for the way he made up for it.

 

[KingOrfeo]

In Stormont, he and Paisley got on like a house on fire.

Flames, screams, people running for safety?

 

[KingOrfeo]

My Mom once visited the Republic, and she said nobody there seemed to care whether they ever unite with the North or not.

 

[oggbashan]

Apply the same standard as to Nelson Mandela: He was a terrorist and supported by Moscow early in his career, but should be admired for the way he made up for it.

Many leaders of former Commonwealth countries had either been to Sandhurst (the UK equivalent of West Point) or been jailed by the British for terrorism or both.

Nelson Mandela and Martin McGuinness were poles apart in their early years. The IRA were deliberately targeting innocent civilians at random. The ANC were fighting the oppressive government.

McGuinness probably (not proven) killed people personally; Mandela didn't.

 

[Greypowerful]

My initial reaction was "good riddance", but Ogg's posts reflect reality in a reasoned and reasonable fashion.

Thanks for your moderation. Squoire!

 

[Rightguide]

Why do we give a shit?

 

[Greypowerful]

Why do we give a shit?

That's typical of your politics and national origins.

Carry on.