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| Terror Networks |
| IRA training Columbia thugs |
| 2001-10-28 |
Richard Haass was preparing himself for an important meeting. It was the morning of 11 September and the straight-talking US special envoy to Dublin was about to come face to face with Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein. Haass was going to speak his mind. A deal was on the table that could finally bring to an end more than 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland. Haass wanted to push Adams into persuading the IRA to decommission its arms. If he had to get angry, then so be it. After a few minutes of talking about 'inching forward' the peace process, Haass finally snapped. 'If any American, service personnel or civilian, is killed in Colombia by the technology the IRA supplied then you can fuck off,' he shouted, finger jabbing towards Adams' chest. 'Don't tell me you know nothing about what's going on there, we know everything about it.' Haass, eyes blazing, was referring to events a month earlier when three Irishmen, including two IRA veterans were arrested at Bogotá airport. They were returning from a trip to Farcland, a Marxist ruritania in Colombia run by the anti-government Revolutionary Armed Forces. James Monaghan and Martin McAuley, two IRA engineers, were swapping mortar bomb technology with the Farc guerrillas. Farc is the sworn enemy of America and controls the land used to cultivate and export cocaine to the West. Haass was furious. The discovery of the trip was the lever America needed to push Adams towards last week's historic announcement that the IRA had agreed to decommission some of its weapons, a move that was sealed yesterday by David Trimble's decision to return to government as Northern Ireland's First Minister. A few hours later, the first of four hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Centre. Sinn Fein knew they were on an impossible wicket. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |