[geeks] FS: iPhone 4 (16G black CDMA)

[Mike Meredith]

On Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:38:39 -0500, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> In fact, the IRA used to go out of their way to avoid killing
> civilians. They'd plant a bomb, then issue a warning in plenty of

That's just so much rancid rhino bile. And I'm not a reflex 'the IRA[0]
are totally evil' type - I've read their history and can quite easily
see it would be possible that if I were growing up in Belfast in the
1960s as a Catholic, I could well become involved myself. 

Whilst the IRA did issue warnings, these were often vague or only left
very little time for an evacuation. As an indication, out of 1824
casualties identified by the CAIN project as being caused by the IRA,
621 were civilians - not far behind the British military casualties
of 656. 

According to Tim Pat Coogan[1] who spoke to a 'high-ranking Republican
figure' about it, the Harrods bombing in 1983 was _intended_ to cause
casualties despite giving warning 40 minutes before the explosion. 

As another example, the bombing of the Tower of London in 1974 (which
killed 1 and injured over 40) was done without warning. Although there
was uncertainty at the time, few people doubt now that this was the
IRA.

In 1993, the IRA phoned a warning of a bomb planted outside a chemists
shop in Liverpool; 30 minutes later the two bombs in Warrington
exploded killing 3 and injuring 56.

The IRA certainly could have caused many more casualties amongst
civilians if they had tried hard enough. But to say they went out of
their way to avoid killing civilians is ridiculous and offensive - to
go out of your way to avoid killing civilians you don't bomb shopping
centres, tourist attractions, railway stations, and offices no matter
how much warning you give. 


0: For the purposes of this email, IRA includes both the "official IRA"
   and the provisional IRA. Dealing with the name changes at the
   appropriate time is confusing :)

1: An Irish historian.