McCartney Update -- King and Kennedy Convert

The wave of revulsion at the murder of Rob McCartney keeps building and building. It may well spell the doom of the IRA. Here's the latest.

BBC Reports:

Leading Irish-American politician Ted Kennedy says he will not meet Gerry Adams during the Sinn Fein leader's St Patrick's Day trip to the US.

It comes as Sinn Fein faces increasing pressure over IRA involvement in the killing of Robert McCartney in Belfast.

A spokeswoman for Senator Kennedy said he had cancelled a meeting planned for Thursday in light of the "ongoing criminal activity" of the IRA.

Also in the article:

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein's most high profile supporter in Congress, New York Republican Senator Peter King, called on the IRA to disband.

Mr King said the IRA had made a series of poor decisions that had sparked anger in Irish-American circles and was now standing in the way of a power sharing deal between Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists.

He added that Americans were finding it "hard to see what the justification is for the
continued existence of the IRA".

That last statement pretty much says it all. Without support from the diaspora communities the IRA's days are numbered. It is also good to see that the fiction that Sinn Fein and the IRA Provos are separate organizations is collapsing.

Read the article here.

And in Northern Ireland, the NYT reports:

BELFAST:
Taking heart from the campaign for justice for a Belfast man who was murdered in a bar fight in January, families of people killed by Catholic and Protestant para-militaries are coming forward with their stories and standing up to the terrorists they once feared.

What is significant here is that Catholics and Protestants are cooperating against the thugs.

Read the whole story here.

And perhaps most importantly there's this:

Reuters reports:

LONDON (Reuters) - Sinn Fein, the political ally of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been banned from fundraising in the United States, The Times newspaper reported on Monday, citing diplomatic sources.

It said the order, passed to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams via State Department channels, followed White House anger over accusations the IRA was continuing criminal activity.

The paper did not say how long the ban would last.