Back in January Robert McCartney, a resident of Belfast, was brutally slashed to death outside a pub. Accounts of what transpired before the killing vary, but they seem to agree that he failed to show respect to a woman friend of an IRA thug. As is often the case when dealing with organized crime figures, nobody saw anything, for fear of IRA retribution. But it didn't stop with that. McCartney's sisters and girlfriend wanted his killers apprehended and took their case to the public.
Their campaign was hugely successful, enlisting the support of political figures on both sides of the Atlantic. They were even invited to the White House to meet President Bush. As a result, support for the IRA among diaspora Irish has declined precipitously and pressure on their public figures has increased.
Responding to the pressure the IRA assured authorities that they would take care of things themselves and punish the murderers. This inspired a huge outrage in the public and led Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, to give a speech urging the militants to disarm and to join the mainstream political process. We are still waiting for their promised response to his speech, and there were death threats made against the troublesome McCartney women.
Now things seem to be moving.
Three weeks ago Adams made a second speech in which he condemned the threats against the McCartneys and further distanced himself from the militants [read about it here]. Then omerta collapsed and witnesses to the assault began to come forward [here]. The IRA announced that it had expelled three men associated with the killing. Then suspects were identified and questioned, and this week two men were finally arrested [here].
The Belfast Telegraph reports:
Read it here.A 49-year-old man, who was arrested in Belfast earlier this week, will appear before a Magistrate later today charged with murder.
A 36-year-old man, arrested in Birmingham, will also appear in court charged with attempting to murder Brendan Devine, who was with Mr McCartney in the bar on the night he was killed.
The McCartney family last night welcomed the police breakthrough but have said they are hopeful there will be more arrests.
Catherine McCartney, Robert's sister said: "We hope it will lead to further arrests because there were more than two people involved. We still have a long way to go in terms of a trial and convictions.
"We are happy this has happened, but we know it is by no means over."
I agree. This is by no means over. The IRA's days are numbered.
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