The threat of violence
James Forsyth 4:29pm
Jonathan Powell’s new book and in particular his thoughts on talking to terrorists have been making waves in recent days. But the Guardian news story accompanying the paper’s serialisation of his book demonstrates the flaw in this thinking:
"Powell said it was right to make concessions to Sinn Féin. 'We certainly believed there was every chance that the IRA might go back to violence, just as they had with the Canary Wharf bomb [in 1996].'"
So, Powell is conceding that the government was always conscious that it was negotiating with a gun at its head. (This approach to negotiation is also fundamentally unfair to the peaceful parties that the government was dealing with). Now, just imagine how much more extreme the fear of al Qaeda returning to violence would be and you see the huge problem involved in talking to them.
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John Fisher
March 17th, 2008 5:30pm Report this commentA lot of criticism of "talking to terrorists" comes from hawks who assume that it's a naive, dove-ish tactic that the terrorists will ruthlessly exploit. But it can equally be a hawkish tactic: classic divide and rule. Ironically that's why it would fail: AQ would assume it is an attempt to play them and have nothing to do with it.
madasafish
March 17th, 2008 6:40pm Report this commentI think Powell and the Government were pragmatic. After all, has the IRA won now after peace? Nope. Is a united Ireland any nearer? Nope. Is Sinn Fein accepted by Protestants enough so they will vote en masse for them? Nope. The peace in NI was effectively a victory for the Government. Talking to terrorists is OK. Giving in to their demands is not. As afr as AQ is concerned by all means talk. there might be some common ground .. but I doubt it. The IRA had common ground with the Protestants : both sides saw a conflict killing people and achieving... nothing. Perhaps a few meetings with AQ might show them that!
Trumpeter Lanfried
March 17th, 2008 7:31pm Report this commentYes we talked to the IRA. I can still hear some of their neanderthal murderers laughing as they left court to begin their 16 month sentences. And I still see murderers, torturers and robbers participating in Her Majesty's government of Northern Ireland.
Tony Colvin
March 17th, 2008 8:38pm Report this commentThe new factor that allowed Blair to get peace in NI was the change in attitude of the US government towards terrorism. Boston Massachusetts was the terror capital of the world with Noraid and Bin laden both active there. Adams realised that the IRA was losing US support, and folded his tent. Blair gave Adams far more than Adams expected for doing so. But Blair saw he could claim a victory for something that was going to happen anyway. None of this is mentioned by Powell or the UK government, although Hilary Clinton has made claims that her intervention was the key. If she equated herself with the USA, then she is probably right.
Nicholas
March 17th, 2008 9:51pm Report this comment"A lot of criticism of "talking to terrorists" comes from hawks who assume that it's a naive, dove-ish tactic that the terrorists will ruthlessly exploit." It is. If you look at the situation in Iraq it only remains stable in some parts whist the US pays off insurgents. The crunch time will come and old scores will be settled. I'm not a hawk but I don't believe in self-defeating delusions about "dialogue" with terrorists. There are examples everywhere, from Zimbabwe to Palestine. Those who fight their way to the ballot box with gun and bomb do not good government make. I would have thought by now it was obvious. Should we have had dialogue with Hitler?
John Fisher
March 18th, 2008 8:13am Report this commentNicholas, you miss my point completely. Exploiting "dialogue" as part of a divide and rule strategy is different from the examples you cite: it would be a delberate (and ultimately cycnical) tactic to create division within the enemy's camp. The parallel would be not dialogue with Hitler, but dialogue with senior Nazis in order to undermine Hitler and his regime.
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