Irish Republican Army Part 02 · p.81

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NIALLO'DOWDlooksatIrishNorthe
HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED
troversialIrishAmericanorganizatio
DATE 03-09-2011 BY
its17thannualbanquetonJanuary15
year'sguestofhonorisSeamusTwor
b6
Chief of Staff.
b7c
W
searchthehomesofevery
hasresultedin a major drop-
suspectedIRAsympathizerin
offofIrishAmericansupport
theland.Inall,one in twenty
for theU.s.fundraisingarm
HEN 83-year old
homesin theIrishRepublic
The Friends ofFiannaFail,
Michael Flannery briskly
wassearched.Thoughverylit-
and Noraidhavebenefittedas
strode.upNewYork'sFifth
tlewasfound,thehueandcry
a result,he says.
AvenueonMarch171983,with
againsttheProvisionalsand
But all isnot rosy for
theworldpressfollowinghis
their supportersreacheda
Noraid.What is at stake
everystep,theoldIRAman,
newpitch.
ultimatelyfortheorganiza-
and Irish Northern Aid,the
Then,astheoldyeardrewto
tion,isamuchlargerfloating
Americanmovementhe
aclose,the.IRA murdered
poolofIrishAmericanswhodo
founded,hadreachedahigh
John McMichael,a leading
notidentifywiththeIRAorthe
point in their.history.
memberoftheUDA,thehard-
Irish government,but who
InIreland,the memories of
lineUlsterProtestant
nevertheless-dependingon
thedeadhungerstrikerswere
paramilitarygroup,whointhe
events suchas thehunger
fastfadingintotheshade,but
pasthadmadeconciliatory
strikes orEnniskillen-will
in theU.s.the extraordinary
gesturestowardstheNa-
swing_theirsupporteither
publicreactiontothedeathof
tionalists.Againthe reaction
way.Noraid contributions,for
BobbySandsand nine others,
was shock and horror,as the
instance,jumped to record
crystalizedinto Flannery's
renewedspecterofanother
levels afterthehungerstrikes,
electionasGrandMarshalof
roundofsectarianassassina-
but then droppedoff.
theNewYorkparade,making
tionsreared itshead.
Noraid admitthey suffered
him themostvisiblerepresen-
WhileeventsinIrelanddo
asetbackafterthebombingat
tativeoftheIrishinAmerica
haveabearingonlevelsof
Enniskillen.Indeed,En-
thatyear.
IRA support in the U.S.,it is
niskillenwasadroitlyseized
Despiteaboycottonthe
alwaysworthremembering
uponby theBritish andIrish
paradebytheIrishgovern-
thatrightfromFaminetimes,
embassiestofurthertheirown
mentanditsaffiliated
hard-linebackingformilitant
anti-Noraidagendas.
organizations such as Aer
Irishrepublicanism-from
ButNoraid areparticularly
Lingus and theIrish Tourist
the Fenians,to the Rising in
pleasedat anotherac-
Board,and Cardinal Terence
1916totheProvisionalstoday
complishmentin1987,which
Cooke'srefusaltomeethim on
has.alwaysexisted in'theU.S.
wasperforming.animblexnd
thesteps ofSaintPatrick's.
Even in fallowtimes for
runaroundU.S.Immigratiom
Cathedral and despite.a con-
republicanism in Ireland,in
and
StateDepartmieft
certedmediacampaign.to
the‘30s and‘40sof thiscen-
authorities,by arrangingthe
discredit him- or perhaps
tury,there was still alarge
beqause of all of the above as
entryintothecountryftwo
hard-core groupin theU.S.
top-levelSinnFeinandIRA
dedicatedonlytothe-final.
spokesmen,
Cabimhin
ycarriedthedayinnotable
defeatandwithdrawalofthe
O'Caolainand
Seamus
fashion and his organization,
British from-Ireland.
Whwgmey.
Hespitefhestrict
IrishNorthernAidbenefitted
Thus,_despitethe En-
StateDepartmentBanonany
greatly.
Aniskillens,itishighlyunlikely
ProvisionalsenterfngtheU.S.
The lingering and most tell-
in thepresent circumstances
O'Caolainis.asenior
ingmemoryof thatepisodeis
inNorthernIrelandthatany
member of Sian Fein, but
anABC“Nightline'specialon
significantdentin thehard-
Twomeyguestofhonoratthe
theaffair，withformerNew
core supportforthe JRAin theNoraid annual banquet,is a
YorkGovernorHughCarey
U.S.couldeverbe achieved.In
muchbiggerfish.Heis one of
vainlytryingtobrandthe
tact,thesheersocialaspectof
thefewpubliclyidentified
elderlyandsomewhatsaintly
eitherbelongingtoNoraidor
formerChiefofStaffsofthe
lookinggentlemansittingto
attendingtheirfunctionsis
Provisionals,whose escape
his right,as an international
alsogreatlyunderestimated
aboardahelicopterfrom
terrorist.
by outside observers.
Mountjoyprisonin the1970's
Butnow.thatglorydayis
Indeed,the clubhouse cir-
quicklyturnedhimintoaPro-
longgone,and theIRAiscom-
cuitofAOH;Noraidand
visional folkhero.
ingoutofoneofitsworstyears
variousotherIrish communi-
Inboth cases,it seems the
ever.Firsttherewasthevery
ty dinnersisamustformany
mengainedentryaftergiving
poorshowingofProvisional
IrishAmericans,particularly
anglicizedversionsoftheir
SinnFein,thepoliticalwingof
thosewithanypoliticalambi-
names-KevinKeelan and
theIRA,ingeneralelectionsn
tions,either within the com-
JamesTwomey.Bothwere
theSouthlastFebruary.That
munity or ona broaderstage.
quicklysentontheNoraidtour
wasfollowedbytheslayingof
This aspect toNoraid con-
circuit,takinginfeveralcities.
eightoftheirtopoperativesat
tinues,totally oblivious to
across theU.S.,whileTwomey
Loughgall, County Armagh,
eventsinIreland,whichinany
isexpectedtgbeamajor
victimsofaBritishArmy am-
eventareoften
poorly
drawing cardforthedinner.
bush.
reported in the U.S.
(Twomey'spresencein the
Worsewastocome,when an
Giventhosecontinuingfac
U.S.,first reported in this
IRAunitdetonated.abomb
tors in theirfavor,Noraid ex-
newspaperlatermade
which killed 11 innocent
pecttoreportinwith$350,000
headlinesin theLondonSun-
civilians at Enniskillen in
in contributions for 1987,ac-
day Times,among other
CountyFermanagh.Around
cordingtotopNoraidofficial
publications.)
thesame timeDessieO'Hare,
Martin Galvin.Inaddition,he
But the public relations'
aka“The Border Fox,was
says,the organization has
boostthatthe-presenceof
leadinghisband of rogueIN-
passed the100markforunits
Twomeyrepresents will not
LAoperatives onakidnapping
established.Newunits,most-.disguisethefactthatotherset-
and murder spree around
lymade upof recent young im-
backshavebeenhanded to
Irelandbeforeeventuallybe-
migrants,have sprungup in
Noraid in 1987 as well.
ingcaught bypolice.Public
severalplaces the twomost
The1986formationof
reactiontobothevents
active in Sunnyside,Queens,
Republican SinnFein,aneven
borderedon thehysterical.
and theBainbridgeunitinthe
harderlineoffshootofthePro-
Shortlyafterwards,in a
Bronx.
visionals,whorefusetoaccept
stunning move,Irish Prime
Galvinclaims also thatIrish
the-decision.-ofProvisional
Minister Charles Haughey
prime ministerCharles
Sinn Feintorecognize the
orderedhisarmyandpoliceto
Haughey's anti-republicanline
IrishparliamentorDailand