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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Gerry Adams not John Hume deserved Ireland's greatest ever award

Posted on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 07:19 PM
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John Hume was voted Ireland's greatest person ever by hundreds of thousands of voters in an Irish television program on Friday night after a five week contest.

I believe that the award went to the wrong person. No, not Michael Collins or James Connolly or Mary Robinson or Bono who were also in the frame, but someone who was not considered

Gerry Adams did more to bring peace to Ireland than John Hume did in my opinion.

He had a far tougher role to play and while John did incredible work, he did not literally put his life on the line time and again as Adams did at critical times.

Adams, of course, did not make the final five, a man so controversial as to be a former IRA leader would not be considered by the good people of Ireland

(Except of course Michael Collins was in the final five as was revolutionary James Connolly who also embraced violence --but that was back then when violence was different you see)

Don't get me wrong, John Hume is a remarkable individual who richly deserved his Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Northern Irish process.

But the reality is that John's incredible work on that process was going nowhere until Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness created the opening with the IRA.

Of the two , Adams and Hume, Adams had by far the tougher task, convincing the IRA that they must call a halt to their activities and fall short of their stated goal of a United Ireland.

It was the kind of position that got Michael Collins killed and it almost got Adams killed as well.

I am proud to say that I know both Adams and Hume reasonably well and can richly applaud the incredible accomplishments that they both helped bring to fruition along with Bill Clinton, George Mitchell Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair to name a few.

But the first and most vital step in all of this great story was ending the IRA campaign, without which none of the rest would have made even a whiff of sense.

It was Gerry Adams who achieved that previously impossible task.

If the Irish peace process was the yardstick to produce Ireland's greatest ever then Adams deserved the accolade for doing the most.


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105 Comments

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avemaria | Mar 03, 2011, 09:25 AM EST
I totally agree that Adams'had a far more difficult task than John Hume-in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. There would have been no peace without Gerry Adams. No one in the more than 800-year old intractable conflict was able to do what Adams did. It was mind boggling that he did not share in the Nobel Peace Prize with Trimble and Hume after his indefatigable quest for peace at great personal risk-and literally putting his life on the line.The day will come when Gerry Adams will be revered all over the world-but he may not be here to see it.

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sirpeter | Nov 17, 2010, 09:38 PM EST
See i can be civil,but you got to expect a bit of madness in genius..*smile

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pacifist | Nov 17, 2010, 04:50 PM EST
sirpeter, I respect your willingness to look into the matter and that you do deplore killing of any kind. Let's leave it that except for me to say that I wish you the very best.

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sirpeter | Nov 17, 2010, 03:04 PM EST
pacifist..I can see that you deplore killing of any kind,and weather you believe it or not so do i.But i refuse to judge a man for killing,because i cannot say that he is wrong for what he has done,If his conscience is clear and he believes what he is doing is right.If i knew the mind of God and i don't mean a book written by fallible men 400 years after the death of Christ.When i was young things were much simpler,there was a right and there was a wrong.Now i'm alot older and i find life is mostly living in the grey.I will check out if their were any hidden atrocities against protestants that was glossed over during the war of independence.I'll check out Kevin Myers ect, and see what i can dig up,It will just take time and i know it won't be easy,but if there is something there i will find it,and if there was atrocities against protestants,then history ought to know about it and revised.

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pacifist | Nov 17, 2010, 10:05 AM EST
sirpeter, the actions of the despots about whom you speak were not the those of Christians because they had abandoned that faith if they ever had it in the first place. You call Jesus Christ was " a good man ". He was more than that - He was the Son of God and very God Himself. Any reading of the four gospels and the book of Acts clearly outlines the manner in which we must live. The fact that the majority of people professing to be Christian do not act in this manner negates their claims. I can understand your point of view, although I disagree with it totally. True Christians return good for evil, do not seek vengeance, love their enemies. As to the killings of Proestants and Unionists - I can understand also that people handed down a history with a nationalist gloss cannot accept that people they thought as heroes were murderers. Just as most of us whose forbears survived the famine will not contemplate that any of our ancestors might have survives as a result of canniballism. I pleased I was wrong in suggesting you wouldn't check out Kevin Myers and I apologize for making that allegation. Once you have accessed his articles on the subject will you write a letter to the letters page of the Irish Independent, an article for that newspaper or even a book on the topic? Since you feel so strongly about these things why not do it?

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sirpeter | Nov 17, 2010, 07:57 AM EST
pacifist..When i came on this site,I couldn't believe the amount of misinformation that was been posted and downright lies.Even the Topic headlines seem to be designed to mislead and some are VERY damaging to the perception of the Irish people.There are some posters whose only agenda is to criticize everything Irish and post misinformed Irish history.These posters did not back up what they were saying with proof or reply with sensible dialogue when i confronted them and so i used some colourful language when i was confronting them,even if it was a bit intemperate.I will seek out their posts and correct them.If they don't check out the true facts which are mostly hidden below the media level,or don't respond with a counter argument, and continue to post the same lies and misinformation,I will hound their posts and make their post look idiotic with a colourful topping of intemperate language.Pacifist I believe in God,I believe there is something out there that we don't fully understand yet.Jesus Christ was a good man and his words are good and well meaning and a good guide for good living.But Pacifist,over the last two thousand years,Christians have used the bible as a weapon on all non Christians AND Christians alike,that when it is in the hands of Christian despots it is used with the fury of the most hideous weapon of mass destruction.My own belief is that i wish it was never written at all,the words are good,but the cover is dripping with the blood of a thousand Innocent nations.As a humanist my conscience finds it hard to hold the Bible.But if it gives you comfort and you try to live by what Jesus really ment,then i guess it can't be all bad either.

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sirpeter | Nov 16, 2010, 10:06 PM EST
@pacifist..That's where you are wrong,I will be checking out Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent.I try to check out all new information that might come to light,but like science,you have to show real proof or you look like an idiot.It's like all the 9/11 conspiracy theories on google,If you were not well informed,you might actually believe them,because they are made so well to deceive the less informed.Now i have explained about Peter Hart who has also tried to twist the false surrender at Kilmicheal.Mada Ryan's interviews with Kilmichael veterans all elicited references to the false surrender. Down through the years, the only person to cast doubt on the false surrender is Peter Hart, arriving on the scene in 1998. There has never been the slightest hint that any participant in the Ambush ever denied that it occurred — apart of course from the anonymous admission promoted by Hart, which cannot be validated.I will be checking out the other guys (ie Gerard Murphy)If i feel Kevin Myers might be on to something i will write to him.I look for truth and proof and that is all.I'm not defending Irish history,but i WILL defend it against lies.Why do you feel Peter Hart was revealing the truth about the atrocities carried out by the IRA during the so-called War of Independence? and why do you still believe him when he didn't have any proof..Just his word,that's not proof!!

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pacifist | Nov 16, 2010, 01:34 PM EST
I've read the insults including yours and have noticed the intemperate language too. It's not surprising that the local who came to hear him might have wanted to lynch him as he was revealing the truth about the atrocities carried out by the IRA during the so-called War of Independence. However I don't think you have or will check out Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent on what he has to say. But if you do - write to the editor of that newspaper and defend with facts what your counter argument is. I will be checking the letters page of the Irish Independent for your contribution. Better still - why don't you write a book or an article for the Irish Independent. As I've made clear before to you, I am a Chriatian and believe I should do what Jesus Christ said - that is turn the other cheek. It is stated clearly in the Bible, " Return good for evil, blessing for cursing ". And then there's the commandment, " You shall not kill ". ( Exodus 20:13 - NJKV ). And in the Roman Catholic Bible - Douay-Rheims, " Thou shalt not kill ". ( Exodus 20:13 ). Dare you refute those words? But I notice you haven't mentioned the other author - Gerard Murphy. Why is this?

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sirpeter | Nov 16, 2010, 07:54 AM EST
@pacifist..I am from Cork,I know all about these revisionist historians..I saw Peter Hart speak at UCC once, about 9 years ago, I thought the locals who came to listen would lynch him, they were massively hostile. His approach was massively flawed, he essentially equated attacks on unionists or informers with sectarianism, which is simply untrue (not to say there wasn't sectarianism, just that there was very little,nothing worth talking about)...and those flaws were minor compared to the actual basis for many of his claims , namely anonymous sources he refused to furnish but insisted he'd interviewed . Despite the fact that all physical witnesses were long dead . That glaring abnormality which he was completely unable to explain in any satisfactory manner was the source of much anger . It left him without any credibility in my opinion and cast serious doubt over his entire motivation and therefore honesty.Well he's dead now.I dare say he'll be interviewing his sources as we speak.And Pacifist you would be cursing people too if you cared about the real truth about Irish history and had to read the bigoted, misinformed,downright insulting posts here.My research comes from hundreds of well informed people and not from a few who just want to turn Irish history on it's head.And i curse those who cling to these made up lies.

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pacifist | Nov 15, 2010, 01:05 PM EST
FAO the Moderator: I submitted a comment three days ago, but it hasn't appeared yet. Where is it? Was it too close to the bone? Am I being censored? Doesn't the First Amendment apply to me?

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pacifist | Nov 12, 2010, 10:25 AM EST
Here I am again, sirpeter - and for your information, hancock, in Ireland. There's a great book out now outlining the historically verifiable slaughter and intimidation of Protestants in Cork by the IRA. It's called The Year of the Disappearances - Political Killings in Cork 1921-22 and it's author is Gerard Murphy. Another writer who exposed these atrocities is Peter Hart. Gerard Murphy names thre men who participated in these atrocities: they are Corry, O'Donoghue and O'Hegarty. Corry - Martin Corry - was a Fianna Fail TD. The information I outlined above is in an article entitled Kenin Myers: THe IRA in Cork camapign in cork against Protestants and non-Republicans was on a truly vast scale. in today's Irish Independent by Kevin Myers. This excellent article is in the Irish Independent of November 12th 2010 -that is today. Anybody seriously interested in the facts should google the Irish Independent and check columnists. I look forward to letters to the Irish Independent acknowledgeing or refuting what Kevin Myers and by extension Gerard Murphy and Peter Hart have written. I am sure all three writers are well capable of exposing the myths of Republican propaganda. As for myself - this is the last word since all I've heard/read in response to my assertions are abusive name-calling and a stubborn obstinacy to reconsider entrenched opinions.

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downinthebasement | Nov 09, 2010, 12:52 AM EST
I bet you like to get real close... Never stoop to get a farthing with you close by...if you know what I mean...danger, danger, danger... They don't call ya Sir Peter fer nothing...

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sirpeter | Nov 08, 2010, 05:06 PM EST
Still no answer. But ye have so much in common with the KKK.Ye both hate Catholics and ye both ware funny hats when marching and ye both never change the record.I mean..how close can you get.

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downinthebasement | Nov 08, 2010, 09:43 AM EST
Sir Peter...you are quite a hateful Fenien... You have no proof of a KKK association...you speak from your rectory... You...are the racist...you are the extremist...you are a intransigent...

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sirpeter | Nov 07, 2010, 05:18 AM EST
Just as i suspected no answer,Orange tradition's built around a KKK philosophy.Tradition's built around hatred and a deep sense of insecurity,Sad really,now that there is peace ye will disintegrate and melt like the snows of Peru .Ireland's own Afrikaners

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