Funny little question on another forum

[California Tanker]

There are some flaws with the analogy.

1) None of the Irish paramilitary groups advocate(d) the destruction of Great Britain. They were quite happy to settle for "Brits out of Northern Ireland" which is at least a more tolerable goal. As it is, the major ones appear to have settled for the concept of a 'home rule' compromise.

2) None of the Irish paramilitary groups had anything of a reputation of killing hostages. They'd shoot British troops where they stood (or blow up civilians on the street), but barring the Shergar case, I can't think of any incidents where those detained for any period were killed. (FWIW, the PIRA leadership ordered an end to abductions in the 1980s). Ergo, there is less cause for concern to precipitate an invasion.

3) The bit about the head of the political party not being elected is a bit confusing. Each party in Ireland elects a candidate to be Party Leader and run for Taoseach (Prime Minister). By law, only members of the Dail (Parliament) can become Taoseach. Therefore the leaders of all the parties are elected by the people. Once, just to become a TD (MP) and thus be eligible for party leader, and if Taoseach, indirectly by having his/her party receive more votes than any other.

4) Though Sinn Feinn is now starting to take a notable chunk of the Dail, this only happened after SF repudiated violence as a means to the end. The Irish government, even in the highly unlikely (at this time) case of a Sinn Feinn leadership, would retain control of a quite effective internal policing system capable of doing a better job of finding a missing British soldier than a British military operation would be liable to obtain.

5) Even at the height of the Troubles, the paramilitary organisations such as the PIRA did not exactly enjoy overwhelming support. Now, admittedly, there was the issue of the Arms Crisis of 1970 before anyone really had time to consider an official policy, wherein some members of the Irish government were accused of attempting to smuggle (without higher government authorisation) arms to the PIRA, but that was dealt with internally and was generally considered a bit of a bad move by all and sundry.

6) Great Britain, of which England is a component part, is a single island under the exclusive control of Her Majesty's government and its uniformed services. As soon as there's a kidnapping of a soldier in England, (As per the initial post), they just need to seal the points of entry, and have the RAF/RN patrol the waters in case the kidnappers try to make a break for it by private yacht/boat or aircraft. That way it's a purely domestic criminal affair, Ireland doesn't enter into it.

Best way to deal with that sort of silliness. Inject reality.

Or better yet, read "Dawn Rose" by Mike Lunnon-Wood: Ireland is invaded and occupied by Arabs, held hostage in exchange for the Israeli-occupied territories. It really is an absolutely atrocious book, though Mullingar practically getting nuked did kindof put a smile on my face.

NTM