As Colin Parry said this morning, many terrorists turned statesmen have gone on to be remembered positively by history, it doesn't mean they are forgiven for the bad things they've done.
You don't have to forgive or even understand why he did what he did but to look at his life in the whole is...
I'm not sure 'binary' has crept in to the language?!?! It's not a difficult concept, people are not all good or all bad - As ROSM pointed out, Martin McGuinness has a very dark past, he is also a very important part of the peace process. To recognise the former but not the latter is a mistake.
Enlightened post, and you are correct, it probably will be controversial because some people struggle so much to get past binary.
At some point, I'm sure there will be a very interesting post mortem biography on McGuiness...