Brighton Bomber back in Town

[fataddick]

He is not appearing in person, is he?

Yes. It's the centre pages of today's Argus. He's now friends with several relatives of those who died in the bombing, and it's them who insisted on relocating it from London to Brighton. Surprised local neo-Nazis haven't picked up on it yet and organised a demo outside for simple minded grief tourists.

 

[Crispy Ambulance]

He is not appearing in person, is he?

Believe so with a sort of q&a afterwards.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Yes. It's the centre pages of today's Argus. He's now friends with several relatives of those who died in the bombing, and it's them who insisted on relocating it from London to Brighton. Surprised local neo-Nazis haven't picked up on it yet and organised a demo outside for simple minded grief tourists.

Believe so with a sort of q&a afterwards.

Interesting. I don't feel i have strong feelings either way. His attack was when I was two and a bit and the whole bloody war passed me by.

I would rather hear what he had to say than ban him from Sussex. That is not accepting or condoning what he did as being acceptale.

 

[brighton bluenose]

There are innocent casualties in all 'wars'. Legitimate acts of war (as the Grand bomb was, within the IRA's own frame of reference) will have 'civilian' victims. I just think seeing everything in black and white does everyone a disservice. Targetting shopping areas - particularly working class ones in Northern towns Thatcher/Major never gave a shit about - was not a 'legitimate act of war' even within the IRA's own terms, and I would hope that the IRA themselves executed those responsible for such acts. Targetting Tory conference (as the '84 bomb did) or cabinet (as the Westminster rocket attack did) I do consider legitimate within the frame of reference of the organisation responsible. None of which means I don't condemn it and feel for those killed and injured. In summary: If the IRA had guillotined Mrs Thatcher on the steps of Whitehall I would have applauded loudly, but when they killed kids out shopping, I'd have been first in the queue to string them up. Do you at least understand (if wholly disagree with) the point I am making?

I expect Jimmy Saville was expressing some form of loving affection towards his victims within his 'own frame of reference' - perhaps you think that was OK too?!

And of course you must then agree that Drummer Lee Rigby was a legitimate target in his murderers 'own frame of reference' too?!!

 

[Eggmundo]

So for those defending the IRA and endorsing the attacks on the British Government, what would you have done with the 'Irish problem'?

The way I see it (and it is obviously a blinkered, ignorant view of course), we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The fact there is peace now is due to the terrorists realising they weren't going to get the resolution they wanted and having to cut back their demands, making a deal actually possible...

 

[Buzzer]

There are innocent casualties in all 'wars'. Legitimate acts of war (as the Grand bomb was, within the IRA's own frame of reference) will have 'civilian' victims. I just think seeing everything in black and white does everyone a disservice. Targetting shopping areas - particularly working class ones in Northern towns Thatcher/Major never gave a shit about - was not a 'legitimate act of war' even within the IRA's own terms, and I would hope that the IRA themselves executed those responsible for such acts. Targetting Tory conference (as the '84 bomb did) or cabinet (as the Westminster rocket attack did) I do consider legitimate within the frame of reference of the organisation responsible. None of which means I don't condemn it and feel for those killed and injured. In summary: If the IRA had guillotined Mrs Thatcher on the steps of Whitehall I would have applauded loudly, but when they killed kids out shopping, I'd have been first in the queue to string them up. Do you at least understand (if wholly disagree with) the point I am making?

By shopping areas in working class Northern towns that the Tories didn't care about I presume you mean places like Warrington - perhaps you weren't aware that the town regularly returned a Tory MP in the 80s and does so again since 2010? Or do you mean 'particularly' Warrington North? Warrington South would have been a lesser crime but only when represented by non-Tory MPs? You see, I'm puzzled by this sliding scale of atrocities you have:

"Shopping areas - particularly working class ones are bad" Oxford Street was bad. Warrington particularly bad. And that in return is worse than a bomb near an Army barracks - but then is Preston worse than Deal or the same, because Preston is a working-class area? It's all rather confusing.

And this idea that the IRA were carrying out a legitimate battle in Brighton. What part of planting bombs in a hotel is covered by the Geneva Convention? As it stands, planting that bomb broke 4 of the 7 basic rules and the fact that all 5 murdered people were non-combatants just proves that it was indiscriminate and can't in any legal, logical, or any other sense be described as legitimate.

Seeing as we're all being urged to defer to Jo Berry's opinions on this matter, it seems appropriate to point out that she constantly refers to her friend Magee as the 'man who murdered my father' and that her father died in a 'terrorist attack'. I happen to believe that is a fairer assessment of what happened than yours which appears to be heavily influenced by a class-war grief you have with a dead woman for things that happened 20 or 30 years ago. Time for you to move on too, I think.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The point of "terrorism" is that it terrifies a wider population than the people who are the direct targets of the violent attacks. The aim of terrorism is to achieve concessions because too many innocent victims are suffering.

All terrorists understand this. The IRA certainly did. It's completely irrelevant if some of the victims of an attack can be portrayed as "legitimate" targets.

 

[atfc village]

Lost 2 relations to The RA never forgive or forget .it was a war one we lost on 10th April 1998.

 

[ThePompousPaladin]

Lost 2 relations to The RA never forgive or forget .it was a war one we lost on 10th April 1998.

I feel for your loss.
But... strictly speaking, we lost the war on the 6 December 1921.