Death threat issued against NI's Martin McGuinness

[max_tranmere]

Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and former IRA commander, was advised by the Police last night that dissident Republican's are planning to kill him. This is not the first time he has been targeted, the loyalist paramilitaries tried to kill him numerous times over the years, but this threat is from other republicans.

Sinn Fein/IRA are the biggest organisation in Irish republicanism and the dissident's are very small. It was always rumoured that after the bombing of Omagh, Northern Ireland, in 1998, where 29 people were killed, the Provisional IRA threatened to kill the leaders of the dissident group who had done it (the Real IRA) unless they declared and immediate ceasefire. They agreed. So this proves that the smaller groups are afraid of the big group, Sinn Fein/IRA, and the notion they would actually try and kill McGuinness I think is very unlikely.

I think this threat is just words because they know it will get them media coverage and show them to the wider public as a force to be reckoned with (or at least they hope so). If they took out Martin McGuinness, the wrath of the gods would be unleashed on the Real IRA from Sinn Fein/IRA like they have never seen. For Sinn Fein/IRA leaders to visit the men who ran the Real IRA in their homes and tell them to declare an immediate ceasefire (after the Omagh bomb) proves they know who all of them are and where all of them live.

Isn't it a shame though that this sort of thing is happening again in Northern Ireland? This death threat has been issued to McGuinness purely because he called them 'traitors to the people of Ireland' following their killing of 2 soliders and a police officer during recent times.

[Brainsinmedick]

I am surprised all the 'big names' from the troubles have survived this long.

[max_tranmere]

Well Gerry Adams was very nearly killed in the 1980's when loyalist gunmen opened-up on a car he was in. I can't imagine what Gerry Adams would like like without a shirt on, his upper half must be in bad shape from all the bullets he took. A UDA hitman called Michael Stone tried to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness at an IRA funeral in Milltown, Belfast, in the late 1980's. Stone couldn't get near enough so those two survived but he killed several mourners with his grenades and handguns (you can watch the actual clip of that happening on YouTube, enter "Michael Stone Milltown" and click on "Stoner" when it appears). Lots of them have been bumped off but, like you say, it is interesting how two of the biggest players, who have had targets painted on their heads for decades, are still standing.

[beutelwolf]

Can I just say that the plural of dissident is dissidents and the plural of Republican is Republicans - no apostrophe!