Editorial: A life snuffed out

The so-called Real IRA is not quite as quick as its Provisional predecessor in publishing statements about so-called military actions. Nevertheless, virtually all reliable indicators were pointing to the RIRA as the group behind the bomb attack in Derry that killed a 51-year-old Protestant construction worker, David Caldwell, and shattered the future hopes for his wife and four daughters.

It would be interesting to hear how the RIRA might explain its action in this case. It would likely be rather along the lines of the UDA attempting to justify the murder of a young Catholic man in Belfast days before. The jargon used to justify cold-blooded murder has rarely varied in the North these past thirty plus years, though the UDA+s -measured military response+ in the case of the killing of Gerard Lawlor had an especially ludicrous ring to it.

That said, the words used to condemn murder tend to have a familiar ring too. And as the record shows, they seem to have a habit of falling short of their intended targets.

So here+s a few novel ideas for the RIRA to digest. If you+re going to shoot and bomb your way to a united Ireland you might have to kill more David Caldwells, hundreds of them, perhaps thousands of them, maybe even tens of thousands. You might have to plant many more bombs, hundreds of them, thousands of them, maybe even tens of thousands.

We wouldn+t even care to count the number of bullets that will have to be fired from your guns. More than you could probably count.

Think it through. Victory through war will demand far more pain and misery than you will ever be able to actually inflict. And yet the pain you inflict on just one family is itself incalculable, unbearable, never-ending.

Think about it. And once you+ve thought it over give it up, pack it in, disband and just go away.

The same goes for the UDA.