patrick.net

The UK when dealing with the Troubles:

* Aggressively patrolled neighborhoods with Military Personnel and live bullets, engaged in running gun battles.
* Often did so on the basis of neighborhood religion or voting history alone.
* Suspended Civil Liberties for years, strip search at the drop of a hat by soldiers
* Forcibly expelled suspected Irishmen AND even Protestant Ulstermen from England/Wales/Scotland back to Ireland/Eire if there was a whiff of 'something being off'

And the IRA:

* Only wanted was a unified Ireland - political motivation. Unlike Wahabi-Salafis, a tangible, discrete set of political demands.
* Was not a civilizational threat and did not seek to transform the UK (beyond Eire) to an entirely different civilization.
* Every Irish Minister and the Pope condemned IRA violence in no uncertain terms.
* Italians, Catalans, Filipinos, and Argentinians did not volunteer as Foreign Fighters for "The Cause".
* Nor were Republican Sympathizers immigrating to Eire or the UK by the millions.