lansbury

The country hasn't, except under Clinton, some ill guided individuals and organizations have.

George W Bush added the IRA and Noraid to the list of banned organizations in the US about 9 years ago.

Lothianlad

Speaking purely on a humanitarian level this is all very sad, and a great shame.

In November 2009 I accompanied a group of fellow members of the British Association for Roman Archaeology (all of us British, of course) on a seven day trip (flying out to Tripoli from Heathrow) to visit certain archaeological sites on the coast of Libya, including Sabathra (to the west of Tripoli) and to the magnificent ancient ruins of Leptis Magna, literally on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, to the east of Benghazi.

We stayed at hotels in both Tripoli and Benghazi (the staff of which all seemed to be either Egyptians or Tunisians as they spoke English well - very, very few Libyans spoke English as Gadaffi had banned the teaching of English it seemed) and during our stay in Libya we met some really nice and friendly and welcoming Libyan people on a casual basis.

They seemed eager to find out from where we came, and when we told those who understood English that we were from the UK they said that they were happy that we were British and not Americans, as some of them recalled the American bombing of the Tripoli area back in 1986.

I wonder if they still feel that way now.

The ordinary Libyans we came across were just that - ordinary friendly looking people living their lives and who happily responded to smiles.

That's the tragedy of any war like situation.

Libya is obviously a very, very different place now compared with that of just sixteen months ago.

Bob

Took 9/11 for them to get around to taking them seriously though...

Xebedee

Oh good, all that retarded rebel-hero-underdog-pity of those genteel Irish Leprechauns must have been a dream........really must pop into "Finnegan's Pub and Flob Lounge" next week after work.

kimilseung

You could always email the brewer Erik Tylek Kettenburg at [email protected] and ask when the Twin Towers Porter will be avaliable.

lansbury

I based my comments on professional knowledge of the fight to overcome the PIRA, UDF etc. However if a small minority are how a country is judged that also implies all Irish, or Muslims in another context, are terrorists. To stupid for words really.

Kaffy Mintcake

Bingo. The alternative is to stand by and allow Libyans to be slaughtered.

cluedweasel

It will be even more perfect for my dart board

JULIEROSE

It certainly did - I agree.

Michael

We've watched while it happened in many countries before and will probably watch while it occurs in many more. If this was happening in black Africa, Asia, or Latin America, do you think we would be there?

Kaffy Mintcake

Probably not, but that doesn't mean always standing idly by is the right approach either.

Michael

Agreed, but if things get very bad in Yemen or Bahrain, which side do you think we would be on then? A government that is pro-western or the rebels? Complex questions.

Bob

You still do see a lot of that shit going on in Boston though, so it's a fair comment that it happens quite openly in Irish communities.

Sally Redux

Very good point.

elfman

Active support for the IRA was going on in the USA well before the Clinton years - NORAID was most active in the 70s and 80s, and the current chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Peter King was possibly the USA's biggest cheerleader for the IRA in that time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_T...rt_for_the_IRA