Another Twist in Colombia Three

Editorial

The Colombia Three last week turned themselves in to Irish authorities, and the latest dramatic twists in the ongoing saga have once again occupied the headlines in Ireland last week.

The story has simply not caught on here. The New York Times has given it scant coverage and other media has followed suit.

The days when Ireland could occupy the American foreign policy stage, as it did at times during the Clinton administration, are long gone — September 11 saw to that.

Of course, the Colombia Three case remains of great interest to Irish Americans. No one believed the men were in Colombia to study the peace process there, but they also closely followed the men’s original trial, sent observers and lawyers, and realized just how weak the case against the men was. The Scottish verdict of “not proven” is certainly the prevailing sentiment in Irish America.

For that reason the men’s original appearance in Ireland was seen here as entirely predictable given that it was highly unlikely they could be sent back to Colombia by an Irish court. The case is widely seen as unfinished business that Republicans had to get out of the way before decommissioning began.

In that sense it was a useful exercise. There have been inklings that there are still isolated pockets of resistance to the IRA’s dramatic statement of a few weeks back. The fact that the leadership was seen to take care of the Colombia Three situation will go down well towards that situation.

The Colombia Three issue can also not be divorced from what is currently happening in Northern Ireland. The ongoing Loyalist feud is feeding into an air of uncertainty with some Irish Republicans in America over the IRA move. One view is that sooner or later the Loyalists will settle their differences and begin attacking Catholics in greater numbers, and there will be no countervailing force on the other side.

That could leave Nationalist areas unprotected. Thus the risk the Republican leadership has taken in stepping down the IRA weighs far more heavily over here than any drumbeat in Ireland about the Colombia Three. Anything, such as sorting out the Colombia Three issue, that will solidify support for the IRA move is seen as a valuable step.

There are other major factors in play. There are many “on the run” (OTR) Republicans living under false identities, some for decades, in the U.S. If, as widely expected, as part of the deal they are able to return to Ireland that will further isolate those who have opposed the Sinn Fein political strategy. As long as the Colombia Three case was unresolved and the men’s whereabouts unknown, the question of the OTR’s could have remained unresolved.

That is one more reason why pulling the threads of the case together over the past few weeks was welcomed in the U.S.

The original case caused major problems in Irish America because it was seen as a direct challenge by the IRA in an area that America considers its sphere of influence. Conservative Republicans in particular were incensed that the IRA were allegedly operating and cooperating with Marxist guerillas so close to the American border.

But much of that sentiment has cooled, and the IRA announcement of its intent to decommission and go out of business has trumped any other considerations on the Northern Ireland question.

It was noticeable that all of the congressional figures who were originally infuriated by the Colombia Three escapade are now completely silent on the issue. The hope is that once the decommissioning begins the issue will fade and real talks on the future of the North will begin.