Probably the closest this country has ever been to a walking contradiction. A young man of violence who later worked for peace. An enemy of the UK and Ulster Unionists who worked, and became friends, with some of his staunchest enemies. As the father of one of the Warrington bomb victims said this morning, he could never forgive him for his actions, but he could talk to him
There is no wonder this country is in the sad state it is with brainless comments like this. Have a go at reading up on the wider story of McGuiness, Ireland and the troubles. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7
I won't give my real thoughts on here as it is not the right place but I will say I hope the heat has been turned right up in the place he has gone. He was a terrorist and murderer who got away with it.
Brainless comments? They are true; he was a murderer. As a serving soldier back in the 90's we saw many intelligence reports about him and the IRA.
The British occupation forces carried out many atrocities against the Irish people and I can fully understand why they took up arms against us. We did much the same in India and many other places round the world. We do not hold the moral high ground. McGuiness was an IRA leader who committed some awful crimes in the name of his cause BUT to his credit, he gave all that up, turned to peaceful politics and brought an end to the violence. There has to be a point where people come together in reconciliation and he was a brave man to stand up to the more militant factions on his side. Lets face it, no other man could have carried the IRA with him to the negotiating table - would you rather he hadn't?
I did 3 tours in the mid 70's, 1x Belfast and 2x kesh we did a fair bit of casevac and troop incursion ( I was air corps) and taken horrendous casualtys into Musgrave park I for one will be raising a glass tonight in celebration. we made it, some didn't, but I guess you'd got to have been there to understand, stag on mate
Blair has taken more innocent lives and I don't think he ever got discrimitated against because of his religion or seen his country occupied by force by a neibouring island who massacred innocent civilians in his home town. He did wrong but tried to right those wrongs.
I agree about blair. but occupying force on british terrortory, which is what ulster is,its like calling Aldershot occupied terrortory. the catholics asked for the army to be a buffer in 69 when the sectarian violence kicked off. and if you check your history you'll find that pira wanted to let the Nazi's garrison troops in eire, cant remember if it was devalaira or Collins ( who were neutral but on the quiet let the atlantic anti-submarine sunderlands overfly with harm or complaint) and having a BRITISH born grandfather who was born in Dublin ( before independence) who's brother was shot by the black and tans. Birmingham bomings, m62 bombing, support weapons wing in netheravon bombed and another device put on the nearest hydrant to go up when the emergency services arrived, the bombings in Germany, the bombings in Belfast. have you had to pick bits of a 21 yo's brain off your jumper or watch someone bleed out in your arms with people around you cheering....... NO, i'm guessing, and i'm so glad you havent because if you had you would come out with that ********. i'm sorry if I've upset you with my rant but I lost some good mates through that scumbag, he MAY have altered in later life but that doesn't help the corpses he left behind. think you'll find he was there on bloody sunday and he was armed with a s.m.g ( sub machine gun)
I'm all for forgiveness and believe that everyone deserves a second chance but that's pretty hard to disagree with . I salute you sir .
Sorry for your loss. terrorism is wrong as is innocent people dying no matter what coulor nationally or religion they arer didn't mean to cause any upset. I should have stayed clear of this abit deep for a football forum end of thread from me.
A random point about him also doing good in his life. Ted Bundy saved a child's life, worked for a suicide helpline and helped catch a serial killer too but that didn't mean he wasn't one of histories most notorious serial killers.
As an ex soldier like myself you'll have been given very similar briefings about McGuiness so you'll also be familiar with the attrocities he was involved in, directly and indirectly. He was evil, he was a coward and as commander in the IRA he gave a lot of orders to kill many people, the majority of whom were not British servicemen. I accept the part he played in the peace process and that his influence within the IRA helped to bring the cessation of arms in Ulster but that is where it ends. He never once apologised for IRA attrocities nor did he give up one single piece of information regarding those murdered or missing. Even at the end he took the cowards way.
its a difficult thing and hard not to personalise so I'm steering well clear of this only to say the deaths in Northern Ireland on all sides are a sad period in our history. Nelson Mandela terrorist or freedom fighter would be a less close to home topic I guess.
Vile man, such a shame his death didn't come sooner. Murdering scumbag. Some comments on here are ridiculous, my uncle was in the the army while this was kicking off, go have a chat to him about what went off.
What went off (on both sides) was a shameful part of our nations history as were a lot of events in Ireland over the years it was British - look into the potato famine where our governments (Tory and Liberal) let people starve while taking food from Ireland into the UK. Like a lot of people who later became involved in finding a peaceful solution he has a lot of blood on his hands. However, at least two families of his victims have come out to offer tribute to his work to find peace while acknowledging that they cannot forgive him for his crimes.
