British Elections and the IRA

Your May 7 editorial on Northern Ireland makes some valuable points, but readers of it may recall that during the recent election campaign, the IRA brought central London to a standstill with a series of bomb threats. It also exploded two bombs under an electricity pylon next to a freeway that, according to a senior police officer, were powerful enough to have caused death and destruction. And, on April 10, they shot and nearly killed a police constable, as she stood on guard duty outside the Derry courthouse in Northern Ireland.

“Terrorism” is the appropriate word here: No one in any part of Britain or Ireland--with the exception of the IRA--would describe the organization, as you do, as an “underground army.”

These violent incidents, and others equally serious, have not escaped the attention of all the parties to the political talks which will resume on June 3. The British and Irish governments are quite clear that in order for Sinn Fein to join the process, there must be an unequivocal restoration of the IRA cease-fire, demonstrated in both words and deeds.

Beyond that, and notwithstanding your reference to “political maneuvering room,” the goal posts have not shifted. The new British government has already reaffirmed that there will be no change in Northern Ireland’s status as a part of the United Kingdom without the consent of a majority of the people who live there.

MERRICK S. BAKER-BATES

British Consul General

Los Angeles