al-Qaeda v IRA

Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes in The Observer how Bliar views one as the personification of evil but the other as decent people he can do business with.

Blair's two faces of terrorism

Spot the difference: the Prime Minister declares war on al-Qaeda while making peace with IRA murderers

Ever since he became Prime Minister and began cutting a deal with the IRA, but still more since the 11 September attacks nearly four years ago, Tony Blair has tried to answer a conundrum: how can terrorism be utterly and unforgivably wrong in one case, but tolerable and negotiable in another? Why is murderous Islamic militancy so different from murderous Irish republicanism?

Last week, the Prime Minister was at it again. He unequivocally denounced the terrorists who killed 52 people in London on 7 July and said: 'I do not believe that we should give one inch to them.' At the same time he was preparing to give a mile to another terrorist group. In what was clearly part of a choreographed routine, he anticipated the IRA's statement on Thursday which renounced the 'armed struggle' and 'physical-force republicanism' without in any way apologising for decades of murder.

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