[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 148 (Thursday, September 21, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1822-E1823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TIME FOR COURAGE AND MOVEMENT ON NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE PROCESS

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 21, 1995

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times on 
September 20, 1995 wrote a very provocative and important piece on the 
current stalemate in the peace process in the north of Ireland.
  His work ``No Guts, No Glory'' is a challenge to all sides and 
interested governments, including our own, not to let the extraordinary 
opportunity, which the current peace process presents for lasting peace 
and justice in Northern Ireland slip away.
  Mr. Friedman constructively reviews the difficult arms 
decommissioning issue, and supports the proposal for an international 
commission to handle that difficult question which currently has 
stalled the peace process for months.
  I ask that the piece by Mr. Friedman be reprinted at this point in 
the Record for the benefit of my colleagues, and all those interested, 
and charged with finding solutions in the long and difficult struggle 
to bring lasting peace and justice to Northern Ireland.
  I also ask that a statement I issued just recently in support of the 
international arms decommissioning dual track approach to help move the 
peace process along at this critical moment in Irish history, also be 
included in the Record at this point.
  It is time for all sides to show guts, and plenty of glory will 
surely follow for all those concerned about lasting peace for the warm 
and generous Irish people.

               [From the New York Times, Sept. 21, 1995]

                           No Guts, No Glory

                        (By Thomas L. Friedman)

       Washington.--The lion in ``The Wizard of Oz'' didn't have 
     it, but at least he knew where to get it. Nelson Mandela had 
     it, and so did F. W. de Klerk, and they used it to good 
     effect. Yitzhak Rabin has it and so does Yasir Arafat, 
     although occasionally they lose it and need help finding it 
     again. It's called ``courage,'' and unfortunately none of the 
     key players in the Northern Ireland conflict have it right 
     now.
       Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein doesn't have it, the British Prime 
     Minister John Major, certainly doesn't have it and the 
     Protestant leader David Trimble wouldn't know it if it were 
     pinned to his chest. And that's why 13 months after the 
     cease-fire took effect in Northern Ireland, the parties still 
     have not begun peace talks to bring a permanent end to the 
     fighting.
       The sticking point has been the British-Protestant refusal 
     to sit down for peace talks with Sinn Fein--the I.R.A.'s 
     political wing--until the Catholic gunmen of the I.R.A. first 
     surrender some weapons.
       This is poppycock and nothing more than a pretext by Mr. 
     Major to disguise his ambivalence about entering into 
     negotiations with the I.R.A. at all. If the I.R.A. had tanks, 
     missiles and MIG-29's, there might be some strategic merit to 
     the British insistence that it turn in some weapons first. 
     But the I.R.A. arsenal consists almost exclusively of 
     handguns, knives, flaming bottles and some plastique 
     explosives. They could turn them all in tomorrow and 
     replenish most of their arsenal the next day with a Guns & 
     Ammo mailorder catalogue and a visit to the local hardware 
     store. The I.R.A invented the fertilizer bomb.
       The issue is not how to deprive the I.R.A. of their 
     military capabilities, which are endlessly replenishable. The 
     issue is how to change their intentions to resort to 
     violence. The only hope of doing that is through all-party 
     peace talks. (If Israel could talk to the P.L.O. without 
     insisting it disarm, the British can talk to the I.R.A.)
       A perfectly reasonable compromise is on the table: an 
     international commission would be formed, parallel with the 
     start of peace talks, that would bring British, Protestant 
     and I.R.A. representatives together to discuss how weapons 
     might be ``decommissioned'' as part of a final peace deal. 
     This international commission could, in effect, disconnect 
     and isolate the weapons issue from the peace negotiations, 
     while giving everyone a sense that as progress was made 
     around the peace table, there would also be progress toward 
     all sides surrendering some weapons. Unfortunately the 
     British have balked even at this idea, because they want to 
     reserve the right to demand that the I.R.A. hand over some 
     weapons even before convening all-party talks.
       But John Major is not the only one who has gone wobbly. 
     Gerry Adams is now also resisting the idea of an 
     international commission on weapons, because he wants to be 
     assured that such a commission won't, at 

[[Page E 1823]]
     some stage, ask it to make a symbolic gesture in retiring some guns 
     before negotiations really get under way.
       This too is cowardly. No international commission (which 
     the U.S. would likely run) is going to ask the I.R.A. to make 
     any gestures on arms until there is parallel progress at the 
     peace table. If the I.R.A. had any vision or leadership right 
     now it would quietly tip off the British to a small pile of 
     I.R.A. explosives somewhere. Such unilateral handover would 
     ease British concerns, without costing the I.R.A. a thing.
       President Clinton, who helped engineer the cease-fire, 
     seems to have lost interest and fallen asleep at the wheel. 
     Fortunately, the Prime Ministers of Britain and Ireland are 
     meeting Friday in another attempt to break the deadlock. The 
     fact that the cease-fire in Northern Ireland has lasted for 
     more than a year should tell them something. It should tell 
     them that the people want this new way of life to be 
     permanent and they have given the politicians a silent 
     mandate to make it so. But instead of listening to the 
     silence, the politicians are listening only to themselves.
       This isn't complicated. It's time for the British and the 
     Protestants to start all-party talks with Sinn Fein, and for 
     all three to accept an international commission that could 
     defuse the weapons issue until there is progress at the peace 
     table. But that sort of simplicity takes some courage. Sad to 
     say that among British, Protestant and I.R.A. leaders right 
     now there is no one who answers to that name.

   [From the House International Relations Committee, Sept. 13, 1995]

 Gilman Urges Immediate All Party Talks on Northern Ireland: Supports 
               Separate Commission To Address Arms Issue

                        (By Benjamin A. Gilman)

       Washington.--Committee Chairman Benjamin A Gilman (20th-NY) 
     today called for ``immediate all party talks'' on peace in 
     Northern Ireland, and suggested that the issue of arms 
     decommissioning be addressed by an international commission 
     on a separate track.
       Gilman spoke out following meeting with Sinn Fein President 
     Gerry Adams in which the status of the peace process was 
     discussed.
       ``Efforts by the British government to dictate 
     preconditions or outcomes prior to talks merely obstructs 
     access to the only means of finding a consensus political 
     solution in Ireland, namely the peace negotiating table,'' 
     Gilman said.
       Noting that arms decommissioning has long been a stumbling 
     block to peace talks, Gilman said ``a separate track is 
     needed for this issue that could be in the form of an 
     international commission whose findings would be binding, 
     however, such a commission should not become yet another 
     precondition to talks.''
       Gilman warned that ``these past 13 months of peace have 
     been a window of opportunity to achieve a just and lasting 
     peace after a quarter century of violence and bloodshed. We 
     must not allow this window to be shut against those who are 
     earnestly seeking peace.''
       Long a champion of peace and justice in Northern Ireland, 
     Gilman this year led the Committee's first hearings on the 
     Macbride fair employment principles, and saw their inclusion 
     in the House-passed foreign affairs bill as part of the U.S. 
     contribution to the International Fund for Ireland.
       The Macbride principles are aimed at ending systemic job 
     discrimination, most often aimed at the Catholic community in 
     Northern Ireland.

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