Madam, - At the end of the 1938 film Angels with Dirty Faces, gangster Rocky Sullivan (played by James Cagney) is dragged screaming and struggling to the electric chair. The normally defiant Sullivan deliberately chooses to "die yellow" so the hero-worshipping Dead End Kids will become disillusioned and not grow up to be like him. The Sullivan character is a lovable rogue, jovial and loyal, but also a murderer. His destruction of his own image is an act of redemption at the end of a wasted life.
Together with arms decommissioning, surely there is an opportunity for the IRA leadership to carry out a similar act of redemption, though of course not as dramatic as the one in the film. No doubt there were (and are) many Rocky Sullivans in the IRA. The sum total of their acts has left a desolation of grief and regret that will be washed away only in future generations. Politicians may posture in the reflected glory of decommissioning, but that is little recompense for the lives lost or ruined over three decades.
It would be no bad thing for armed republicanism to dignify its exit with humility and clarity. It is, after all, only obeying the will of the Irish people. The thought of the IRA as an old soldiers' club is repugnant. Nothing would be more appropriate than its complete departure.
Let the IRA destroy the myth of "the lads" for future generations once and for all. - Yours, etc,
TOBY JOYCE, Balreask Manor, Navan, Co Meath.
A chara, - This is a truly historic time in the history of our island, as the IRA finally has brought an end to an era of senseless, needless violence and decommissioned its weapons.
Many politicians and ordinary citizens have made an invaluable contribution to bringing peace to our island and deserve much praise for staying the course, especially when it was unpopular to do so. The Taoiseach, for example, has devoted more time and energy to securing peace than any other leader in the history of the State.
However, there is one woman who will be unable to share in the richly deserved plaudits. I hope Ireland never forgets Mo Mowlam's contribution to taking the "republican" guns, at least, out of Irish politics. What a shame she will not be with us to witness the start of a brave new chapter in Irish history. - Is mise,
DECLAN HARMON, Whitethorn Crescent, Palmerstown, Dublin 20.
Madam, - Today, constitutional nationalists and democrats across Ireland should be celebrating the decommissioning of IRA weapons. John Hume, Seamus Mallon, Mark Durkan and constitutional nationalism are the real political winners. Despite murder and mayhem, dismay and disappointment, in the face of triumph and setback, the SDLP and others kept faith in the primacy of politics and non-violence.
As Senator Maurice Manning said in the Seanad on October 25th, 2001, following the first act of IRA decommissioning, "What we are witnessing is a victory for constitutionalism and peaceful democratic politics of the type practised by the SDLP for 30 long, difficult and unrewarding years. In a real sense everyone is a victor today, but if there is an ideological or philosophical winner, it is the mainstream parties - especially, as I have said, the SDLP, because its brand of politics has triumphed.
"In all the spinning and euphoria it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the advocates of physical force, as they call it, have yielded and conceded to the old fashioned advocates of democratic constitutional politics. The historical traditions of O'Connell and Parnell, on which the politics of all parties in this House are based, have ultimately been the victors in the battle of ideas."
There is also a clear message to those loyalist and unionist politicians who in recent weeks have said that violence works. The lessons from the IRA campaign are clear. You cannot solve difference by creating divisions. You cannot create peace by using violence.
The violence of the IRA, loyalist paramilitaries and state forces did not protect civil rights but undermined human rights. Their violence did not secure justice but inflicted grave injustice. In reality, the IRA was forced to stop the killing because John Hume convinced it that political dialogue was the only way all outstanding concerns could be shared, understandings reached and a new agreement secured.
The tragedy is that 1,771 people had to die at the hands of the IRA before the Provisional movement recognised that more could be achieved for republicans through exclusively peaceful and democratic means.
The urgent task now for all parties throughout Ireland is to restore the political institutions under the Good Friday Agreement and build an inclusive democracy and a lawful society. - Yours, etc,
Cllr TIM ATTWOOD, SDLP, Belfast.