Sinn FΘin President, Mr Gerry Adams, has decided that he will not attend the Congressional Committee hearing in Washington to answer questions about alleged connections between Sinn FΘin members and the FARC terrorist movement in Colombia. He probably reasoned that he would be damned if he did and damned if he did not.
Even Mr Adams's renowned eloquence and charm would be unlikely to carry him past the intensive questioning to which he would have been subjected. The mood of America, post September 11th, is intolerant of anything that smacks of support for terror. The Committee has compiled a dossier which argues that FARC was strengthened in its deadly effectiveness by support and training from the IRA, especially in bomb-making and the use of mortars.
But in not going before the Committee, Mr Adams leaves himself and the republican movement open to the charge that they are unable to give an exculpatory account of themselves. Some of his own supporters will be disappointed that he has not been able to ride to the defence of the three republicans imprisoned in Colombia and at present awaiting trial there.
Republican strategists realise that the FARC issue is not something to be viewed in isolation. While the IRA ceasefire remains intact, according to Dr John Reid, the organisation remains the prime suspect for the Castlereagh break-in. The family of taxi-driver, Mr Barney McDonald blame the IRA for his murder last week. And reports surfacing in UK newspapers suggest that the organisation is still sourcing weapons and targeting potential victims.
There may well be dirty tricks in some of this. But the cumulative effect is to bring unwanted pressure on the Sinn FΘin/IRA axis. The unionists are restive and Mr Iain Duncan Smith is to see the Prime Minister about the state of the IRA ceasefire. There is surprisingly little of the goodwill and equanimity which might have been expected to follow the organisation's second act of decommissioning.
None of this is to Sinn FΘin's advantage as the general election campaign gets under way in this jurisdiction. The party's attempts to present a clean image will be offset by unpleasant reminders that it is inextricably linked to a paramilitary army whose structures remain intact and which is still well-armed and well-resourced. Its candidates will have to seek votes - outside of the party's core-support - on the basis that it is travelling from a paramilitary past to a purely democratic future. Not everyone is yet convinced.