Who in their right mind would want to attack celebrations to mark Ireland’s national saint, Patrick, the man accredited with bringing the Christian faith to Ireland thereby marking the end of the influence of the ancient Celtic pagan religions on the island.
After all, 17th March is commemorated right across the globe. Its the one day in the year that no matter what your background, you can claim to be Irish, or have Irish ancestry in your family tree no matter how many generations, decades or even centuries you have to go back!
However, the seriousness of this warning from the Gardai should not be underestimated and security forces across the world in countries where St Patrick’s Day will be marked would do well to heed the advice from the Southern Irish police force.
Islamic radicals have initiated a new change in terrorism since the 1970s and the height of the Troubles on the island of Ireland.
Gone are the days of the mid 1970s when the UDA openly marched in their hundreds through the streets of Northern Ireland in their campaign to bring down the then power-sharing Sunningdale Executive.
Like the original Ulster Volunteer Force of 1912, which was a militia formed to combat Home Rule, terror groups on both sides of the political divide during the early years of the Troubles formed themselves along traditional military lines with brigades, battalions, platoons and companies.
Ironically, it was to be a middle class terror group in West Germany, the Red Army Faction, commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, after two of its key terrorist members Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, which was to change the nature of terrorism from an Army-style military structure to the Maoist cell structure, named after the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
This made it harder for the intelligence community to penetrate the terror cells because in many cases one cell did not know the membership of another cell.
However, as intelligence gathering by the various security forces became more sophisticated - especially with the use of recruiting and using informers - the penetration of terror groups, especially the loyalist and republican gangs in Northern Ireland, became more efficient.
The dissident republican movement attempted to thwart this tactic by the security forces by forming different organisations, each with their own separate command structure.
During the Troubles, when there was essentially one Provisional IRA movement and one INLA movement, the dissidents were formed into Continuity IRA, Real IRA, New IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs and Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).
Even then, increasing surveillance methodology improved that even this multi-group structure could be bypassed.
It was the Islamic terrorists who then changed the whole nature of terrorism by masterminding the concept of the so-called ‘lone wolf’ - a single person who had been radicalised who would carry out one single terrorist atrocity usually involving the tactic of the suicide bomber.
Targets would be selected, not because of their military or political significance or importance, but because of the number of people present at the events.
The Islamic terrorist would have been brainwashed into believing that dozens of female virgins were waiting for him once he entered paradise.
Until the advent of the ‘lone wolf’ suicide bomber, the supposed golden rule of terrorist groups was how to plan the escape of the terrorists once they had carried out their gun or bomb attacks.
Put bluntly, with the Islamic radical ‘lone wolf’ strategy, there is no escape for the terrorist as they die or are captured in the attack itself. The problem then becomes for the security forces - how do we identity potential Islamic terrorists who have been radicalised into carrying out such ‘lone wolf’ attacks?
Next Monday, 17 March, will see thousands of people in Ireland alone - north and south - celebrate, either as participants or watching in the crowds, St Patrick’s Day parades and events.
Without wishing to be scaremongering, potentially these make prime targets for Islamic radical terror mentality. Not only is it a vast gathering of innocent people, but also such an attack can be portrayed by Islamic radical theology as an attack on Christianity given St Patrick’s role in the Christian faith.
Even if security is so tight that an Islamic radical cannot penetrate the security cordon, it does not answer the long-term question of how to defeat the radicalisation of Muslims to the point where they believe terror tactics are the only way to express their specific theology.
After all, whilst we pray that St Patrick’s Day celebrations pass off peacefully across the globe, we still have the many commemorations coming up this year to mark the 80th anniversary of both VE (Victory in Europe) Day and VJ (Victory over Japan) Day which brought the military horrors of the Second World War to an end in 1945.
In combating this brand of Islamic radical, a lot of onus must rest with moderate Muslim clerics who must get the clear message across to their flocks on a regular basis that theological radicalisation is wrong and runs contrary to the teachings of the Quran.
Whilst it may take time for moderate Islamic clerics to win the theological struggle, it may be necessary for the security services to do more than simply monitor suspected ‘lone wolf’ radicals.
Given the sophistication of surveillance techniques compared to the early Seventies in Northern Ireland, the time has now come to introduce selective internment of suspected terrorists, whether they be from an Islamic radical nature, or Far Right trying to incite a race war. Both factions are equally dangerous.
There is also the online battle. Those who use the internet to peddle hate must be tracked down, brought before the courts, convicted and given very lengthy jail terms - not in months, but in years.
No doubt the mere mention of the word ‘internment’ will bring howls of anger from the woke liberal factions in our society screaming that such measures would infringe the human rights of those suspected terrorists. But what about the human rights of their victims or intended victims? Should their safety and human rights not be equality guaranteed?
For the overwhelming majority of folk, St Patrick’s Day is a family occasion. We do not want to enter a situation, where as a society, we have to seriously consider cancelling much-loved festivities because evil terrorists simply want to make known their warped agenda.
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
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