They're back....

arbeitsscheuer

Hunt em down, extrodite them back to Columbia. If this government wants to make good on its promises, that's what it has to do.

P.S. My personal view is that if they really were trainin the FARC guerrilas then fair f**ks, cos I prefer them to the right-wing incumbent administration of Colombia. But in the interests of a lasting peace in the North, they must be found and extrodited. Sorry, but there it is.

Cork

SebtheBum wrote:

Hunt em down, extrodite them back to Columbia. If this government wants to make good on its promises, that's what it has to do.

P.S. My personal view is that if they really were trainin the FARC guerrilas then fair f**ks, cos I prefer them to the right-wing incumbent administration of Colombia. But in the interests of a lasting peace in the North, they must be found and extrodited. Sorry, but there it is.

The return of these 3 has the potential to create another stale mate in the peace process. Their return will not help US foriegn direct investment.

But I'd have no problems if these 3 wanted to serve out the remainder of their sentences in an Irish prison.

Observing the Peace process in Columbia?

What effect these 3 will have on our own peace process will be more to the point.

A Dub in Glasgo

Earthman wrote:

It might be "good timing" if you look at it another way...

Some people might have wanted to hand this to Paisley to slow up the process...
You know like what good is a process if it actually achieves an agreement with paisley? There'd be no big bad wolf to show up as the face of these baddie unionists.
Paisley might have got too reasonable too quickly like.

One should never underestimate the spanner throwers on either side when it comes to the North.

I see it in a totally different light.

We are in a process of "decontamination" from Paisley and his ilk. This process may take some time, it is far better to get this development out of the way now when we are very early in the "decontamination" process. I very much doubt that this development will prolong the timescales when Paisley will deal with SF. If the development came in 5 months time, it would give Paisley another excuse to prolong the process.

FTA69

They had to go public sometime didn't they? Any time they did announce their return would generate the same furore, better to have it over and done with so it can be swept under the general euphoria over the recent Army statement.

Fools going public on their return at this stage

And who are you to condemn them as fools? If you were through half the stuff they were you might hold a different opinion. Should they hide underground, living like rats because they might embarass you?

As for the people baying like hounds for their extradition to Colombia,
Do you honestly believe that the men recieved a fair or impartial trial in that country given its appalling international record? Do you honestly think it just to send 3 men convicted in a gerrymandered show-trial back to a country where they would be killed? I have been lectured on the importance human life by many of the above people, but yet when it comes to 3 Republicans the whole concept changes.

rsynnott

FTA69 wrote:

As for the people baying like hounds for their extradition to Colombia,
Do you honestly believe that the men recieved a fair or impartial trial in that country given its appalling international record? Do you honestly think it just to send 3 men convicted in a gerrymandered show-trial back to a country where they would be killed? I have been lectured on the importance human life by many of the above people, but yet when it comes to 3 Republicans the whole concept changes.

If you go to another country and do illegal things which you know full well will get you in trouble, and hurt others, then I really have very little pity for you.

gregos

Where does Columbia come into this? I thought they'd been in Colombia.

oscarBravo

FTA69 wrote:

Do you honestly believe that the men recieved a fair or impartial trial in that country given its appalling international record?

Do you honestly believe they were birdwatching?

A Dub in Glasgo

oscarBravo wrote:

Do you honestly believe they were birdwatching?

Do you honestly believe they were training FARC rebels?

mycroft

FTA69 wrote:

As for the people baying like hounds for their extradition to Colombia,
Do you honestly believe that the men recieved a fair or impartial trial in that country given its appalling international record? Do you honestly think it just to send 3 men convicted in a gerrymandered show-trial back to a country where they would be killed? I have been lectured on the importance human life by many of the above people, but yet when it comes to 3 Republicans the whole concept changes.

What evidence do you have that the trial was unfair?

What evidence do you have that the charges are false?

What evidence do you have that they are to be executed?

Adubinglas wrote:

Do you honestly believe they were training FARC rebels?

Why were they there? Why was an IRA bomb maker with them?

county

they would want to stay in the south,if they cross the border they will be executed,and that would be a crying shame :rolleyes:

A Dub in Glasgo

My Croft wrote:

Why were they there?

I do not know. Do you know?

Why was an IRA bomb maker with them?

Was he?
Who was that?
What evidence do you have that he is still involved in bomb making?
What do you think of this IRA killer?
Is he still an IRA killer?

mycroft

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

I do not know. Do you know?

I know they've lied about their reasons being there, and changed their stories several times, I know SF changed their offical line on the men on a number of occasions.

So I don't know, I just know their version of events and SFs version of events can't be trusted

Was he?
Who was that?
What evidence do you have that he is still involved in bomb making?
What do you think of this IRA killer?
Is he still an IRA killer?

James Monaghan is a convicted bomber, I do so dislike that tedious little habit of yours of asking me to research what we both know is true.

I do so love these non sequiturs. And what the f*ck has Sean O Callaghan's track record got to do with Monaghan's? Sean doesn't make bombs so James doesn't? :rolleyes: What sort of logic guides you?

Sean O Callaghan wasn't trooping around a jungle with a false passport cozying up to terrorists, lying about why he was there and having his party consistently change their stories about why they were there.

So I don't know, but I'm not taking his word for it.

Oh and FTA69, they weren't going to be executed they were going to jail for 17years. Cease thy hysteria.
Catch youself on.

hill16

Mr Mycroft wants to know how the trial was unfair.The only evidence against them was a statement from a alleged ex FARC rebel who says he saw them on certain dates training the rebels.The only problem is that on the dates he gave Connolly was in the Irish embassy in Mexico and Monaghan was at an ex prisoners meeting in Belfast which was filmed.

oscarBravo

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Do you honestly believe they were training FARC rebels?

I think it's a much more likely explanation for entering a country illegally than eco-tourism.

mycroft

hill16 wrote:

Mr Mycroft wants to know how the trial was unfair.The only evidence against them was a statement from a alleged ex FARC rebel who says he saw them on certain dates training the rebels.The only problem is that on the dates he gave Connolly was in the Irish embassy in Mexico and Monaghan was at an ex prisoners meeting in Belfast which was filmed.

Actually if I recall the only evidence of that was the word of a bunch of republican prisoners, and video of said meeting that wasn't time stamped.

Care to provide a non saorise link for the rest?

Villain

mycroft wrote:

Actually if I recall the only evidence of that was the word of a bunch of republican prisoners, and video of said meeting that wasn't time stamped.

Care to provide a non saorise link for the rest?

Heres some facts:

The prosecution relied heavily on the testimony of informers, all of which was refuted through alibi testimony for all three and video evidence showing, for example, that Jim Monaghan was actually in Dublin and Belfast on dates that it was alleged he was in the jungle training the guerrillas. Sile Maguire, First Secretary at the Irish embassy in Mexico, testified that she had dinner with Niall Connolly on 17 January 2001 in Cuba, along with Jim O’Keeffe Fine Gael TD and Ben Briscoe Fianna Fail TD on a date an informer claimed he was in the demilitarised zone.

So are you calling Sile Maguire a liar????

BuffyBot

Do you honestly believe they were training FARC rebels?

Well, ermm yeah. Don't see First Choice flying holiday charters there, and there seems very little reason for them to be there otherwise. Bird watching, eh?

Cork

BuffyBot wrote:

Well, ermm yeah. Don't see First Choice flying holiday charters there, and there seems very little reason for them to be there otherwise. Bird watching, eh?

Mortar Monaghan reported as being one of the Provisional IRA’s main weapons experts since the organisation’s inception.

Maybe he has taken up bird watching.

cal29

Big deal about nothing better to get it out of the way now

In a couple of weeks it will be all forgotten about

If they returned home in the middle of negotiations with the DUP or shortly after the return of Stormont then there would be a problem

My guess is that they are probably back a while and it has been decided to get it out into the public now and get all the mock shock and indignation out of the way

The only evidence against them was the word of an informer who the trial judge completely discredited as well as the fact that he was proven to be lying

the forensic evidence that the columbia authorities produced was completely discredited

The trial judge who actually heard the evidence found them not guilty

A Dub in Glasgo

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

I see it in a totally different light.

We are in a process of "decontamination" from Paisley and his ilk. This process may take some time, it is far better to get this development out of the way now when we are very early in the "decontamination" process. I very much doubt that this development will prolong the timescales when Paisley will deal with SF. If the development came in 5 months time, it would give Paisley another excuse to prolong the process.

Given that most of the Sunday papers are quoting the Gardaí today as saying they have been in Ireland since march,I'd say that sort of dampens your theory.
They could have done the RTÉ interview 5 months ago but chose a week after the IRA statement instead.
Very silly TBH and more in line with the spanner throwing,lets give paisley something to crow on about and go nah na nah na na to the unionists at the same time theory.

As I said earlier if it was genuinely a case of the grass roots of the IRA needing to hear that they were home, the local commanders could have met them and withnessed the homecoming.
Gloating in public like this was definitely not the way to go imho.

By the way the Gardaí have no reason to arrest them as afaik they are Irish citizens and not fugitives of any law broken here.
They are entitled to be in their own country and if they werent caught using false passports in other countries to get here then they are home and dry.
Columbia doesnt have an extradition treaty with the Republic of Ireland either so only the government can change the situation such that columbia can apply to have them arrested and returned.
It's unlikely that they will do that as I suspect that the government here are a tad more pragmatic than the(in my opinion) people who made the foolish decision to do the gloating.

Cork

Are there not European arrest warrents issued for these individuals?

International law needs to take its course.

the forensic evidence that the columbia authorities produced was completely discredited

Or was it that these people got the "wrong result"?

Cork

Cork wrote:

Are there not European arrest warrents issued for these individuals?

Not that I know of-just columbian

International law needs to take its course.

meaning unless theres an extradition treaty with columbia,they stay free whilst in the 26 counties.
The Irish republic has no extradition treaty with columbia as far as I am aware.

Victor

Cork wrote:

Are there not European arrest warrents issued for these individuals?

Interpol warrants. Not as effective as a European one.

Wheely

The Republic of Ireland has no extradition treaty with Colombia. I'd say the govt. will send them back anyway tho.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Villain

Lad's they won't be sent back, there is no extradition treaty and they can easily argue that their human rights could be infringed upon if they were forced to return. Take the case of the Priest who the US wanted extradited for sexual abuse claims, an Irish court denied the request because they deemed that Alabama's laws could infringe on his human rights!!.

There here to stay whether you like it or not and don't try and convince Bertie didn't know they were in the country, deny deny deny then a new news story will come along.

Victor

I wonder if they could be prosectuted here on the passport charges. :D:D

Trotter

FTA69 wrote:

They had to go public sometime didn't they? Any time they did announce their return would generate the same furore, better to have it over and done with so it can be swept under the general euphoria over the recent Army statement.



And who are you to condemn them as fools? If you were through half the stuff they were you might hold a different opinion. Should they hide underground, living like rats because they might embarass you?

As for the people baying like hounds for their extradition to Colombia,
Do you honestly believe that the men recieved a fair or impartial trial in that country given its appalling international record? Do you honestly think it just to send 3 men convicted in a gerrymandered show-trial back to a country where they would be killed? I have been lectured on the importance human life by many of the above people, but yet when it comes to 3 Republicans the whole concept changes.

3 Innocent republicans, just off on their holidays to the South America , and ended up having their bird watching / peace process observation all messed up by the Columbian police. They even made them show off their fake passports!!

I am SO SICK of SF and their "it wasnt me" BS. They take the rest of us to be complete fools, and bertie is warming to it all the time just so he can have a coalition option and keep his big money job at all costs.

It makes me sick. Hunt them down like the British police did with the terrorists there, lock them up and put them on the first plane to Colombia. Enough of the SF "Sure they'll never figure us out" rubbish.

dlofnep

No extradition treaty between us, I say let them stay here. They won't have a fair trial out there. Who is anyone here to judge what they were doing, whether it be a peace keeping analysis trip or something else - we don't know but I'm almost certain everyone who likes to splatter off judging a scenario without knowing everything will have their mouthful.

Can anybody clearly say here that they were out training farc rebels? No, they can't but they'll say so anyways. Keep them in Ireland, **** columbia. They only reason why they would be even considered for extradition is to suit Bush and his police state policies he has over there. **** him too.

mike65

Tommy Gorman on RTE News just now speculated the re-emergence of the Columbia 3 was a (in my words, not his) "quid pro quo" for not being able to get the McCabe killers free. Possibly, after all how did the men not get picked up on thier way back here on well documented false passports.

The Garda source in todays Sunday Tribune is adamant the 3 have been in the country since March, surely they'd have been spotted so why we'rent they picked up?

Mike.