The patriot game: the terrorism in Northern Ireland will continue, until the politicians dare to stop it - and from

National Review, April 26, 1993 by Conor Cruise O'Brien

John Major, in his statement after Warrington, expressed his determination to "hound down" those responsible for the murders of those children. I applauded the spirit of that statement, the most vigorous to have come from any member of the political establishment. Yet the implications may reach further than Mr. Major realizes.

The people who planted the bombs may perhaps be reached by efficient police measures. But those who planned the bombings, and are planning further ones, will not be reached without internment.

In this spirit we can welcome the new peace movement in the Irish Republic. If politicians in Dublin, and in London, could be persuaded that the best answer to this call for peace is selective internment on both sides of the border, there would be some real hope that we would not have to grieve again for children like Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry.

The most useful thing the U.S. can do about this matter is to back the even-handed implementation of strong security measures. The sending of a Peace Envoy would be a disaster. Both sides in Northern Ireland would see such a mission as a victory for the IRA, and the incipient civil war would heat up proportionately.

Mr. O'Brien has just published The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke (University of Chicago).