Sam,

You're right that the Brits royally screwed the pooch in N. Ireland. Had they not been dicks, the whole thing could have easily been prevented. Something that is disturbing is all those years we heard about IRA terrorism. But one dirty little secret is the fact that for the first decade or more, almost every incident of IRA terrorism was in response to UVF terrorism. IRA incidents were reported in the US while UVF incidents or atrocities committed by British forces generally were not.

As for unification, I'm against it even though I'm Irish myself. Unification to me at least is more aesthetic than anything else, just make the whole island Ireland. But the loyalists have been in Northern Ireland for 700 years. They are more British than Londoners and to force them to become part of Ireland is just reverse oppression for the sake of settling a 700 year old wrong (that the present generation had no say in), and to make a map look tidy.

A nation is not geography, it's people. The N. Ireland people are British 100%. Yeah they were specifically seeded there several hundred years ago, but they're there now and that's just the way it is. They are NOT Irish, and share nothing in common with the Republic of Ireland.

And the Ulsters WILL fight if there is even any serious talks about unification. They are almost ALWAYS the first belligerent. They seriously have a chip on their shoulders, and they want to be left alone. If you start talking about real unification, the Ulsters will begin a reign of terrorism that makes the Troubles look like a playground squabble.

The Brits are doing a much better job these days of keeping everyone at arms length. They're not allowing the protestant government to oppress Catholics like they used to. I'm not saying it's a picnic for Catholics in N. Ireland, but it's NOTHING like it was in the late '60's & '70's.

I consider myself a Sinn Fein and IRA sympathizer (but maybe not the Provo's). I also love The British, but they were horribly culpable, and I think they have mostly learned from that huge mistake.