A top aide to President George W. Bush has compared the IRA to al-Qaeda.
The comments by Mr Karl Rove, Mr Bush's chief strategist, drew criticism from the Ulster Unionists and Irish lobbyists in the US alike.<>
Talking about the war on international terrorism, Mr Rove said in an interview: "This is going to be more like the conflict in Northern Ireland, where the Brits fought terrorism, and there's no sort of peace accord with al-Qaeda saying, 'we surrender'."
UUP leader Mr David Trimble, who is attending the Republican National Convention in New York as a guest of the International Democrat Union, said he was confused by the comment.
"I'm not altogether clear about what exactly he's getting at," he said. "Al-Qaeda is quite a different terrorist organisation to those in Northern Ireland.
"It's perfectly reasonable, I suppose, to draw some parallel in that the war on terror will probably take a long time just like it did in Northern Ireland, if that's what he meant," he told the Washington Post.
The Washington-based lobby group, the Irish National Caucus, said the comments were a sign of the "anti- Irish Catholic elements in the Republican Party" in the US.
Caucus president Mr Sean McManus said: "Karl Rove's recent statement comparing the IRA to al-Qaeda is, above all else, stupid, but it also may reveal the true colours of some anti-Irish Catholic elements in the Republican Party."
"While there has always been many fine leaders in the GOP (Republican Party) with excellent records on Irish affairs, there has also been - as a matter of historical fact - a strong anti-Irish Catholic element, the 'no Pope here', crowd," he said.
"President Bush must immediately repudiate Rove's anti-Irish Catholic bigotry."