Sir, - In 18 months will we need another international commission to get round the new precondition (some sort of an" election) to all party talks?
John Major has won a pyrrhic victory. He has to be a very foolish man if he thinks he can get away with slapping Uncle Sam in the face.
Major's gratuitous dismissal of the key proposal in the Mitchell Report - the compromise on decommissioning - is a grievous insult to the US.
In over 20 years in the US, I've never seen such a united front against the London government - key political leaders, members of Congress, the media and, of course, all Irish American organisations.
One of the (maddening) advantages the English government had always had in the US was its perceived reasonableness. "It was those difficult Irish Protestants and Catholics that were unreasonable."
But now more than ever before it is plain for all in America to see who is being obstructionist and difficult: the London government.
That is why, if the Irish in Ireland and in America, maintain cool heads and stay committed to non violence, the English government has scored an own goal - from which it won't be able to recover.
And what about the Irish in Britain? Now that there is no longer violence, they could be free to play a pivotal role (of course, there is still the repressive legislation - like the PTA - that has had such a chilling effect on those who wanted to, legally and non violently, speak out against injustices in Northern Ireland). Nine unionist votes are important to John Major staying in power. But in a general election those nine votes are insignificant compared to hundreds of thousands of Irish votes in Britain. - Yours, etc.,
President,
Irish National Caucus, Inc., Capitol Hill, East Capitol Street SE, Washington DC.