Gerry Adams says Thatcher caused "great suffering" in Ireland [View all]
Source: Reuters
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher caused "great suffering" in Ireland and her policies there ultimately failed, Irish republican leader Gerry Adams said on Monday.
Thatcher has long been a figure of hate for nationalists in Northern Ireland for her uncompromising policies during her 11 years in office between 1979 and 1990, which saw the death of 10 prisoners in a hunger strike.
Supporters say her hard line was inevitable after Irish Republican militants killed close Thatcher ally Airey Neave in a 1979 car bomb attack and the IRA came close to killing her in a bomb at the Conservative party conference in Brighton in 1984.
Adams, who acted as the public face of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) for much of its three-decade guerrilla war against British rule in Northern Ireland, said Thatcher's Irish policy failed miserably and delayed the achievement of peace in 1998.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/08/us-britain-thatcher-adams-idUSBRE9370MT20130408
If any Irishman has the right to say this, it is indeed Mr. Adams. He suffered badly at her hands having been locked up in the H block prison for too many years. Hang in there Gerry, she's gone now and she cannot ever do harm to you or the Irish people again.
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