"Bloody Sunday" < http://en.wikipedia.... >, November 21, 1920, is a hallowed day in the history of The Irish Republic < http://en.wikipedia.... >.
That morning most of the premier British intelligence service operatives were shot to death in their lodgings by assassination teams from the IRA.
These events are accurately recalled in the film Michael Collins < http://en.wikipedia.... >;
albeit the scene at the end where the British armored car rolls onto the soccer pitch, firing into the spectators, is an exaggeration.
There are similarities to that conflict and our own poignant circumstances in Iraq. For example:
*The Black and Tans (Black n Tans) < http://www.irish-soc... > are, in their contribution to the conflict, very much like our Blackwater auxiliaries.
*The fixation of the British with their counter productive program of generating terror through brutal interrogations matches our foolish obsession.
*If the conflict were played out today, the British government would call it Operation Irish Freedom.
*Elements in the Irish-American community covertly supported the Irish resistance against the British just as various Iraqi expatriate groups support kindred groups still in Iraq.
*The conflict ended with the partition of Ireland.
Come Wednesday have a wee drop to mark "Bloody Sunday" and a prayer for all those who suffered and suffer.
With every good wish,
John R. Cole