Lobby fails to halt US probe of IRA
Saturday December 22 2001
The blunt message came from the chairman of the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee, who has informed prominent Irish and Irish-American groups seeking to end the investigation the inquiry must continue.
"We must know what choice the IRA and its political leadership, Sinn Fein, have made concerning support for global terrorism," Congressman Henry Hyde wrote in a letter obtained by the Irish Independent to an Irish-American organisation who had appealed to the committee to end its inquiry into the roles of three Irishmen currently being held in a high-security prison in Bogota. The trio were arrested late last summer suspected of training FARC guerillas.
"We intend to get to the truth," continued Mr Hyde in a sharply-worded, two-page correspondence. "Embarrassment is not of concern to Congress when we are conducting an inquiry that involves protecting our national interests," he said.
Mr Adam's visit to Cuba this week which the US still designates as a state sponsor of terrorism and his comments on the three Irishmen has clearly rankled the congressional chairman, Mr Hyde.
- Susan Garraty in Washington
