Editorial Bear

Sadly, growing up in Britain during 'the troubles,' my generation is no stranger to terrorism.

Back in the day, it was a regular occurrence to see news reports of bombs going off in shopping centres or city streets. The IRA had a pretty good structure behind it - murdering civilians over in the UK, while simultaneously presenting a whiter-than-white facade to their American financial backers.

It's still a common misconception in New York that the IRA never targeted non-military targets. If only that had been true.

But if 9/11 had any benefit - which of course it didn't - it was in ending the IRA's reign of murder and terror. Now that America had been introduced to the realities of terrorism, it was no longer a legitimate political tool. New Yorkers who might once have slipped five bucks into a tin to support 'the boys back home' had woken up to what their money was paying for.

Sadly, as the events of the last few days have reminded us, the end of the IRA has not led to an end to terrorism in Britain. True Islamic Fundamentalism - the stuff behind murder and mayhem for decades in the Middle East - has arrived in force in the UK. While the methods, organisation and objectives of the new millenium's terrorists may be different - the consequences seem to be the same.