The spirit of the past

Many commentators have suggested that justice must be sacrificed for the greater public good of peace, but Sinn Fein unwisely have waded in, saying much the same thing over the arrest of Gerry Adams.  The Sinn Fein leader has been questioned by police over involvement in the murder of widowed mother of ten, Jean McConville, whose family were split up after her death and whose body was not found - by chance - decades later.  Adams has always been seen as a weasel figure - he never explicitly condemned the Omagh bombing and has continues to deny that he was a member of the IRA - far less trustworthy than his frank deputy Martin McGuinness. Dr Ian Paisley could do business and share power with McGuinness, never Adams.
Now though McGuinness has to follow the party line and that line is to pressure the police service into not progressing the case against Adams, claiming the case itself is politically motivated and threatening to withdraw their support from a force they themselves helped create. It is a foolish policy because it makes all those advocating the same thing appear tacit supporters of Sinn Fein and may make them more reticent in their utterances, so the neutrals are lost; but also, as First Minister Peter Robinson quite rightly says, such political pressure on the police is intolerable in a democratic society. Chickens are now coming home to roost for Sinn Fein who refused a blanket amnesty for all participants in The Troubles as it included British soldiers, even though Jeremy Paxman skewered McGuinness through logic over the hypocrisy of excusing one side but not the other, especially as IRA members saw themselves as 'soldiers'.  Peter Hain has talked of an amnesty for all but that would just be suppressing festering grievance - it probably is the right thing where history matters still after centuries, rather than a couple of decades.  However, it must be accompanied by a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Committee to bring closure for victims, even if Adams might struggle with the truth aspect.