At last, a link between Iraq and terrorism

It emerged today in the course of a strange trial in Dublin. A man named Michael McKevitt is on trial for "directing terrorism", a relatively recent offence added to Irish criminal law. McKevitt is the presumed head of the "Real IRA", a group that dissents from the rest of IRA's engagement with the peace process. In cinematic terms therefore, this makes McKevitt comparable to the Seamus character in Ronin, as played by Jonathan Pryce. In which case, the role of "stupid shite" is being played by the chief prosecution witness, David Rupert. Rupert seems to have played along with McKevitt as an agent of both MI5 and the FBI, motivated at various times by a need for diversions from his collapsing marriages, large sums of money, and a potential book deal. So not exactly a star witness. But he has plenty to say. Much of it seems to involve conversations in or about pubs, along the lines of Wouldn't it be great if..., but it's not clearer that much of the planning ever went further than that. So today's revelation was along the lines of McKevitt saying "Wouldn't it be great if we could get money for terrorist activities from Iraq?" He also wishes that his lads were more up for suicide bombing. The painful subtext to this trial is the Real IRA's generally accepted responsibility for the disastrous Omagh bombing in 1998, but the lack of sufficiently incriminating evidence linking it to specific people. Flimsy evidence can start wars. But it doesn't get convictions.