Putting the IRA in IRAQ

One predictable and one odd thing about this sentence from a Mrs Conrad Black opinion piece in today's Daily Telegraph.

British public opinion is heavily weighted in favour of appeasement as a policy until the last possible moment. Appease "foreign" terrorism in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Northern Ireland or America. Few people would admit that.

The predictable thing is that the Telegraph never misses a chance to include Northern Ireland in the global War on Terror. Iran, Iraq, Ira, what's the difference? The odd thing is the inclusion of Northern Ireland as an example of a alleged popular British preference to appease foreign terrorists. Perhaps Mrs Black and the IRA agree that Northern Ireland is "foreign," but of course she's given herself an out by putting the word in quotes. Or maybe she thinks everyone in the IRA is from the Irish Republic. We, perhaps like her, are very confused.