Viewpoint

It was Lord Norman Tebbit, who told the Bulletin earlier this year that “there was nothing which could be done about IRA terrorism, you just had to live with it.” Strong words from a man whose life has been deeply affected by terrorism. Successive British governments have learnt that a hard-line against terrorism is not always successful. Expecting the police or army to catch terrorists before they set-off the next bomb or carry out the next shooting is an almost impossible task. To be successful it would involve introducing marshall law across the country and giving police extraordinary powers which would probably breach Civil Liberties. The government of Jose Maria Aznar is taking a hard-line on terrorism. The police will bring ETA to justice is his government's policy, and there will be no surrender to terrorists. It is a hardline stance which we have heard before but probably the only way forward is to bring both sides to the negotiating table. The Spanish people are showing great courage and plenty more courage will be needed, both morally and politically, to resolve this crisis and bring an end to this totally unjustified killing.