Reputed IRA Commander Here Seeking Support

[struggle4progress]

Bush Administration Has Sinn Fein Party Leader On Tight Leash

POSTED: 11:29 am EST March 12, 2005
UPDATED: 12:08 pm EST March 12, 2005

CINCINNATI -- Controversial Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams is in Cincinnati today starting a week-long visit to the United States to seek support from Irish-American activists. <snip>

Adams said his trip would allow him to tell American supporters about "the grave difficulties" surrounding Northern Ireland's peace process and to seek their support "to get the process back on track." <snip>

Adams will not be permitted to raise funds, visit the White House or attend official Capitol Hill functions on Saint Patrick's Day. <snip>

Adams was banned from visiting the United States until 1994, when President Clinton overturned State Department policy in a successful gambit to encourage an IRA cease-fire that year. Clinton's interest in bringing Sinn Fein into the political mainstream encouraged another IRA cease-fire in 1997 and spurred Sinn Fein to back Northern Ireland's complex Good Friday peace accord of 1998. <snip>

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4278894/detail.html