[Churchill]

The IRA has/have a political agenda, even though they were a bunch of cowardly murdering shites, just like all terror groups. The main difference as I see it is that anything that involves a Muslim group loosley falls under the vague category of Al-Quada. What and who are Al-Quada? We're not told very much by the media, and so it's difficult for the lay-person to assess the risk overall imho. Who funds them? How do they operate? We all knew more about the IRA, so the perceived risk is ultimately greater because we cant assess it ourselves, and we all fear the unknown.Also, the IRA had a clear mandate, they generally targetted specific 'hard' targets like military for example. They realised that this was the only way they wouldn't lose popular support, which is why after the Lord Mountbatten murder, (I think the fact his 6 year old nephew was killed was what made this really unpopular for them) they had to be very careful.

It seems that civilians are fair game to Al-Quada, even if they're muslims! That is why a senior copper recently said that they need a dialogue with these groups that loosley fall under the heading of Al-Quada. It allows SO13 to negotiate when warned of a target, and deflect their focus away from members of the public because they (terrorists) then feel legitimised.