The Strategy and Organization of the PIRA

As we discussed in class recently, modern terrorism can take many forms, and use a variety of tactics. One such of these groups was the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). And what really makes the PIRA stand out is their use of state-like military tactics and there almost Trinitarian organization, which provides as a stark contrast to a majority of small guerilla terrorist cells.

To grasp a better understanding the PIRA, one must first look back upon its history. Before the PIRA, there was the regular Irish Republican Army (IRA). The IRA first gained prominence after World War I, when member of the failed Easter Rising met to form an underground guerilla organization to combat the British rule over Ireland (BBC History 1). In secret meetings, they laid the frame work for a free Irish government, as well as organizing a guerilla military campaign against the British government. This was lead my Michael Collins, who organized groups of young men to literally run through the busy streets of Dublin to assonate British officials, informants, and other threats to a free Ireland (BBC History 1). These brash guerilla tactics worked with minimum civilian casualties inflicted by the IRA, and soon in 1921 the British left the majority of the island, but stayed in the north. That is because the six northern counties had a slight protestant majority, so when the counties had to vote if they would join the new Irish republic or not, they chose to stay with British Empire for they feared persecution from the majority catholic rest of the nation (Jackson). This was the beginning of the troubles in Northern Ireland, for the Catholics and others who considered themselves Irish were very angered by this action.

After the Republic of Ireland was established and operating smoothly, many Irish resented the fact the British still had a massive presence in the North of their island. And to make this worse, the Catholic Irish left in the North faced prejudice by the protestant controlled government, and even faced violence in some cases by ultra-unionist gangs such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) (BBC History 2). These unionist gangs enjoyed and wanted to continue the North’s connection with British government, and feared the catholic Irish gaining political power and the thought of the North possibly joining the Republic of Ireland. So after hearing of the violence against Irish Catholics in the North, this prompted elements of the IRA to engage in border skirmishes with the UVF and British military force from the 1940-1960’s (Jackson). Now, my Father’s family comes from County Antrim which is one of the six northern counties. And his father told him stories about how the IRA would come to villages around the time of these border conflicts and take every able bodied man for the “cause”, and most complied without many complaint, because the Irish in the North wanted to be rejoined with the rest of the island. However, the unity of the organization would change in 1969.

In that year, the Provisional Irish Republican Army was first formed. The main reason for the split is that the IRA (from that point on known as the “Officials”) halted their military operations in the North in 1962, yet the unionist factions still committed violent acts against Catholics and Irish on the border and the rest of the northern counties (BBC History 2). So this splinter group formed to continue the guerilla campaign against the British presence in the North.

The PIRA was highly organized with a published set of goals in their strategy. These goals are as follows:

1. A war of attrition against enemy personnel which is aimed at causing as many casualties and deaths as possible so as to create a demand from their people at home for their withdrawal.

2. A bombing campaign aimed at making the enemy's financial interest in our country unprofitable while at the same time curbing long term financial investment in our country.

3. To make the Six Counties as at present and for the past several years ungovernable except by colonial military rule.

4. To sustain the war and gain support for its ends by National and International propaganda and publicity campaigns.

5. By defending the war of liberation by punishing criminals, collaborators and informers." (Jackson). As the stated particularly by points one, two, and five; the PIRA would mainly hit hard targets that were either part of the British government, or supported the British government. Unlike some “freedom fighter movements”, civilians that supported the opposition were not intended targets, only those were directly active in an effort against the PIRA would be subject violence. So this shows that PIRA attacked the Programmatic rights that the British government had over Northern Ireland, and at the same time persevered the transcendental rights of the general population living in the conflict zones. Instead of going after civilians to create fear to push the PIRA agenda, they respected their right to live and went after the British establishments in the North and fought against the British right to rule and oversee the policies of Northern Ireland.

Accompanying the PIRA’s respect for transcendental rights was their Trinitarian structure. The PIRA was of course the military arm. But the political arm, Sein Fein, was around during the time of Irish Independence (BBC History 1). They have long advocated for Northern Ireland to rejoin Ireland and an end to the unfair treatment of the Catholics and Irish that lived in the north. And it was not until 1969 that they finally received the military backing they needed to promote their policies in the Northern Ireland parliament. And of course, the Irish Catholics that lived in the North served as the people in this trinity. They supported Sein Fein in elections and they provided man-power for the PIRA’s military operations (Jackson). Together, they worked quite efficiently towards their common goal.

Despite the organization and set objectives of the PIRA, they settled for as seize fire and less British military presence agreement in 1998 (Jackson). Despite the impressive amount of casualties they inflicted on the British Army, Northern Ireland is still a member of the United Kingdom. On paper, it would seem they did everything right, but why did they not succeed? Perhaps the people were finally tired of violence and just wanted to live in peace, and were happy with it after they were no longer being subject to oppressive laws. Or maybe a new movement will be born, because every now and then sparks of the “Troubles” can be seen. For example, a pipe bomb (a favorite item of the PIRA), was found in a North Ireland village (BBC). Only time will tell.

Works Cited

BBC, . "Pipe bomb found in Laurencetown alert." BBC News . BBC, 20 Oct 2011. Web. 20 Oct 2011. .

BBC, History 1. "The Road to North Ireland." Northern Ireland: The Troubles. BBC, 01 FEB 2007. Web. 20 Oct 2011. .

BBC, History. "The Troubles." Northern Ireland: The Troubles. BBC, 01 FEB 2007. Web. 20 Oct 2011. .

Jackson, Brain. Aptitude for Destruction: Case studies of organizational learning in five terrorist groups . Rand Corporation, 2000. 93-96. Web.