I don’t see nothing inapropriate here, as long as the reports about the presence of this young man at the place of the incident were true. I can imagine that Sgt McCabe might be getting through difficult times and not be interested in such publicity but that won’t change the fact that he was there. Objective media are here to inform, not to care about one’s personal feelings.

So you wouldnt mind having a scrum of reporters outside your door when you are trying to come to terms with immense grief? you wouldnt mind finding that your tragedy was being used by others to boost their circulation by these sort of headlines? You wouldnt mind having to leave your phone off the hook to stop the incessant pestering phone calls? what possable relevence is it to the tragedy if he was there?

its just another example of the way this world of ours panders to the sensationalism that is so prevelent on TV, Radio, Papers etc

The best way to ‘stop these fools’ is to stop caring about what they write. Everyone watching such news very closely supports this behavior, too, even if unwillingly.

The best way to stop it is to stop buying the papers concerned ….this happened a number of years ago when a local hero to these parts, Joey Dunlop, was killed in an accident…One paper thought it was smart to publish photo’s of him lying dead at the side of the road…a lot of us who thought of Joey as a hero wont and never will buy that particular rad top rag…in his home area it isnt even available any more..no point…no one will buy it..

We have such news and such aggressive journalists because majority of us wants to have them like that. People are fascinated by sex, violence and misfortune or bad luck of the others and no moralistic or religious speeches in this world can change that. Sad but true..

Most rational people want to see a free press…but freedom has its responsabilities too..and where that freedom means that others innocent of any crime are hurt then someone needs to say enough .

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Well generally speaking, if a house is being bombed, be it an American or British or whatever other nation’s warplanes, then it likely has some type of militarily significant value.

Ohhh come on now PII you really cant be serious ….

My point is simply that military forces don’t purposely bomb civilians in this day and age.

Wrong old son!!! we have gone over this before ..Military forces do what their political masters tell them and that has frequently meant terrorisation of a civilian population..do we really have to readdress this again ?

Terrorists, purposely kill civilians whenever they get the chance.

another generalisation..most unworthy of you

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I was a Special in the North East of England for 3 years but also wasn’t allowed in to the regulars because of medical reasons – some of the things I did and saw were certainly on a par with the regular police (which sometimes make me think I was lucky not being able to join up!!!)

Hurrifan – you don’t know the reason why the police pulled up at the station – many times I was involved in call outs (such as airport emergencies) which saw us racing to locations with the blues on but being stood down because the emergency was over or enough people had got there before us. I think you might find if you looked a little further that there are very clear regulations about when you can use the emergency gear so no one will risk their job just to get back to the station on time.

emmmmm…this is ireland…..its a bit different over here…

and as previously stated rotten apples in every barrell..

When it comes to terrorists or people who rape and kill others for their own pleasure then yes I have declared them unfit to live. In the case of the former, I’d argue they would consider me unfit to live.

Ok…so say that that family who the US soldier murdered and burned had a survivor? and say he/she felt as strongly about their deaths as you would about someone from your family murdered and raped by a foreign soldier on your soil.. You i am sure would blame those who put him there in the first place without proper training or proper assessment…and want justice on the system as well as him…

And think of it this way…if you as a member of the US military and possibly someone who may end up in Iraq hadnt heard about the conviction of that piece of scum..who is to say that people in Iraq are aware of it ?

so who is to say that the guys in the back of that lorry hadnt lost family or had them brutalised? it was a HMG as far as i know so the likelihood is that it was for use against a military target….

Not that i am justifying or excusing any attack on anyone…but i think the solution to a problem can only be found when you try to understand what is behind the problem. it just inst good enough to summarily brand everyone without more knowledge of why they are there…

at least your poss future commander understands that.

Whoever said I cheered for Iraqi civilians or Afghani civilians that are the casualties of war? The people in this video were being shot at for a reason, and although many love to play devil’s advocate I’ll go ahead and say that if indeed they were operatives of some organization like Al-Queada then yes I do celebrate their deaths…..take joy over them even. So what?

and what if they arnt? you have no way of knowing my friend

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Some quick research on the Net revealed that the IAC are still operating 7 out of the 8 Alouette III helicopters which they first took delivery in November 1963 – and probably won’t finally retire them until the IAC takes final delivery of the rest of their AW-139s
Can anyone tell me if there are any other helis as old as these, specifically turbine aircraft, in service in any other air arm around the world? The S-61 and CH-46 do spring to mind.

The Puma first entered RAF service in 1971..still a bit to go there then!

The first Wessex went into service on trials for the RAF/RN in 1958 and the last retired in 2003….. so if the Alouette stays going for another year or so….

Do you seriously think that the Irish government are going to order a squadron of F-16s or Grippens any day soon?? :rolleyes:

not a chance with Wee Willie ( Minister of Def ) in charge…you cant take a trip to europe in an F-16!!! Any way we dont need stuff thats too complex…its not as if we could fight off the lights of the JFK !!!:rolleyes:

Would you call Ireland, the so called “Celtic Tiger”, a less well off country?
Our fellow EU members like Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have MiG-29s, JA39 Grippens in service in their air arms, and these countries are by no means flush with cash either!

Have you any experience of our crap Health system? seen our almost non existent infrastructure? lack of child care facilities? care for the aged? lack of school places and facilities? for gods sake we cant even get broadband living within 2 miles of a very large town! We have plenty of things to spend our money on …but the things that need spending on dont always earn votes..neither will a squadron of Griffins or Typhoons!

Would the countries listed have already had a fairly substantial military in place from cold war days? Could they find themselves threatened in a conventional military way in the future? could they be liable to be invaded by some of their former Cold war bosses? has there been certain levels of internal unrest at times in the past?…Hasnt really been the case here you see…

Finland, a country also comparable to Ireland in population and economy, took delivery of 64 F/A-18C/Ds in the last ten years or so, which for a while made the Finnish air force the most advanced in Europe!:eek:

Finland was after all dominated by Russia after ’39 ..it is hardly any wonder that they see a need for a strong military given their history and given Russia somewhat at times volatile political landscape…I dont think we will have to fear a Russian invasion or for that matter could stop one even if everyone here was a fully trained & equipped soldier!

I think the Irish are suffering more from some sort of sturgid mind set, rather than a paucity of cash. They’re passing the buck basically…

Ireland has ALWAYS steered clear of having a strong military, we have always stayed Neutral. We have never been a very military minded people as a nation despite the millions of irish who have served in other countries armies

It was hard to get some of the best military minds in the world to think in terms of unforeseen treats in the past…look at France ,the US & the UK in the 30’s , or the US prior to 9/11..So do you really expect a government that has never had to deal with a serious external treat to authorise the funding of some serious kit that needs massive back up and would be obsolete in a few short years? No chance !!!

what we need here is something that is relatively simple to maintain, yet capable of intercepting aircraft that may have become lost or been hijacked.