Throughout this essay terrorism will be defined as a systematic use of or threat of physical or mental violence against government, publics or individuals to obtain political objectives, without foundation in legally accepted and publicly known courts of law.

The definition of freedom fighters used will be a group or person fighting for independence and freedom, with a supportive majority of the people it is fighting for. The purpose of this essay is to try to give a possible interpretation of the IRA and what it is.

Another obvious reason is that it is difficult to make a clear-cut statement whether the IRA are terrorists of freedom fighters. President Clinton has, however, on several occasions condamned the IRA's use of violence. But considering the U.S.A. has a very strict policy towards terrorism, this list shows, if not support, then at least not a final, judgemental standpoint towards the IRA.

The problem of Northern Ireland is that it has a Protestant, unionist majority while Ireland and the island as a whole has a Catholic, republican majority. So if a hypotethical referendum concerning separation from Great Britain was to be held who is to be included as voters? The Catholics say that the whole island should be included, while the Protestants, on the other hand, naturally disagrees.

In addition to this the IRA uses public attacks, especially in England, to stress the British economy by disrupting daily life, claiming «England is the belly of the beast and that is where it hurts most». They might feel that England is so strong and resourceful in comparison to themselves, that they have to use the strongest mean available: violence in the form of guerilla warfare.

The IRA seems to have no qualms about the use of terrorist tactics, and destruction in their cause. A well-known Republican, Danny Morrison stated in 1989 «...when it is politically costly for the British to remain in Ireland, they'll go...it wont be triggered until a large number of British soldiers are killed and that's what going to happen».

Some common words found in the essay are:
British Government, Fein Ourselves, Danny Morrison, Easter Rising, Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, Ireland Protestant, Protestant British, Irish Volunteers, Bloody January, northern ireland, freedom fighters, sinn fein, ira terrorists, terrorist tactics, ira terrorists freedom, catholic minority, terrorists freedom, view conflict, britain ira, british government, terrorists freedom fighters,
Approximate Word count = 1591
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)