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Interview With Gerry Adams
Aired October 31, 2003 - 13:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In a little less than a month, Northern Ireland is due to elect a new assembly even though the current assembly was suspended by London a year ago.
Some 4 1/2 years before that, Northern Ireland's pro-British Protestants and pro-republic Catholics signed the Good Friday Pact, whose promise so far has exceeded its practical results.
Through it all, one man has been a hero to many, a villain to many more. Now he writes again about troubles that have shattered generations. He's Sinn Fein's president Gerry Adams, author of the new book "A Farther Shore." He joins us live out of New York. It's nice to have you, Gerry.
GERRY ADAMS, SINN FEIN: Hi, Kyra. Glad to see you.
PHILLIPS: History says don't hope on this side of the grave. It's a poet's words that begin your book. What is Gerry Adams' purpose with "A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace"?
ADAMS: Well, to tell people what happened from the Republican perspective. To try and, I suppose, open up the process so that people can join us on the journey that we've all made.
And to show that no problem is intractable, to show that no conflict is beyond resolution. That it is possible, through talking and listening and negotiating, and cherishing people, that it is possible to move forward in a better direction, and for a far better destination.
PHILLIPS: Well, you give your personal memoirs. I must say, I appreciate how you have the historical look also within this book, going all the way back up to -- up to now in the process. I think it helps the reader a lot.
I want to talk to you about peace. I also want to talk to you about terrorism and whether it's Israel, Iraq, Northern Ireland. You know about division, you know about national self-determination. You also know the IRA. Suicide bombings, targeting innocent lives, violence. It's never proven effective, ever, if you study the history books. You'll agree with me on that, won't you?
ADAMS: I don't think the IRA was ever involved in suicide bombings.
The problem is, in all of this that humanity has been inflicted with conflict, I suppose, since Cain and Abel. You have a situation, for example in my country, where we've had a conquest of Ireland by an English government going back many centuries. We're now trying to undo and work out the end game of all that.
As an Irish Republican, I want to see an end to British rule in Ireland and a united Ireland and people living together, Unionist, the rest of us trying to shape to a new Ireland in which people can have a sense of ownership and a sense of belonging.
But the big task at the moment is to bear down the peace process and put conflict of whatever kind behind us. That's the challenge for all of us.
PHILLIPS: Talk about another challenge. You talk about your discussions with the IRA in your book. And if you believe so strongly in dialogue, why not terminate the IRA?
ADAMS: Well, the IRA won't just go away. It won't just go away because the British army are still there, because the Unionist paramilitaries are still there, because the IRA was undefeated.
And, I have to say also, better the IRA you know than the IRA you don't know. Because at least this IRA has assisted the process, has encouraged the process, is now in the ninth year of its associations.
And I think there are lots of good, tactical and strategic reasons, as we seek to build politics, seek to build human rights, seek to build equality for moving all of these armed groups, all of the issues of armed groups, to one side where they can be dealt with by the likes of the commission on decommissioning while the politicians get on with the job of trying to make politics work.
PHILLIPS: Well, speaking of trying to make politics work, I've got to ask you about Iraq. If you could stand before Saddam loyalists, al Qaeda terrorists, how would you convince them that political negotiating is far more effective than violence?
ADAMS: Well, who's going to talk to them? You see, I think in terms of the war in Iraq. I want to lead with our own situation more than that situation, that the United Nations is the -- is the body which needs to arbitrate over all of that.
So I think the quicker American troops are out of that country and the people of Iraq can have their own system -- and I've heard -- no one I've heard no rational, reasonable person defending the old regime of Saddam Hussein. So it's a matter of the people of Iraq having the right to direct their own problems, and to shift their own affairs.
In my country, in Ireland, I think we have shown that it is possible, even though there are difficulties that it is possible to get beyond revenge, that it is possible to get beyond hatred that it is possible to build a roadway out of conflict, towards peace. And you do that, as I tried to describe in the book, by listening, by talking, by underpinning people's rights.
And, you know, the Americans especially, the American administration under President Bush and under President Clinton and Irish America, in particular, have played hugely important roles, in encouraging and facilitating the search for peace in Ireland.
This book looks at that, looks at the lesson of the South African process, it looks at the roles played by individuals. Because I think we have to validate the fact that individuals can make a difference. You can make a difference. I can make a difference. Ordinary people can make a difference, if we want to.
PHILLIPS: That is true. I can tell you, we all continue to try that. That's for sure.
Gerry Adams, the book is "A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace." You're final words, you're saying getting beyond revenge. I think that's the title of your next book, Gerry.
ADAMS: OK.
PHILLIPS: Thank you for your time.
ADAMS: Thank you. And good luck to you. And happy Halloween.
PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.
ADAMS: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 31, 2003 - 13:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In a little less than a month, Northern Ireland is due to elect a new assembly even though the current assembly was suspended by London a year ago.
Some 4 1/2 years before that, Northern Ireland's pro-British Protestants and pro-republic Catholics signed the Good Friday Pact, whose promise so far has exceeded its practical results.
Through it all, one man has been a hero to many, a villain to many more. Now he writes again about troubles that have shattered generations. He's Sinn Fein's president Gerry Adams, author of the new book "A Farther Shore." He joins us live out of New York. It's nice to have you, Gerry.
GERRY ADAMS, SINN FEIN: Hi, Kyra. Glad to see you.
PHILLIPS: History says don't hope on this side of the grave. It's a poet's words that begin your book. What is Gerry Adams' purpose with "A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace"?
ADAMS: Well, to tell people what happened from the Republican perspective. To try and, I suppose, open up the process so that people can join us on the journey that we've all made.
And to show that no problem is intractable, to show that no conflict is beyond resolution. That it is possible, through talking and listening and negotiating, and cherishing people, that it is possible to move forward in a better direction, and for a far better destination.
PHILLIPS: Well, you give your personal memoirs. I must say, I appreciate how you have the historical look also within this book, going all the way back up to -- up to now in the process. I think it helps the reader a lot.
I want to talk to you about peace. I also want to talk to you about terrorism and whether it's Israel, Iraq, Northern Ireland. You know about division, you know about national self-determination. You also know the IRA. Suicide bombings, targeting innocent lives, violence. It's never proven effective, ever, if you study the history books. You'll agree with me on that, won't you?
ADAMS: I don't think the IRA was ever involved in suicide bombings.
The problem is, in all of this that humanity has been inflicted with conflict, I suppose, since Cain and Abel. You have a situation, for example in my country, where we've had a conquest of Ireland by an English government going back many centuries. We're now trying to undo and work out the end game of all that.
As an Irish Republican, I want to see an end to British rule in Ireland and a united Ireland and people living together, Unionist, the rest of us trying to shape to a new Ireland in which people can have a sense of ownership and a sense of belonging.
But the big task at the moment is to bear down the peace process and put conflict of whatever kind behind us. That's the challenge for all of us.
PHILLIPS: Talk about another challenge. You talk about your discussions with the IRA in your book. And if you believe so strongly in dialogue, why not terminate the IRA?
ADAMS: Well, the IRA won't just go away. It won't just go away because the British army are still there, because the Unionist paramilitaries are still there, because the IRA was undefeated.
And, I have to say also, better the IRA you know than the IRA you don't know. Because at least this IRA has assisted the process, has encouraged the process, is now in the ninth year of its associations.
And I think there are lots of good, tactical and strategic reasons, as we seek to build politics, seek to build human rights, seek to build equality for moving all of these armed groups, all of the issues of armed groups, to one side where they can be dealt with by the likes of the commission on decommissioning while the politicians get on with the job of trying to make politics work.
PHILLIPS: Well, speaking of trying to make politics work, I've got to ask you about Iraq. If you could stand before Saddam loyalists, al Qaeda terrorists, how would you convince them that political negotiating is far more effective than violence?
ADAMS: Well, who's going to talk to them? You see, I think in terms of the war in Iraq. I want to lead with our own situation more than that situation, that the United Nations is the -- is the body which needs to arbitrate over all of that.
So I think the quicker American troops are out of that country and the people of Iraq can have their own system -- and I've heard -- no one I've heard no rational, reasonable person defending the old regime of Saddam Hussein. So it's a matter of the people of Iraq having the right to direct their own problems, and to shift their own affairs.
In my country, in Ireland, I think we have shown that it is possible, even though there are difficulties that it is possible to get beyond revenge, that it is possible to get beyond hatred that it is possible to build a roadway out of conflict, towards peace. And you do that, as I tried to describe in the book, by listening, by talking, by underpinning people's rights.
And, you know, the Americans especially, the American administration under President Bush and under President Clinton and Irish America, in particular, have played hugely important roles, in encouraging and facilitating the search for peace in Ireland.
This book looks at that, looks at the lesson of the South African process, it looks at the roles played by individuals. Because I think we have to validate the fact that individuals can make a difference. You can make a difference. I can make a difference. Ordinary people can make a difference, if we want to.
PHILLIPS: That is true. I can tell you, we all continue to try that. That's for sure.
Gerry Adams, the book is "A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace." You're final words, you're saying getting beyond revenge. I think that's the title of your next book, Gerry.
ADAMS: OK.
PHILLIPS: Thank you for your time.
ADAMS: Thank you. And good luck to you. And happy Halloween.
PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.
ADAMS: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
