Are you sure you believe this report? See: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02633.html http://www.politechbot.com/p-02605.html I'm not sure I'd take it as face value, especially what Mr. Towle says. -Declan On Thu, Oct 11, 2001 at 04:16:23PM -0700, Dynamite Bob wrote:
(Its started, gentlemen. This is Bush gratifying Blair now, using the Bill of Rights -now useless- to mop up the wetness.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,567864,00.html
Staff and agencies Thursday October 11, 2001
An American web site accused of supporting the Real IRA has been shut down at the request of the FBI as it cracks down on terrorist groups, it emerged today.
The New York-based web site - iraradio.com - contained an archive of weekly radio programmes said to back the dissident republicans.
Travis Towle, the owner, today claimed that the FBI asked his internet service provider to stop giving web space to the site or face having its assets seized as a backer of terrorism.
"They just yanked us," Mr Towle told the New York Daily News.
"I think what is going on is being done out of fear."
John McDonagh, a native of Queens, New York, said that his show - broadcast every Saturday afternoon - would go on. He claimed IRA stood for Irish Republican Activist and denied he had any connection to the Real IRA.
"If I was running a Taliban web site 15 years ago, I would be considered a patriot helping the American cause," he added
"Today, I would be considered a traitor. It is getting to be difficult to predict who the government is going to call a terrorist."
Despite Mr McDonagh's claim that he would go on broadcasting, a statement on the web site said Mr Towle's Cosmic Entertainment Group had shut it down.
"In light of the foregoing and the recent tragic events in the United States, the Cosmic Entertainment company board of advisers has deemed it advisable and in the best interests of the company to temporarily shut down the iraradio.com web site until the turbulence and uncertainty facing our nation has decreased."
The FBI refused to comment on the shut down for security reasons.
The Real IRA is banned from raising funds in America and anyone found giving them cash can be prosecuted and jailed.
It is one of a series of organisations designated as a terror group, on a list that also includes Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and Hezbollah.