American IRA website terrorized by FBI, closed on threats

Dynamite Bob dbob at semtex.com
Thu Oct 11 16:16:23 PDT 2001


(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.





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