American IRA website terrorized by FBI, closed on threats

[Declan McCullagh]

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.