Letter to Editor of New York Times Magazine by Michael J. Cummings
Posted by Jim on April 25, 2015
April 21, 2015
Letter to Editor
NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
620 8th Avenue, 6th Fl.
New York, New York 10018
Dear Editor:
Mary Anne Weaver’s recent story on British jihadists (“Why Do They Go?”) referred to Home Secretary May’s remark that Britain is “…now facing the greatest terrorist threat in recent history.” Ms. Weaver wondered if Secretary May had forgotten the IRA conflict and “the 3000 people who died then.” This seemed and odd and ill suited reference to the IRA. Almost half of the deaths of the 30 year conflict were victims of the British Army, the police and loyalist death squads colluding with MI-5. That fact is amply documented by Anne Cadwallader’s book LETHAL ALLIES and Malcom Sutton’s INDEX OF DEATHS. British-loyalist victims were primarily innocent Catholic civilians while IRA victims were primarily soldiers, police and members of a government known better for its human rights violations and corruption of justice. The IRA reference seemed forced. There is no reason to compare the slaughter of ISIS and the Anglo-Irish conflict; a point upon which even British security services would agree.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Cummings
Albany, New York 12203-1814
Michael J. Cummings, a native of Springfield, Mass., is a graduate of St. Anselm’s College (B. A., 1968) and New York University (M. P. A., 1970). A former member of the National Boards of the Irish American Unity Conference (1996-2013), the Ancient Order Hibernians National Board (2001-2008), and the National Executive of the Irish Northern Aid Committee (1988-1996), he served six National AOH Presidents , 5 IAUC National Presidents and two National Chairman of INA primarily in public relations capacities. He is the only person to serve on the national policymaking bodies of all three major Irish American organizations. He also served on the Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
Cummings has appeared on American, English and Irish television and radio and his commentary and letters and those of the Presidents have appeared in major American, Irish-American, and Catholic print media. He is a frequent columnist for the weekly IRISH ECHO newspaper