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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