Last month, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was campaigning in the U.S. for money as he does every year. Except this year, he wasn’t invited to the White House, and was even snubbed by Ted Kennedy. In his place were invited the sisters and fiance of Robert McCartney, who was killed by the IRA.

Now Adams is calling on the IRA to lose its weapons.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams today called on the IRA to abandon armed struggle and embrace “purely political and democratic” activity.

He admitted that “such truly historic” decisions would take time and a long process of consultation within the IRA, but asked that this be started as soon as possible.

Speaking in Belfast, Mr Adams said he wanted to speak directly to the volunteer soldiers of the IRA.

He praised them for stepping into “the gap of danger” and facing down the British, and insisted that the peace process had foundered because of “unionist intransigence” and the British and Irish governments reneging on promises they made – not because of IRA failings.

“Your determination, selflessness and courage have brought the freedom struggle towards its fulfilment,” he said.

But that struggle could now be taken forward by other means, Mr Adams insisted.

“In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed struggle. I did so because there was no alternative for those who would not bend the knee, or turn a blind eye to oppression, or for those who wanted a national republic. Now, there is an alternative.

“The way forward is by building political support for republican and democratic objectives across Ireland and by winning support for these goals internationally.”

Mr Adams said Sinn Fein could become the vehicle for the attainment of republican objectives, and asked the IRA to join him in “seizing this moment, to intensify our efforts, to rebuild the peace process and decisively move our struggle forward”.

He said: “Can you take courageous initiatives which will achieve your aims by purely political and democratic activity?

“I know full well that such truly historic decisions can only be taken in the aftermath of intense internal consultation. I ask that you initiate this as quickly as possible.”

David Lidington, Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland, said that actions rather than words were needed for trust to be restored in the Republican movement.

He said: “Trust can only be built on actions, not just words. People need to see evidence that the Republican Movement has changed for good. That means an end to Republican involvement in crime. It means Sinn Fein should support the police. It means the end of the IRA as an active paramilitary organisation and the decommissioning of illegally held guns and explosives.”

Exactly. Taking the word of a guy like Adams is in the league of suicidal, but it gives us something to hold him up to should he not pull it through. In fact, it was just last month that his deputy threatened the sisters for telling McCartney’s story.

Before they left Ireland, the sisters shrugged off a warning by Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness to stay out of party politics in Northern Ireland.

The sisters???????? campaign to bring their brother????????s killers to justice has focused attention on the outlawed IRA????????s continued grip on hard-line Catholic parts of Belfast, where informing police about their activities can mean a death sentence.

In Sinn Fein????????s first publicly critical comments of the family, McGuinness told The Associated Press: ???????The McCartneys need to be very careful. To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party-political politics can do a huge disservice to their campaign.???????

A little off topic, but I actually had to find the cache for that article because the one I used on my previous post has been changed to some kind of promo for Ted Kennedy and denouncements of violence by Adams. Nothing like the original, but they used the same link. Originally, the article had been solely about the sisters, denouncing the IRA, and all of the violence. Changing history, anyone?

UPDATE: Richard Delevan has a fine list of headlines and blogosphere reactions from the Irish side, as well as from the politicians.