Time to End the IRA?

A few years ago I read a brilliant book about the roots of the tribal mess in Northern Ireland called "A Secret History of the IRA" by Ed Moloney.

It makes very clear that Gerry Adams who goes around telling people that he's Sinn Fein, not IRA, was indeed IRA commander in Belfast for many many years.

Now with the Good Friday peace accords stuck, Adams is calling on the IRA to disband... and as the Guardian reports today, the organization is considering its response.
As the article points out, there may be good reasons to keep the IRA around. Catholics in Northern Ireland have nowhere to turn to protect them from Unionist and British violence except the IRA. Adams is in effect asking them to put their trust in politics as a defense against terrorism from the other side. As long as the UDF and the RUC are around, families are clearly in danger.

If you thought I had the answers to this though, you're wrong. I can't claim to be smarter than the Bertie Ahern's and Tony Blair's of the world who haven't really figured it out either.