Foreign desk: Gerry Adams’ Mixed Legacy
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has finally stepped down and ceded power to deputy Mary Lou McDonald. But he won’t be in true retirement, predicts CNN’s Nic Robertson: “He is unlikely to become a silent partner in the enterprise he created.” And it’s quite a mixed enterprise. Adams insisted he wasn’t a member of the Irish Republican Army, but for all intents and purposes he was. The IRA was guilty of deadly terrorism, and until 9/11 refused to disarm. Since the disarmament, under Adams’ leadership, “Sinn Fein has become a grass-roots, socially supportive party with a hard-earned reputation of taking care of the people and communities it represents,” and the third-largest in Ireland, with momentum continuing to build for full Irish unification.