THE Northern Ireland peace process lies in tatters today following the murder of a British soldier in Co Armagh.

In the light of this, how can anyone believe that the IRA and their political supporters in Sinn Fein have any ambitions to make the process work.

They are only interested in imposing their will on the Province by gun, bomb and bullet.

They have proved time and again that they are men of bad faith - liars and hypocrites.

They used the last ceasefire to build up their arsenals, train more of their mis-guided assassins and plant "sleepers" on the mainland.

While politicians from Britain, Eire and the USA desperately tried to engineer a lasting ceasefire which would hopefully lead to permanent peace, they cynically cranked up their campaign of violence.

Only a mixture of good fortune and some smart pre-emptive tactics by the security forces prevented more widespread carnage.

This was yet another senseless killing by evil men of violence and it has left Northern Ireland staring at a sad and bleak future.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.