I'm a bit young to have first hand knowledge, but IRA support was near unanimous in Boston for decades. Back then, nice Catholic girls would go from bar to bar collecting for 'the cause'. It was almost a social obligation to donate to 'the cause' at that point in time. It was so popular, even our Italian buddies would kick down and allow collecting in the North End, from what I've heard.
 I'm not endorsing terrorism, but to say terrorists exist because they are 'evildoers' that 'hate freedom' is compleatly absurd. Terrorism is not a philosophy, it's a tactic people resort to when they lack an 'official' military to fight on their behalf. And miltary responses to terrorism with popular support NEVER works. Torture NEVER works. Dealing with terrorists requires diplomacy, in the long term. In the short term, this is more the job for the CIA or FBI to handle. Every time you kill a terrorist, you spawn a new one. Every time you torture one, you spawn two more. If you do either to a civilian, you spawn something like ten more. The military is trained to fight other armies. As they should be, I've got zero complaints there. But soldiers aren't trained or qualified to do a job best suited for law enforcement or the espionage/intelligence branches of defense to do. Using the military against terrorists is akin to sending the Marines after the mafia or street gangs. That would not be a wise move. Gangs in San Francisco and Oakland both have killed more people this year than Hamas and Hezbolah have killed in Israel, combined. But cruise missles fired into Hunters Point or Fruitvale are not tactics used by the police. That would not fly. And the use of torture will NEVER win the hearts and minds of the civilian population. This directly increases support for terrorism infinetly more than the terrorists could ever get by their own means. Not to mention the danger it puts the footsoldiers on our side of the conflict into.  
 To be objective on the IRA thing, the Brittish were smart enough to not cower in the face of terrorism and degenerate into full on suspension of civil liberties in England. They learned from their mistakes, abandoned failed policies, and eventully came to the table and negotiated in good faith. That did more to end the conflict than anything Bush's policies will ever do.
 I missed out on all this pro-IRA sentiment firsthand, (not neccisarily a bad thing) so mabey I'm not the best person to talk about this. The days of open IRA support were over by the time I was old enough to get into bars, where all the talking/fundraising took place. But Bill O'Reiley was a local TV anchor on channel 7 back in the heyday of IRA support. I don't have any firsthand knowledge on his opinions, but he certainly would have been looked down upon in Boston if he didn't 'support the cause' back then. Regardless of what he thought, he knows the real deal. All Irish Catholics that retain their ethnic identity know the real deal. Bush/Cheney's tactics will NEVER win. Pat Buchanan has opposed the war on terror from day one, exactly for this reason. Say what you want about Pat, (And he deserves it, more often than not) but his foreign policy positions are in compleat accord with us progressives. That's because, dispite being a conservative, he understands history. He knows the pitfalls that go along with imperialism.
 We (Irish Catholics) all know firsthand that the current US stratergy is a loosing one, yet O'Reily has sold his soul to the Bush agenda. He could legitimatly point out the flaws in the neocon philosophy, but lacks the stones to do so. It's bad enought that he sells out and endorses this shit, but on a personal level, it's fucking humiliating to see any Irish cowering and endorsing fascism like Billy does due to terrorism. The English never did this. Have some fucking self respect, you pansy! And how dare you condone torture? Bobby Sands is rolling over in his grave, dickhead. You're not Irish, Billy. You're white.