Inside Report (2)

Are echoes of Vietnam reverberating in Northern Ireland? Some observers in Belfast believe so, asserting that for some time now Britain has been "Ulsterizing" the conflict, much the way the US tried to "Vietnamize" its long war in Southeast Asia. As more and more British troops have pulled out, their duties have been taken over by the locally recruited Ulster Defense Regiment and the police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

As one observer put it cynically: "For the Brits it's better politically that a lad from County Down shou ld die than one from Birmingham or Liverpool."m