British Army to reduce Northern Ireland presence

The British army has responded quickly to yesterday's announcement by the IRA:

Soldiers started to dismantle or withdraw from three positions in South Armagh, a rebellious borderland nicknamed "bandit country," where soldiers still travel by helicopter because of the risk of IRA dissidents' roadside bombs.

The move came a day after IRA commanders promised to disarm fully, and directed their units to dump their weapons and use "exclusively peaceful means" from now on.

The breakthrough was the product of a two-year diplomatic showdown between the IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party on one side, and the British, Irish and U.S. governments, which demanded the IRA's full disarmament and disbanding.

I've talked to soldiers who were posted to some of those positions, and I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised that the army has such high confidence that they feel safe in withdrawing from them. Those were extremely high-risk locations, but they had to be manned pretty much continuously to keep tabs on IRA activity in those areas. The army must have a high level of trust in the IRA declaration.