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It has always served Gerry Adams' purpose to appear at arm's length from the IRA. Like one of his many political sleights of hand, Adams has always managed to keep a foot in both camps while maintaining an air of legitimacy. He has repeated ad nauseam that he was never directly involved with the IRA. Rather, he served only as a liaison between the political group and its military counterparts. As such, he has long been able to back up his political legitimacy in Sinn Fein with a not-so-subtle measure of radicalism.

This constitutes the biggest myth of all. Moloney takes this scurrilous, self-serving claim to task and provides ample evidence that Adams pursued the noble goal of peace in large part by getting dirtied (and bloodied) in the IRA. What's more, it wasn't only the blood of his enemies, but that of IRA members as well.

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