[caption id="attachment_69263" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="John Timoney."]
New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Camden, NJ. But of course the next port of call for top cop John Timnoey had to be --- Bahrain! But that's where the Dublin-born Timoney is right now.
The former number two in the NYPD and chief in Philly and Miami has been hired by the Bahrain government for a two year stint during which he is apparently tasked with showing the local cops how citizens can have their own version of the Arab Spring without getting killed in the process.
Timoney's latest job had been as an advisor to the Camden department but it can only be assumed that the Bahrain mission pays better.
Seemingly, Bahrain's Minister of Interior wants to institute police reforms after the demonstrations and bloodshed of a year ago, this after the king set in train an investigation by a commission of outside experts which made a number of recommendations.
One of the must have mentioned Timoney and perhaps his record in Miami which was of a sharp reduction in fatal shootings by police officers - a reversal which itself went into reversal after Timoney was replaced.
Timoney's Bahrain job has an extra twist to it in that his success is viewed as important, not just in the context of Bahrain itself, but in the area of U.S.-Bahrain relations.
Bahrain is the home of the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet and clearly Washington has a big stake in ensuring that progress is made in terms of allowing Bahrain's citizens to demonstrate for changes without coming up against the blunt and bloody response that came last year and pre-Timoney.
Timoney tells a story of his arrival by ship in New York harbor as a callow youth. It was high summer and he was clad in his wool communion suit. Suffice it to day, wool suits will not be the man choice of dress over the next couple of years.
SHEEP AMONG WOLVES?
They have a quare sense of humor over at the United Nations. All sorts of dodgy regimes have made a point over the years of securing a place on the world body's Human Rights Council.
Ireland, with perhaps a sense of appropriate decorum, has avoided the grouping. Until now that is.
As reported a couple of issues back, Ireland will be seeking a rotating seat on a body of nations that the New York Post for one has branded as "farcical."
But Taoiseach Enda Kenny is nothing if not determined to see Ireland join and make its mark.
"If elected, Ireland would support clear and strong action by the council in addressing human rights violations and in promoting universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms," he said.
Noble words indeed, but IF reckons that Timoney has a better chance of imposing a little more respect for human rights in Bahrain than Ireland has on doing so globally by way of the Human Rights Council.
Nevertheless, it's probably worth a go. At least there will be a chance to tongue lash some of the literal lashers.
MOVE OVER MITT
The Republicans are having their own civil war in the state where that war began this week but not all political discussion in South Carolina is having to do with Obamacare and the like.
Fr. Sean McManus, peripatetic leader of the Irish National Caucus, is heading for both South and North Carolina to locally launch his memoir, "My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland."
Greenville, South Carolina, will host him on Saturday, January 21, at 12 Noon at Fitzpatrick's Pub 1565 Laurens Road. After this it will be on to Greensboro in North Carolina for the Fermanagh-born McManus. On Sunday, January 22, at 1 p.m. he will be in Our Lady of Grace School Cafeteria 201 S. Chapman Street.
The book signings in both "Green" cities are being organized by local AOH divisions.
Said McManus: "I started a chapter of the Irish National Caucus in Columbia, South Carolina, in the early eighties. We even got the late Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) to give us a fine statement on the Irish issue. This statement was very significant in that the Reverend Ian Paisley always used to cite Senator Thurmond as his ally in the U.S. Congress. After Thurmond made that statement, Paisley no longer quoted him as a supporter."
For the record, Thurmond said at the time (1982): "It is my sincere hope, and prayer, that peace and unity will soon come to Ireland. I commend the Irish National Caucus for its unceasing effort to make this dream a reality."
