Senator Edward Kennedy, Sinn Fein's most powerful friend in Washington, called on the IRA to disband Wednesday, and accused it and Sinn Fein of covering up Robert McCartney's murder.
He was speaking after he met the sisters and partner of McCartney, whose murder outside a Belfast pub in January has, as a result of the family's campaign, caused the almost total evaporation of support for Sinn Fein in Washington.
Kennedy had already cancelled his traditional St Patrick's day meeting today with the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams.
He said in a statement after meeting the sisters: "Their presence in Washington on this St. Patrick's Day sends a very powerful signal that it's time for the IRA to fully decommission, end all criminal activity, and cease to exist as a paramilitary organization."
Standing next to the McCartneys, he said to CNN: "There's no question that the Sinn Fein and the IRA are involved in a cover-up there, and Gerry Adams has to free himself."
He added that modern western democratic parties "do not, and should not, and cannot have private armies, and cannot be involved in criminality and violence."
He continued: "I personally believe Gerry Adams wants to see the IRA disbanded.
"I think there's a time to hold 'em and a time to fold 'em, and we're overdue in terms of the disbandment of the IRA ... We would certainly hope that the leadership of Sinn Fein ... understands what an albatross the IRA is for them and for the cause of peace in Ireland."
The McCartney sisters and Bridgeen Hagans, McCartney's partner, are due to meet George Bush yesterday at a St. Patrick's Day reception at the White House, and present him with a dossier of evidence on the murder and its subsequent cover-up.
The McCartneys have had an electric effect on Washington, and yesterday four of the Senate's most famous faces, Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Christopher Dodd, squeezed into a small room on Capitol Hill with dozens of journalists to voice their support and their impatience with Sinn Fein.
Clinton said the peace process "cannot go forward unless there is a complete reckoning and justice in the murder of Robert McCartney."
She called on anyone involved to come forward by Good Friday, and added that it was clear that it was no longer taboo in the Catholic community to talk to the police.
McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate, said: "We assured the family we will do everything in our power to see the murderers are brought to justice."
Catherine McCartney said she hoped the support in Washington would have "results on the ground," forcing witnesses to come forward.
Kennedy made it clear that his frustration with the IRA and Sinn Fein had been rising before the murder. Irish-American politicians had been involved in political talks in December "at the same time the IRA was planning a bank robbery," he said.
Kennedy, who has met Adams in every St. Patrick's week for more than a decade, said he had previously called on him to sever his ties with the IRA. "I have done that repeatedly over the past years and it has not been effective."
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