Nairobi — The British army finally ended its longest continuous operation ever a couple of weeks ago. Military fanfare went AWOL. There should have been some celebration because a lesson valid elsewhere today remains.

Essentially, the army in Northern Ireland prevented warmongers and brewers of hatred from annihilating each other. Meanwhile, they became civilised. Hopefully, a relapse to barbarism will remain on vacation. Then the remaining 5,000 British troops can just train and expect no more exceptionally stupid wars.

The operation began in 1969. That's long after the sun's setting on the Empire became normal. By an interesting coincidence, a Labour Party prime minister, Harold Wilson, sent the troops and the last measures leading to the operation's end occurred under another Labour leader, Tony Blair.

When the operation began, the military brass, politicians and mandarins expected the troops to tidy things up within weeks. As it turned out, supposedly civilised folks slugged it longer than any natives they had "civilised" in, for example, Africa. Common sense remained on vacation.

The army and militarised police faced the Irish Republican army, splinter groups championing the same cause and unionists paramilitary groups. The republicans sought unity with the Republic of Ireland and the unionists continued pledge loyalty to His or Her Majesty.

Generally, the unionists claimed to be Protestants and republicans Catholics. Both used terror and refined it as an instrument of cowing humans long before Osama bin Laden became a household name. They were terrorists par excellence.

More than 300,000 army personnel served in the operation. At the height of what was called "The Troubles" - an understatement - some 27,000 troops were on the ground. A whole generation grew up under the barrel of the gun.

Kevin Myers of Belfast Telegraph newspaper wrote an article that praised most British troops for "steadfastness, decency and patience...through often appalling provocation." According to Myers, the IRA and company killed 697 soldiers. The British army killed 301 people. In contrast, the republicans killed 2,148 people, including their own.

It is not the purpose here to give a blow-by-blow account of the conflict and protracted negotiations. An outline will do. The root cause goes back to England's interference in the days of Queen Elizabeth I. Settlement of British and Scottish settlers in the 1600s added more poison. The conquerors and the conquered would live side-by-side, fear and resentment fermenting. Animosity became perennial. Only the intensity varied.

Granted independence

Fast forward to 1921. Britain granted the predominantly Catholic southern part of the island independence to become the Republic of Ireland, which retained constitutional claim to the self-governing and predominantly Protestant north.

There's no dispute the Northern Ireland government had little use for its Catholic citizens. Therefore, they went to the streets in the 1960s to demand rights even shaggy dogs deserve.

The government responded with an iron fist, lost control and appealed to Wilson. Year after year, venomous hatred became a way of life.

One theme right through events in Northern Ireland is extreme positions the protagonists held. In turn, that equalled reason to betrayal. The result was "The Troubles" that Myers described as "an imbecilic indulgence in aggressive nationalist self-pity which brought catastrophe on the communities it was supposed to liberate." He might have added "aggressive religiosity."

This indulgence afflicts people in other parts of the world today. Here are some examples: the Levant, Ceylon, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, Cote d'Ivoire, and the Philippines - add your pick.

Conflict is solvable

The lesson from Northern Ireland is that even the most seemingly intractable conflict is resolvable, when common sense prevails over "aggressive indulgence" in whatever cause.