Countering the "dissidents"
A rare article on the success of the security forces, it is from The Belfast Telegraph, unlikely to appear on the "mainland" and a "taster":
Quote:
The charging of republican Colin Duffy with conspiracy to murder and IRA membership. Two other men were separately charged in connection with a murder bid on a police patrol in north Belfast, when shots were fired at officers at a sectarian interface.
The discovery of materials allegedly designed for homemade explosives. A couple were arrested following the cross-border operation which resulted on the raid on a property in Forkhill, south Armagh.
The sentencing of Gavin Coyle to 10 years in jail after he admitted having guns and explosives with intent to endanger life. It followed the discovery in 2011 of a major haul which included assault rifles and Semtex high explosives.
Link:http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-29966725.html
Comforting terrorists, sorry partners in peacemaking
I thought the issue of the 'comfort letters' had been raised here, apparently not on a quick scan. The 'letters' were issued by the Northern Ireland government without public knowledge, after a secret agreement with PIRA / Sinn Fein:
Quote:
...almost 200 IRA terrorism suspects were told they were not wanted by police
Some may argue this was part of the "price for peace", the whole issue is to say the least murky and now Tony Blair comes into focus, as the British Prime Minister who agreed to them:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...s-say-MPs.html
It was beginning and not an end.
Blimey it is twenty years since the PIRA ceasefire:
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Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the IRA calling a "complete cessation of military operations".
It was the beginning, violence continued in Northern Ireland on the 'mainland' with the February 1996 Canary Wharf or London Docklands bombing.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-28948900
Note the cited documentary is only being shown in Northern Ireland and is not on BBC I-Player.
Comforting terrorists, sorry partners in peacemaking
An update on this strange part of the peace process, the so called 'comfort letters' issued by the Northern Ireland government without public knowledge, after a secret agreement with PIRA / Sinn Fein.
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The Northern Ireland Secretary confirmed the Government was effectively annulling the assurances given to the so-called IRA “on-the-runs” that they no longer faced prosecution.
The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Wednesday that recipients of the letters, sent out in the years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, are to be told they are not worth the paper they are written on and they will still be pursued by police.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-annulled.html
Still the "jam in the middle" - the police
A short reflective article on policing, on a website dedicated to security sector reform (SSR) which was found today:http://www.ssrresourcecentre.org/201...thern-ireland/
Quote:
Northern Ireland’s police reform is often held up as a model for other post-conflict countries. Indeed, the transformation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been mostly successful. Following the reforms, the PSNI emerged as more accountable, professional, and legitimate police service than its predecessor. However, despite the significant gains made in transforming the police, the events of the past continue to resurface.
(Ends) As Chief Constable Hamilton indicated, if the PSNI is to survive the current turmoil, something new needs to happen. In his view, unless politicians and civil society can resolve the past, policing will always remain susceptible to the political machinations of peace processing, no matter what reforms are developed. Lessons from the PSNI indicate that unless new ways are found to deal with past crimes, policing the present will also become more difficult.
Tony Blair and John Major betrayed the people of Northern Ireland
In a somewhat bitter and very direct commentary Norman Tebbitt argues the Good Friday Agreement was a betrayal, as indicated by the sub-title:
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By letting up with the IRA/Sinn Fein on the verge of defeat, they undid years of good work by the intelligence services
He writes, as a taster:
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The truth is that they knew that the IRA – all the way up to the Army Council on which they sat to plan and authorise the bombings, tortures and killings – had been penetrated by British intelligence, and none of them could any longer trust another.
Not the PIRA, the Loyalists
Compared to the volumes of commentary and publicity at times for the violent Republicans, notably the Provisional IRA, since the Good Friday Agreement, there has been little written about the "Loyalist" paramilitaries.
Arraon Edwards in his blog UVF: Behind the Mask has a series of artricles that provide an explanation. in particular their role in reconciliation:https://uvfbook.wordpress.com/author/aaronedwards2012/
Omagh bombing 1998: one man faces court soon
The August 1998 bombing in Omagh's main street is remembered for the twenty-eight deaths and injuries as the Real IRA's attempt to derail the Good Friday Agreement. Shortly after Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed those reponsible would face justice.
The criminal investigation meandered along, it is known to rely on forensic evidence and cell phone analysis. Frustrated with the slow pace a private prosecution was launched, which found several men liable in 2009 and re-affirmed in an appeal in 2013.
More details here:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...h-bombing.html
Now a criminal court hearing is expected next month, for one man, Seamus Daly, who maintains he is innocent:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-go-ahead.html
'Comfort letters' may not be so comfortable
The use of 'comfort letters' continues to roll along; they provided an assurance to paramilitaries that prosecution would not happen, all part of the peace process we are assured by Tony Blair and others.
Now we are told for a small number the 'letters' will not stop a prosecution:
Quote:
Six IRA terror suspects thought to be behind some of the worst atrocities committed on mainland Britain are facing major new police investigations, the Telegraph can disclose.....PSNI now believed there to be no barrier to prosecuting OTR suspects who had been sent “comfort letters” – because Coalition Government ministers have recently said the letters had no legal force.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-suspects.html
This has nothing to do with the forthcoming parliamentary report on the 'letters', let alone the General Election:wry:.
Murders of alleged informers to be investigated
An exclusive in The Guardian as another "pandora's box" is to be opened and the sub-title says it all:
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Northern Ireland’s police ombudsman is focusing on role of double agent Stakeknife, British intelligence’s top spy in the IRA
Link:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...mants-troubles
I am not convinced that this helps peace and reconciliation. The only "side" in the frame are the UK security forces.
Northern Ireland: when Britain fought terror with terror
The title is from The Guardian, in a 'long read' on an incident in 1982, which still resonates today, in part due to a mainland police officer John Stalker starting an investigation and suddenly withdrawn amidst much "smoke". The inquests into this and another shooting have yet to happen.
The incident strated with two young men visiting a local hayshed, with one of them shot dead by the police, alerted by a MI5 bug inside and:
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But Michael Tighe’s death was different, because the shots that killed him, and the subsequent cover‑up, were part of a dark episode in the undeclared war in the north, in which it was possible to glimpse the British state fighting terror with terror.....Stalker began to think that special branch, supported by MI5, might be using informants to lure terrorism suspects into pre-planned ambushes, mounted by police officers who were indeed shooting to kill.
The survivor from the hayshed reappeared years later:
Quote:
...had trained the Marxist Farc guerrilla army in the construction and use of home-made mortars that fired gas cylinder bombs.
Link:http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015...shoot-to-kill?
Scotland and planned Loyalist murders
An interesting BBC report:
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Three men have been found guilty of planning to murder two ex-leaders of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Antoin Duffy, 39, his cousin Martin Hughes, 36, and Paul Sands, 32, all denied plotting to kill Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair and Sam McCrory in Scotland.
They were convicted after a nine-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
It appears likely that the plot was notified to the Security Service (aka MI5) after criminals learnt of it:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-33594180
Some march, some talk, some fight
Baroness O'Loan, a former police ombudsman, argues that it's only by confronting the past that people in Northern Ireland will drag themselves clear of it:
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If you don't deal with the past then the trauma, the disability, the pain, everything continues; and as that continues in society it leaves a sense of injustice. And if you leave a sense of injustice, you leave a gap into which paramilitarism of either kind, loyalist or republican, can move.
Last weekend alone, 140 parades were held. It's the height of the marching season, when Unionists and Nationalists alike celebrate their heritage...There were 94 shootings by paramilitaries (48 loyalist, 46 republican) and 26 bomb attacks; 58 firearms were found as well as 23kg of explosives and nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-norther...itics-33881429
In the middle the police and their Chief Constable made some public remarks:
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It feels to me like broader society places all the responsibility, wrongly, at the police service's door. I know we have a critical part to play, but the legislative framework and the budget allocation comes from another arena, called politics.
No, they haven’t gone away – IRA leadership still rules crime world
An article from Ireland, after a murder in Blefast of a former-PIRA hardman, apparently the result of a feud within the Provisionals and the on the record PSNI investigator's statement, so:
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it is clear the PSNI believes it has serious grounds for including the Provisional IRA in its short list of suspects.
Link:http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...-31469819.html
They have not gone away: why PIRA could still wreck peace
An explanation of why a dispute within PIRA has led to the Good Friday Agreement cracking:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...litical-strife
The sub-title:
Quote:
The claim that the former IRA gunman was shot by his ex-comrades has thrown Stormont into turmoil. But the manoeuvring is far from over
Revenge, drugs and power - a heady mix.
Politics in Northern Ireland. Thoughts?
A "lurker" asked for my comments on the current political situation in Northern Ireland this week and below is my response.
The politics in Northern Ireland are not like the rest of the UK and never will be.
As a society Northern Ireland have long historical memories, invariably not shared between the two main communities. This is most marked in the 'Marching Season' each July, when a few marches cause tension and disorder - mainly in Belfast along the "confrontation" line. Politics is also very partisan and with a few known public exceptions splits along religious lines.
One of the weaknesses of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) is that power-sharing has steadily reduced the role and strength of the "moderate" middle. Before the GFA, let alone back in 1969 when 'The Troubles' re-started, few thought the Provisional Sinn Fein (PSF is the political arm of the Provisional IRA) would share government with Rev. Ian Paisley and the DUP.
The GFA stipulates "power sharing" and with a few short exceptions has been pursued by the UK government (plus the Irish Republic). There is ample evidence, including polling data, that the overwhelming majority of the population in Northern Ireland want peace. I am less sure that "power-sharing" is seen as the only way ahead.
A new younger generation are being attracted to the Republican cause, without any experience or understanding of the GFA and there is a small hard core of militants who have rejected peace.
The latest two murders between feuding PIRA personalities reflect their recent memories, that recourse to murder is considered to be OK, even without risk from the state and quite possibly with a strong assumption that the public would not see anything.
Was the motivation personal, political or criminal? A mixture I suspect.
These murders appear to have broken the Unionist concensus that "power sharing" was acceptable to them and their voters. Recent events I expect have eroded patience and have led to a stronger personal and public stance that "enough was enough".
The Unionists have argued that too many concessions have been made to PSF & PIRA, such as the "Comfort Letters", the Saville Enquiry and London's apparent agreement to review deaths at the hands of the security forces.
Here in the rest of the UK there is little sympathy, let aone understanding of what is going on. This has not been helped by the reluctance of the UK media to report regularly on the scale even if small of political violence in Northern Ireland, reportedly with the government's encouragement.
National governments of all colours do not want a return to violence, nor the reappearance of the military on the streets - except for specialists, for e.g. EOD and I think helicopters. Hence IMHO the crazy police 'mutual aid' from the mainland to the PSNI during 'The Marching Season'.