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Thread: Northern Ireland (merged thread)

  1. #161
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    Default Investigate historical crimes for all ex-soldiers say

    In recent months many gained the impression that the UK and Northern Ireland political leaders were "leaning over backwards" to Republican calls for the re-investigation of security force involvement in murders plus. Now a group of ex-soldiers are demanding crimes where the PIRA and others tried to kill them:http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-34418970.html
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  2. #162
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    Default Security Situation Statistics in Northern Ireland

    I've never seen this PSNI publication, although it appears they have been on their website:http://www.psni.police.uk/security_s...nuary_2016.pdf
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  3. #163
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    Default Catholics are top victims of Northern Ireland's republican terror groups

    For those close to the rumbling along violence this headline will not be a surprise; based on academic research:
    Almost 80% of people shot by the New IRA and other republican terror groups in Northern Ireland over nearly 10 years have been Catholics and nationalists.
    The survey results, in an analysis of fatal shootings and woundings for the journal Terrorism and Political Violence, record that in the categories “Catholics” and “criminals” the victims comprised more than 77% of the 175 people shot dead or wounded by armed dissident republicans....By contrast, police officers accounted for just over 15% of shooting casualties from 2007 to 2015...
    Link:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...groups-new-ira
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  4. #164
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    Default Republican terrorist threat up from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’

    The government decision to change the security readiness level, on the UK mainland, from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’ came as a surprise to many, even though some have been warning the 1916 Centenary could be marked by an attack to advance the 'dissident' Republican cause.

    RUSI has a very useful commentary:https://rusi.org/commentary/new-ira-may-2016

    Within is this curious passage:
    Ironically, one of the gravest threats to the New IRA comes, not from the British or Irish security forces, but from Dublin-based criminal networks which have recently assassinated a number of New IRA members.
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  5. #165
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    Default An 'electronic border'

    A rare public statement on the Anglo-Irish border and it's electron guardians:
    A MULTIBILLION-pound electronic surveillance system operating on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic would not change if Britain exited the EU, Ian Paisley Jr has claimed.....Every single vehicular movement on the border, every single person movement on the border, is electronically recorded.
    Link:http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepa...-a-Brexit.html

    Presumably individuals must smile as they do, so their face is recorded and have their mobile phone on too.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-25-2016 at 01:05 PM. Reason: 68,238v
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  6. #166
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    Default The Marine who turned to terror and became a lone wolf

    A long anticipated issue for the UK military; one shared by most armed services when a serving member becomes a 'lone wolf'.

    As the BBC explains:
    A Royal Marine Commando from Northern Ireland has pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism linked to dissident republicanism. Ciaran Maxwell's case raises alarming questions of how he was able to penetrate the ranks of an elite British military unit and smuggle out arms.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38856986

    I note he joined the Royal Marines in 2010 and was id'd as a suspect in August 2016. He pleaded guilty yesterday and will be sentenced one day.

    There is a little more:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...elated-terror/
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 02-13-2017 at 08:53 AM. Reason: 455v before merging
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  7. #167
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    Default From killer to peacemaker

    Understandably the UK press has a number of obituaries for Martin McGuinness; as The Guardian's obituary sub-title says:
    Sinn Fin politician and peace negotiator who went from being an IRA commander to serving for a decade as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland
    Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...nness-obituary

    Or this:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-norther...itics-38640430

    A more nuanced commentary behind the headline:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...-say-families/

    How this "Godfather" became the Deputy First Minister, with the late Rev. Ian Paisley, was remarkable, but this Ulsterman says - hence my emphasis:
    But perhaps more powerful than McGuinness meeting with the Queen was the moment in 2009 when he branded republican dissidents as traitors to Ireland after they killed a police officer. Shaking hands with the Queen was a potent symbol of peace-making; McGuinnesss condemnation of dissident violence had much greater practical effect. His unambiguous, impassioned statement helped protect the lives of all police officers, but particularly Catholics, whom dissidents cynically targeted as a way of undermining the transformation of policing achieved as part of the Good Friday Agreement. If dissidents could discourage young Catholics from joining the reformed service, they could hope for a return to the status quo ante a partisan, Protestant police force, from which many Catholics had turned to the IRA for protection. McGuinness spoke for the overwhelming majority of nationalists by making clear that the police were now a service for all the people of Northern Ireland. Dissident attacks on the police were thus an attack on the people they served. Everyone must therefore stand in defence of the police. It was arguably his greatest contribution to the peace process.
    Link:https://theconversation.com/martin-m...al-path-74820?

    Behind a "pay wall" is a hostile comment, which includes this:
    What is important, however, is to understand why a long-time hardened terrorist and brutal murderer should have decided to negotiate a ceasefire leading to a peace deal. The Army and our intelligence services had penetrated the IRA organisation right up to the governing Army Council. No one in that organisation knew who he could trust as a fellow terrorist, or who had been suborned and was a British spy.
    The author, Norman Tebbitt, a former Conservative MP, was seriously injured in the 1984 bombing of the party's main Brighton hotel in 1984.
    Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...ace-save-skin/
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-22-2017 at 09:54 AM. Reason: 107,107v nearly 40k up since June '16
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  8. #168
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    Default Violence remains

    An interesting overview of the situation and a reminder that the still active violent dissident republicans have no mandate for their actions.

    Link:https://theconversation.com/how-northern-ireland-is-battling-the-persistent-threat-of-violence-74321?

    The photo is startling enough
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-11-2017 at 05:01 PM. Reason: 109,825v
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  9. #169
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    Default Stakeknife the UK's most important spy

    The BBC's documentary series 'Panorama' had a powerful programme this week, entitled 'The Spy in the IRA', who was handled or "run" by the Army (using a specialist unit, the Field Research Unit aka the "Fru") not the police and reporting to the Security Service (MI5).

    From the programme's website:
    Panorama investigates one of Britain's most important spies since the Second World War. In the murky world of British intelligence during the Northern Ireland conflict, one agent's life appears to have mattered more than others. Codenamed Stakeknife, Freddie Scappaticci rose through the ranks of the IRA to run their internal security unit.He was the IRA's chief spy catcher, in charge of rooting out those suspected of collaborating with the British, who were then executed. But all the time he was in fact working for the British intelligence services - Stakeknife was their 'golden egg', the British Army's most important spy during the Troubles.
    Panorama reveals that a classified report links Scappatici to at least 18 murders (out of 30). Some of these victims were themselves agents and informers. Scappaticci, the intelligence agencies who tasked him and the IRA to whom he also answered are now the subject of a new £35 million criminal enquiry.
    Panorama discloses how he kept his cover by having the blood of other agents on his hands, how the intelligence agencies appeared to tolerate this and why he has been protected for so long.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...spy-in-the-ira

    It raises many hard questions: Were UK agents allowed to die to cover Stakeknife? How to navigate the 'moral maze' of the "greater good" coming at a price. Was the Provisional IRA / Sinn Fein 'pushed into peace' by being infiltrated? Were all parties restrained by the knowledge of Stakeknife's activities?

    He is incidentally still alive and by implication living in Northern Ireland! There is a remarkably thin wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Scappaticci
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-19-2020 at 06:39 PM. Reason: 111,003v. Remove redundnat links to two films
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  10. #170
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    The BBC's documentary series 'Panorama' had a powerful programme this week, entitled 'The Spy in the IRA', who was handled or "run" by the Army (using a specialist unit, the Field Research Unit aka the "Fru") not the police and reporting to the Security Service (MI5).

    From the programme's website:Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...spy-in-the-ira

    It raises many hard questions: Were UK agents allowed to die to cover Stakeknife? How to navigate the 'moral maze' of the "greater good" coming at a price. Was the Provisional IRA / Sinn Fein 'pushed into peace' by being infiltrated? Were all parties restrained by the knowledge of Stakeknife's activities?

    He is incidentally still alive and by implication living in Northern Ireland! There is a remarkably thin wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Scappaticci
    But how much evidence is there that Scappaticci was a British agent? The PIRA seems to believe his denials and he lives in Northern Ireland. Perhaps the British were using him to cover for another source(s)? If so, was the British government subjecting him to risk of reprisal? Yet he is a murderer...

    Murky indeed...
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-19-2020 at 06:40 PM. Reason: Remove redundant film links in quote

  11. #171
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    Default Evidence?

    In two parts:
    Quote Originally Posted by Azor View Post
    But how much evidence is there that Scappaticci was a British agent? The PIRA seems to believe his denials and he lives in Northern Ireland.
    I would say there is evidence that Scappaticci was a British agent; possibly for ten years as the head of PIRA's "nutting" squad and he claims to have become inactive in republicanism in 1990. The key point for the current investigation was his activity protected and others died to do so. Evidence for that is likely to be more difficult. Will those involved in handling him (the Army) and the receivers of the information (MI5) have complete records which are handed over to the investigators?

    Is there enough evidence to put him in court for murder for example?

    Possibly noteworthy is that the Director of Public Prosecutions has recently been accused of being too ready to prosecute soldiers when paramilitaries are not. In the programme he explains why he has directed the investigation.

    By Azor:
    Perhaps the British were using him to cover for another source(s)? If so, was the British government subjecting him to risk of reprisal? Yet he is a murderer...
    Quite possibly as many have commented PIRA was emasculated by the time of the Good Friday Agreement having been infiltrated at senior levels, although he had been active for many years by then.

    PIRA was ruthless at times towards spies and suspected spies, but to acknowledge a central figure, the head of its own counter-intelligence "nutting" squad, was British spy would affect their credibility even today. Few really want to open this murky world.
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  12. #172
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    Default Secret Victory: The Intelligence War that beat the IRA

    Last week William Matchett, a thirty year veteran of the RUC / PSNI Special Branch spoke at a book launch @ Policy Exchange, London and in summary his argument is:
    Secret Victory shows what a successful rule of law approach looks like in an irregular war.
    There is a 35 mins podcast (yet to listen to):https://policyexchange.org.uk/event/...liam-matchett/

    The book 'Secret Victory: The Intelligence War that beat the IRA' was released in November 2016, in Ireland and has a plethora of five star reviews. Citing in part one review by Professor Michael Rainsborough, Head of War Studies, King’s College London:
    The author trenchantly, and effectively deconstructs the dirty war thesis, illustrating that much of the narrative is partial, factually flawed or often simply incoherent and contradictory. The systematic critique of this popular orthodoxy through evidence and argumentation, along with the more detailed illumination of the Special Branch’s evolution as a vital arm in the security effort, constitutes a highly original contribution to knowledge and understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict.
    Link:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Vict...secret+victory

    Link to USA Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Victor...secret+victory
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 05-07-2019 at 10:11 AM. Reason: matchett's book and six posts copied to this the main thread
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  13. #173
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    Default A woman "lone wolf": a strange tale

    A strange tale that starts with:
    Northern Ireland woman who used a Swedish model’s pictures on social media to coax men into supporting her solo republican terrorist campaign against police is beginning a 16-year jail sentence. An investigation by police in Northern Ireland, West Mercia police and the FBI found that Christine Connor used a fake name and photographs of a Swedish model to solicit help through social media from an Englishman and an American, who both later took their own lives.
    Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...lice-bomb-plot


    What is puzzling is that her two attacks were in May 2013, using blast bombs to attack the police and she was in custody on remand by July 2013. So it has taken nearly four years to get her to trial - very strange.
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  14. #174
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    Default Gary Haggarty: Ex-senior loyalist pleads guilty to 200 terror charges

    Behind the headline (above) is a glimpse into the horrible past during 'The Troubles', including allegations of collusion between a Loyalist murder and his police handlers:
    He was given five life sentences for the murders, but these will be significantly reduced as he is an assisting offender under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).All of the killings, and the majority of the other offences, took place while Haggarty was working as a police informer.

    (Later) The BBC understands he told his interviewers that some of his Special Branch handlers not only protected him from arrest and prosecution, but also actively encouraged his activities.

    Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40379903
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  15. #175
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    Default Reassessing Counterinsurgency: Theory and Practice

    This was a 2012 conference, held in Austin, Texas, with Kings College London, University of Queensland and the hosts The Robert Strauss Center. Link:https://reassessingcounterinsurgency....com/articles/

    There is a strong British emphasis and several on Northern Ireland - two of which caught my attention.

    One on Operation Motorman: https://reassessingcounterinsurgency...long-drive.pdf and the second on the British Army's role after 1998 i.e. after the peace agreement:https://reassessingcounterinsurgency...n-army-swi.pdf
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-26-2017 at 11:33 AM. Reason: Copied from the COIN thread and adapted. 137,725v.
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  16. #176
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    Default No 'comfort letter' for you

    A little reported matter till this week:
    A former Northern Irish actor (James Corry)once tipped for fame has finally confessed he was involved in a 1996 IRA bombing of a British army base in Germany.....In 2003, former British soldier Michael Dixon was sentenced to six years and six months for his role in the 1996 attack.
    Link:http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-35971861.html and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-40733836

    This was a PIRA mortar attack, by a team of five and Corry was extradited from the Irish Republic in November 2016. It is not clear why it took so long to identify him and apply for his extradition.
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  17. #177
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    Default Part 2: The Marine who turned to terror and became a lone wolf

    See Post 166 above for my initial post; a serving Royal Marine helping violent Irish Republicans to be brief.

    Well he was sentenced today, he pleaded guilty and declined to attend court so watched via video link and the headline:
    Royal Marine who supplied arms for Irish republican attacks jailed for 18 years
    A reasonably detailed report and the judge comments included:
    Maxwell was a “quartermaster” to the Continuity IRA and engaged in “sophisticated offending on a substantial scale” for five years until his arrest in 2016. “A skilled bombmaker is of considerable importance to a terrorist organisation like the Continuity IRA....
    Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/31/royal-marine-ciaran-maxwell-arms-irish-republican-attacks-jailed?

    Note is was two chance discoveries by the public of his hidden arms dumps, in Northern Ireland (there were others in England) that led to the investigation and his DNA being on record id'd him.

    The BBC report has more detail:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-40774233
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-31-2017 at 04:44 PM. Reason: 139,487v
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  18. #178
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    Default Northern Ireland (merged thread)

    I recently read a brilliant, new book (272 pgs) by a RUC / PSNI veteran of 'The Troubles': 'Secret Victory: The Intelligence War That Beat the IRA' by William Matchett and available via:http://www.secretvictory.co.uk/ Plus the usual outlets.
    It is worthy of a new thread, especially as the US Army adopted the 'Attack the Network' theme - which was taken from Northern Ireland.

    As the title suggests this is about the missing dimension of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland 1969-1999. The author served for thirty years, mainly in the police’s intelligence department, the Special Branch and then became a police adviser in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places.

    For many, notably politicians, especially Provisional Sinn Fein, The Good Friday Agreement 1998 (which led to a peace settlement in 1999) was a successfully negotiated compromise between the paramilitaries, Ulster political parties, the British and Irish governments. The author argues strongly that was not true: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) by the early 1990’s ‘had run out of road’ and needed a face-saving exit. Half the IRA was in jail and most of the rest fugitives living in the Irish Republic (pg.8).

    The author’s argument is that a rule of law approach endured – and the best weapon in the counter-terrorism armoury was the intelligence war conducted by the Special Branch (SB). Not to neglect the role of the Army, who had primacy over the police for seven years (1969-1976); with 30,000 serving in 1972, dropping to 15,000 in 1998. The police grew from 3,000 to 13,000 in the same period (pg.146) and in 1986 the SB had 640 officers or 5% of the force (pg.206).

    The beginning of the end was the PIRA attack on Loughall police station, the PIRA attack was identified – minus many details – and the SAS ambushed them, killing eight hardened killers. PIRA was totally clueless how the SB knew. Attacks would still happen and 85% of mainland attacks were prevented (pg.219).

    There is a mass of detail. I would draw attention to him writing 60% of gathered intelligence came from agents (pg. 22), 20% technical, 15% surveillance and 5% routine policing & open sources (pg. 98). Arrests occurred 96% of the time (pg.23) and the specialist uniformed support unit (E4 HMSU) had an impressive record: 99.5% of covert operations confronting armed terrorists resulted in arrests (pg.220). PIRA volunteers knew in a year’s time they would behind bars or dead. The SAS who dominated covert operations along the border between 1986-1992 killed twenty-one of PIRA’s top operators (pg.231) and in 1997 in South Armagh, the heart of ‘bandit country’ a PIRA sniper team were arrested by the SAS and E4 HMSU.

    ‘Agents were the decisive factor’ and eventually surveillance, armed response and tactical co-ordination were added – a combination that forced PIRA to capitulate (pg.112)

    Much has been written on ‘suspect communities’ and today is often applied to Muslim communities in the UK. The author argues what emerged, under PIRA leadership and strategy, were ‘counter-societies’ that harnessed subversion and political militancy to accompany and support terrorism (pg.69-71). The aim was to make Nationalist areas un-policeable and therefore ungovernable.

    The criminalization policy, also known as “Ulsterisation”, led to the PIRA recognizing the criminal justice system and having to defend their actions in criminal courts (minus juries) under public scrutiny (pg. 157). Behind the scenes and yet to become public documents were seven reports by senior Security Service authors (pg. 163).

    There are chunks of the book which are controversial, the "shoot to kill" episode and the book fades out as peace approached. Perhaps it is too early even today to place more information in the public domain?
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  19. #179
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    Default RE: Intelligence in Northern Ireland

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo
    The author argues strongly that was not true: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) by the early 1990’s ‘had run out of road’ and needed a face-saving exit. Half the IRA was in jail and most of the rest fugitives living in the Irish Republic (pg.8).
    It is my understanding that the situation was a stalemate prior to the Good Friday Agreement. In addition, I had understood that the Loyalist/Unionist politicians and paramilitaries were not consulted as equal partners, and that the Agreement was mainly between the PIRA and the UK, and that it was imposed on the Loyalists/Unionists by the latter. If the PIRA was truly depleted then why make any concessions and why not allow the Protestant Northern Irish to impose their will, as they had on the Catholics in the 1950s-1960s?

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo
    The author’s argument is that a rule of law approach endured…
    I don’t see what “rule of law” has to do with “shoot to kill”, which is exactly what the SAS and special units of the RUC did.

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo
    …the best weapon in the counter-terrorism armoury was the intelligence war conducted by the Special Branch (SB). Not to neglect the role of the Army, who had primacy over the police for seven years (1969-1976); with 30,000 serving in 1972, dropping to 15,000 in 1998. The police grew from 3,000 to 13,000 in the same period (pg.146) and in 1986 the SB had 640 officers or 5% of the force (pg.206).
    What about the SRU and FRU, both of which were vital to I/CI efforts in Northern Ireland, and both of which were military?

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo
    The beginning of the end was the PIRA attack on Loughall police station, the PIRA attack was identified – minus many details – and the SAS ambushed them, killing eight hardened killers. PIRA was totally clueless how the SB knew. Attacks would still happen and 85% of mainland attacks were prevented (pg.219).

    There is a mass of detail. I would draw attention to him writing 60% of gathered intelligence came from agents (pg. 22), 20% technical, 15% surveillance and 5% routine policing & open sources (pg. 98). Arrests occurred 96% of the time (pg.23) and the specialist uniformed support unit (E4 HMSU) had an impressive record: 99.5% of covert operations confronting armed terrorists resulted in arrests (pg.220). PIRA volunteers knew in a year’s time they would behind bars or dead. The SAS who dominated covert operations along the border between 1986-1992 killed twenty-one of PIRA’s top operators (pg.231) and in 1997 in South Armagh, the heart of ‘bandit country’ a PIRA sniper team were arrested by the SAS and E4 HMSU.

    ‘Agents were the decisive factor’ and eventually surveillance, armed response and tactical co-ordination were added – a combination that forced PIRA to capitulate (pg.112)

    Much has been written on ‘suspect communities’ and today is often applied to Muslim communities in the UK. The author argues what emerged, under PIRA leadership and strategy, were ‘counter-societies’ that harnessed subversion and political militancy to accompany and support terrorism (pg.69-71). The aim was to make Nationalist areas un-policeable and therefore ungovernable.

    The criminalization policy, also known as “Ulsterisation”, led to the PIRA recognizing the criminal justice system and having to defend their actions in criminal courts (minus juries) under public scrutiny (pg. 157). Behind the scenes and yet to become public documents were seven reports by senior Security Service authors (pg. 163).

    There are chunks of the book which are controversial, the "shoot to kill" episode and the book fades out as peace approached. Perhaps it is too early even today to place more information in the public domain?
    I completely agree with the author that the intelligence-special forces combination was very successful in Northern Ireland. Whereas the regular Army and RUC units’ ubiquitous presence only bred hatred, the intelligence/SOF units inspired fear.

    One would have thought these lessons could have been applied in Afghanistan and Iraq: instead of heavily-armed soldiers occupying public spaces, the Coalition should have been largely invisible, except of course, to the enemy. Yet regular army generals are in love with the sight of columns of troops and armor "securing" a town or city...

    I would also say that intelligence alone was insufficient: there had to be the reasonable expectation that there were invisible and silent killers out there lying in wait for you or tracking you down. The hunters had to feel hunted.

  20. #180
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    Default Infiltration works and death might happen

    Thanks Azor for your response and I will try to answer each point:
    Quote Originally Posted by Azor View Post
    It is my understanding that the situation was a stalemate prior to the Good Friday Agreement. In addition, I had understood that the Loyalist/Unionist politicians and paramilitaries were not consulted as equal partners, and that the Agreement was mainly between the PIRA and the UK, and that it was imposed on the Loyalists/Unionists by the latter. If the PIRA was truly depleted then why make any concessions and why not allow the Protestant Northern Irish to impose their will, as they had on the Catholics in the 1950s-1960s?
    To be fair I am not well versed on the political and diplomatic aspects of The Good Friday Agreement. Yes there was a stalemate, but in my limited contacts then with a few in Northern Ireland their explanation was that everyone wanted a halt to the violence. PIRA was going nowhere, maybe even in reverse. As the Loyalist paramilitaries were more criminal gangs than a political movement, although capable of sectarian mayhem, they needed to be included and were - even with the late Mo Mowlam visiting the Loyalist prisoners in jail to get their agreement. There was no way the Protestant / Loyalist could impose their will in the 1990's, neither Dublin or London would accept that.

    I don’t see what “rule of law” has to do with “shoot to kill”, which is exactly what the SAS and special units of the RUC did.
    Yes there were incidents that troubled many, notably in one distinct period in the 1980' and it is remarkable as the author states: 99.5% of covert operations confronting armed terrorists resulted in arrests.

    What about the SRU and FRU, both of which were vital to I/CI efforts in Northern Ireland, and both of which were military?
    Both Army units are included, especially the FRU which continued to try to run agents. Plus the author acknowledges their skill set suited the border areas, eventually - even in South Armagh - the RUC and Army could work well together. This is well covered by Toby Harnden's book 'Bandit Country'.

    I completely agree with the author that the intelligence-special forces combination was very successful in Northern Ireland. Whereas the regular Army and RUC units’ ubiquitous presence only bred hatred, the intelligence/SOF units inspired fear.
    I understand attitudes to the Army and RUC were very different across Northern Ireland; they also varied according to anniversaries and events. Yes there was hatred, but even in Londonderry there was a longstanding unofficial PIRA ceasefire. The Army's urban presence was minimal for a long time, although oddly the last big deployment was to back up the RUC confronting Loyalist violence over schooling in Belfast.

    One would have thought these lessons could have been applied in Afghanistan and Iraq: instead of heavily-armed soldiers occupying public spaces, the Coalition should have been largely invisible, except of course, to the enemy. Yet regular army generals are in love with the sight of columns of troops and armor "securing" a town or city...
    Some of the lessons could have had application, but the level of civil violence and insurgent attacks alongside the absence of effective, indigenous security forces meant a military response was the option taken.

    I would also say that intelligence alone was insufficient: there had to be the reasonable expectation that there were invisible and silent killers out there lying in wait for you or tracking you down. The hunters had to feel hunted.
    Plus the knowledge that insurgents, whether PIRA or Loyalists paramilitaries, had been so infiltrated their activities were exposed to a high risk of failure, arrest and potentially death.
    davidbfpo

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