Northern Ireland (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

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/

[davidbfpo]

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/

[davidbfpo]

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

[davidbfpo]

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

[Azor]

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...

[davidbfpo]

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

[davidbfpo]

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.

[davidbfpo]

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

[davidbfpo]

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

[davidbfpo]

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.

[davidbfpo]

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

[davidbfpo]

An update on Post 174, a BBC News item on the value and dangers of recruiting an informant in a CT campaign:

The most senior loyalist ever to agree to become a so-called supergrass volunteered to kill a Catholic to cover up the fact he was an informer.....He worked as an informer for 13 years...has pleaded guilty to 202 terror offences, including five murders, as his part of a controversial state deal that offered a significantly reduced prison term in return for giving evidence against other terrorist suspects.
He is said to have provided information on:

• 55 murders
• 20 attempted murders
• 56 conspiracies to murder
• 24 bombing offences

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42337250

This also appear on the HUMINT thread.

[davidbfpo]

Post 174 being Part 1.

On the 29th he was finally sentenced:

A loyalist "supergrass" who admitted the murders of five people among hundreds of offences has had a 35-year jail term reduced to six-and-a-half years for helping the police.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42857474

Local comment has been critical, enhanced as he is likely to be released in weeks; The Good Friday Agreement provisions apply to his crimes, as they did for many others, he is just the latest beneficiary.

[davidbfpo]

Posts 169-171 refer to previous, recent posts.

Now:

One of the British state’s most important agents inside the IRA, “Stakeknife”, has been arrested by detectives investigating 18 murders during the Northern Ireland Troubles.Republican and security sources in Belfast confirmed on Tuesday that a 72-year-old man detained by police officers working for Operation Kenova is Freddie Scappaticci.

Accused of being the IRA’s chief spycatcher, the Belfast man stands accused of being a double agent who was working for the security forces while overseeing the murder of informers within the republican movement.

Link:https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...on/ar-BBItYyq?

(Added later)

The Irish journalist Ed Moloney, now in NYC and a SME on the IRA, has a blogsite and has commented upon the arrest.
Link:https://thebrokenelbow.com/2018/01/3...s-that-follow/

[davidbfpo]

A wider commentary on Brexit and Northern Ireland has this stunning passage, with my emphasis:

As its 20th anniversary looms within weeks, after all, the agreement is not functioning, with neither the Northern Ireland assembly and executive nor the North-South Ministerial Council in being.
Indeed, what remains is the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Ironically, this is because policing was so difficult an issue in the talks leading to the agreement—going as it did, as with the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, to the heart of the contest over the state—that it was passed to an impartial independent commission to solve. Informed by the region’s human-rights lobby born of the ‘troubles’, the consequent Patten report led to the old, overwhelmingly Protestant and ‘securitised’ Royal Ulster Constabulary being transformed into a police service founded on human-rights principles and committed to neighbourhood policing. Far from adequate, it is however the one institution—despite the still hugely controversial nature of Northern Ireland’s decades of lead—still standing.

Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/bre...day-agreement?

[davidbfpo]

A rare public comment by a former PIRA volunteer on the success of British intelligence infiltration; he ends with:

They didn’t come out and say that they were penetrated. Yes, the IRA volunteers knew there was penetration, as that was par for the course, but I don’t believe the volunteers on the ground knew the extent of the penetration, and to a large extent the leadership concealed the level of penetration from them.

Link:https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/cr...ltar-1-8402927

[davidbfpo]

One of the sources cited by Dr. Matchett is the "Walker Report", a document prepared in 1980-1981 by a then senior member of the British Security Service (MI5) and following a lengthy legal case a redacted copy is now in the public domain. It is relatively short and opens with:

In January 1980 the Chief Constable commissioned a report - known as the Walker Report - on the interchange of intelligence between Special Branch and CID and on the staffing and organisation of units in C1(1) in Crime Branch.

Link:http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/policing/walker-report

The legal case is explained here:https://caj.org.uk/2018/05/01/psni-a...-rights-group/

Two journalists from 'The Guardian' have written an overview, it starts with:

A secret MI5 report that resulted in Northern Ireland’s police covertly prioritising intelligence-gathering over fighting crime has been made public after almost 40 years. The report resulted in detectives of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) – now the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) – being ordered never to arrest a suspected terrorist without consulting the force’s intelligence-gathering section.

Detectives were also told that anyone who was arrested could be recruited as an agent rather than charged with a criminal offence.
As a consequence, a number of British agents are now known to have been involved in murders, bombings and shootings, while continuing to pass on information about their terrorist associates.

Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...thern-ireland?

There are a number of similar MI5 reports cited which remain secret.

Informant handling is always an activity fraught with risks, even more so in CT / COIN and 'The Troubles' lasted a very long time, with the UK fighting a very capable enemy, PIRA and often violent Loyalists who waged their own campaign.

[Kevin23]

Dissident republican activity has been increasing of late, with police in Northern Ireland fearful of a spate of violent incidents marking the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Londonderry's Creggan estate is central to their concerns.

An intelligence-led operation took them into the area late on Thursday night in a hunt for weapons and ammunition.

They were concerned they could be used in the days ahead to attack officers.

The group blamed for killing journalist Lyra McKee is known as the New IRA and was behind a bomb attack outside the city's courthouse at the start of the year.

There have been other signs of violent intentions elsewhere.

Recently, a horizontal mortar tube and command wire were discovered near Castlewellan in County Down.

The dissident republican threat remains classed as severe and in recent days the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been assessing what could, in particular, occur over coming days.

They had called for calm ahead of illegal parades planned in Londonderry and Lurgan in County Armagh.

But that appeal was shattered by gunfire that killed a journalist standing near police lines.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-47987578

[davidbfpo]

The title comes from the leader of Saoradh, a political party that reflects New IRA thinking and their statement:

A republican volunteer attempted to defend people from the PSNI/RUC. Tragically a young journalist, Lyra McKee, was killed accidentally.

In response to the murder:

The murder of this young woman is a human tragedy for her family, but it is also an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on our peace process and an attack on the Good Friday agreement,” said Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill.

Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/19/new-ira-and-saoradh-face-backlash-over-lyra-mckee?

Just whether a "backlash" from the local community will happen or have an effect is a moot point.

[davidbfpo]

A short report using the footage taken at the scene, plus what the PSNI has released.
Link:https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...of-lyra-mckee/

I am not an expert on such issues, but is clear that the police were inside their armoured Land Rovers - which were being hit by petrol bombs and other missiles. Oddly IMHO standing some distance behind the two vehicles at the front is a large group of individuals, who appear to be mainly adults just watching. The shots fired, estimates vary, would not have hit any police officer, just those watching.