Irish Freedom Committee News List - January 2002

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE NEWSLIST

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Subject: Colm Murphy Sentenced 14 Years

Date: January 25, 2002

There can be no justice for families of Omagh in the frame-up of Colm Murphy. Today families continued to call for an independent investigation into police foreknowledge of the bombing, as the RUC/PSNI Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan announced his intention to will proceed with his own internal investigation.

The Irish Freedom Committee

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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14 Years For Omagh Bomb Plotter

PA 01/25/02 08:17

By Mark Sage, PA News

Terrorist Colm Murphy was today jailed for 14 years at Dublin's Special Criminal Court for conspiring to cause the Omagh bombing.

The 49-year-old publican from Dundalk, County Louth, was sentenced after being found guilty on Tuesday of playing a role in the worst single act of killing in Northern Ireland's troubles.

Mr Justice Robert Barr, presiding, said: "The accused is a long- time Republican extremist and member of a dissident group opposed to the peace agreement of Northern Ireland."

He added: "That those who planted the bomb and Murphy as a back- up or service provider must have realised that the operation to plant the bomb was fraught with danger and risked death and injury to many."

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Omagh Families Demand Public Inquiry After Police Chie

PA 01/24/02 14:13

By Dan McGinn, Ireland Political Editor, PA News

Families of the 29 people killed in Northern Ireland's biggest terrorist atrocity tonight demanded a public inquiry as Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan defended his officers' handling of the Omagh bomb investigation.

Sir Ronnie failed to convince Omagh relatives during a tense and testing five-hour meeting in the town that his officers had done everything possible to bring the Real IRA bombers to justice.

Relatives emerged unhappy with his response to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's scathing criticisms of his officers' investigation.

But they also appealed for an end to the public slanging match between the Chief Constable and Mrs O'Loan stemming from her report last month.

Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena was among the 29 killed in the August 1998 atrocity, tonight said: "There has to be a public inquiry.

"We are three and a half years down the line.

"One person has been convicted and we have this battering match between the Chief Constable and Nuala O'Loan -- a political football.

"The only answer is a public inquiry."

Sir Ronnie emerged from the meeting admitting errors were made in the police investigation but insisted those behind the atrocity could still be caught. "In terms of the circle of victims who have been so directly affected by this atrocity, I doubt if you would find anyone outside this circle who cares more about this than I do, or who has been affected more than I have," he said.

"I have no difficulty saying from the bottom of my heart I am desperately sorry we have not yet brought to justice those who are responsible."

The battle lines between Sir Ronnie and Mrs O'Loan remained drawn tonight as he mounted a vigorous defence of his officers and questioned the Ombudsman's investigation.

Mrs O'Loan tonight said she was standing "very firmly" behind her investigators' report.

The ombudsman, who received the Chief Constable's response to her report on Wednesday, said while she was still digesting its contents, it was evident "there are clear disagreements on fundamental matters of fact between my findings and the information presented today by the Police Service.

"However, there are also many areas of agreement. I stand very firmly behind the report from my office.

"I have listened carefully today to some of the victims and bereaved families and I can understand their difficulty.

"I agree with them that it is the issues that are important and that further public disagreement between the Police Service and my office should be avoided."

Sir Ronnie rejected repeatedly in his report claims that he and his officers failed to act properly in the hunt to catch the men who murdered 29 people, including a mother pregnant with twins.

He said the police service stood ready to work with the ombudsman's office to build a constructive and positive relationship which supervisory arrangements required if they were to work effectively.

But Sir Ronnie added: "The police service in its turn is entitled to expect from the ombudsman's office the same high standards of professionalism, rigour, openness and fairness that are, rightly, expected of the police."

In a no-holds-barred counter-offensive he accused Mrs O'Loan of serious errors of fact and omission, misunderstandings and failing to give identified officers an opportunity to defend themselves.

He did not believe the requirements of natural justice had been met by the procedures used in compiling her report and accompanying statements which, he claimed, had done a grave disservice and caused great hurt to his officers.

The Chief Constable added: "It has inflicted unnecessary grief and anxiety on the relatives of those murdered in Omagh and those injured.

"The errors, inaccuracies and misunderstandings it contains have also seriously distorted the facts about the events surrounding the Omagh bomb and its investigation."

The Ombudsman launched her inquiry last summer after a police informer, nicknamed Kevin Fulton, claimed Special Branch failed to act after he warned, three days before Omagh, that dissident republicans were planning some sort of attack in Northern Ireland.

It later emerged during an earlier internal police review of the investigation that 11 days before the bombing, the Royal Ulster Constabulary was also warned terrorists were planning to strike in Omagh on the day of the outrage. The information was never passed on to senior commanders on the ground.

The Chief Constable stood by Special Branch, claiming Fulton, whom he described as unreliable and increasingly erratic, had not provided intelligence which could have helped prevent the bombing.

He insisted his officers had acted by the book when they investigated the anonymous tip-off of a planned attack in Omagh which was to take place on the day the car bomb went off on August 15, 1998.

Sir Ronnie also:

:: Denied Special Branch operated as an untouchable and secretive force within the police

:: Denied he and his assistant chief constable in charge of crime and intelligence, Raymond White, were guilty of seriously flawed leadership which hindered the search for the bombers.

:: Denied his officers withheld cooperation with the O'Loan investigative team.

He resisted the Ombudsman's demand that a fresh murder inquiry be headed up by a policeman from outside Northern Ireland and another outside officer should head up an inquiry into linked terrorist acts.

A senior officer for Merseyside, he confirmed, would be appointed as an adviser to the murder investigation which would be headed by Detective Chief Superintendent Brian McArthur, who was involved in the original probe.

Lawrence Rush, whose wife Elizabeth died in the atrocity, was not impressed by the Chief Constable's report.

Insisting he was speaking only for his own family, Mr Rush said: "I thought there was a bit of despondency in the room, and to me, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, good PR man that he is, has lost this battle."

Police sources inside the meeting described it as "gruelling," with Sir Ronnie coming under fire from some relatives. "The Chief Constable found it very exhausting. He got a hard time from some of the relatives," a source said.

"Feelings were running high and I think he left convinced that he had not convinced all the families."

Sir Ronnie said afterwards he found the relatives and survivors of the bomb "incredibly courteous and incredibly patient" but admitted the meeting was probably the most difficult in his 30 year career.

The Chief Constable was disappointed how they reacted afterwards but said he had not expected a different outcome.

"I have to say that if I had been through what the victims have been through I don't know if I would be reassured," he said.

The Chief Constable refused to accept that the bitter row which has blown up between Mrs O'Loan and himself had left their relationship irreparable.

"Mrs O'Loan and I are both professional people. Yes there's an issue here, an issue which needs to be addressed, but we can ringfence this."

The Ombudsman acknowledged in her response that police officers deserved credit for much of their work in what was a difficult investigation.

But she added: "It would not have been right of me to minimise or be deflected from making criticism of the failures and deficiencies which we found over the past months - many of which were clearly identified by their own internal (police) review.

"I agree with the families that the Omagh bombing must be thoroughly investigated and that rigorous investigative procedures and practices have to be in place for the future." The Omagh relatives are expected in Dublin tomorrow for the sentencing of the only man to be convicted of involvement in the bomb attack, Colm Murphy.

Mr Murphy was found guilty on Tuesday of conspiracy to cause the bombing.

The families are also expected next Monday to meet members of the 19-member Police Board which holds the Chief Constable and his officers accountable.

The board is also due to meet Sir Ronnie and Mrs O'Loan in an attempt to reach agreement on the lessons to be drawn from the Omagh investigation.

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Minister To Be Quizzed On Surprise Gardai Visit To Omagh

PA 01/24/02 13:17

By Chris Parkin, PA News

Irish Justice Minister John O'Donoghue is to be questioned in parliament about today's surprise attendance of two high-ranking Dublin policemen at a meeting between Police Service of Northern Ireland chief Sir Ronnie Flanagan and relatives of Omagh bombing victims.

The meeting focused on criticism directed at Sir Ronnie's investigation of the Real IRA atrocity by Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.

The two officers most closely involved in the Irish Republic's contribution to the bombing investigation, Assistant Garda Siochana Commissioner Kevin Carty and Detective Superintendent Tadgh Foley informed Mr O'Donoghue on Wednesday night of their decision to be at the meeting.

The minister raised no objection, but there was concern in opposition and some Dublin government circles about the implications of the two men being in on the Omagh exchanges.

It was feared that their attendance might be seen as backing for Sir Ronnie and implying criticism of Ms O'Loan's strong comments about the Northern Ireland police investigation of the Omagh mass murder bombing.

The ombudsman's office made no comment about the development. But Irish government officials are known to have been in touch before the officers left Dublin.

They gave an assurance that the visit by the gardai was not an attempt to undermine the ombudsman's position.

It was stressed that Dublin ministers were fully supportive of Ms O'Loan's recommendation that an officer independent of the Northern Ireland police service should come in and head up the new inquiry.

An Irish government spokesman said the two men were in the north "for the sole purpose of briefing the relatives on the state of the investigation in the Republic".

Garda spokesman Superintendent John Farrelly said that while some people might regard the trip as political, it was not seen in that way by the Garda Siochana.

He added: "We have met people from the Police Service of Northern Ireland on nearly a daily basis and have met the families before.

"This is just another opportunity. We are in Omagh to answer any questions the families may have in relation to an elements of the Irish part of the investigation.

"Some people may comment, but that is a matter for themselves.

"At the end of the day, we are aiming to bring people to justice for this atrocity and there is no other agenda."

The officers' decision to be in Omagh was queried, though, by Dublin's Fine Gael parliamentary opposition party leader Michael Noonan.

He highlighted concern about the assistant commissioner and the detective superintendent being drawn into the row between Sir Ronnie and Ms O'Loan.

Mr Noonan said: "There is a danger that that interpretation could be put on events.

"There is a lot of pain and a lot of grief and there are going to be a lot of accusations. It would be difficult for the gardai not to get pulled in to the wider issues concerning the Northern Ireland police and the ombudsman.

"And it would be very hard for them to simply report progress south of the border and leave it at that."

Mr Noonan said the issue would be raised in the Dail, the Irish parliament.

"The person who is really accountable is the Minister for Justice and we will ask him what was the political thinking behind this decision, which can be subject to misinterpretation and put the gardai in an unenviable position."

The police trip north was defended by Irish Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney.

She said it would have been "badly represented" if the two men had not gone to the Co Tyrone town, and added: "For many years there has been criticism that the Garda Siochana had not co- operated fully with their counterparts in Northern Ireland, and vice versa.

"The guards are there simply to explain to the families the state of the investigation of the Omagh bombing.

"I believe if they were not there, it would be badly misrepresented.

"Priority has to be to bring to justice those responsible for that awful atrocity in August, 1998."

The visit was backed, too, by the Irish Labour party. Deputy leader and Justice spokesman Brendan Howlin said he did not believe the assistant commissioner or his colleague would get involved in the row between Sir Ronnie and Nuala O'Loan "in any shape or form".

Mr Howlin added: "I welcome the attendance of the two gardai.

"I do not believe that anybody should read anything more into it than what is obvious."

Senior Sinn Fein member Martin McGuinness, in Dublin today for meetings linked to the general election due in the Irish Republic later this year, said the garda attendance in Omagh was a matter for the force.

But Mr McGuinness, the Northern Ireland Executive's Education Minister, also said he believed Sir Ronnie's position was now "impossible" in the wake of the criticism directed at him.

:: The two officers themselves made little comment as they left Omagh. Mr Foley said only: "We are here for the families." Mr Carty said: "We are giving no interviews."

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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE NEWSLIST

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Subject: Murphy Conviction a Cover-Up

Date: January 23, 2002

No justice was delivered yesterday in the frame-up of Colm Murphy. The cover-up conviction, based on evidence proven in the course of the trial to have been fabricated, does not address who is truly culpable for the massive loss of life at Omagh.

The conviction of Colm Murphy can only be seen for what it clearly is-- a smokescreen intended to divert attention away from the growing evidence, surfacing at a torrent in recent days, which plainly implicates British security forces in the massive loss of life at Omagh.

This 'new' evidence, successfully hidden from the public eye up to now, is exposing a rampant and ongoing campaign by Free State Gardai Special Branch and British RUC police to destroy, 'misplace', and outright fabricate evidence in the investigation; and has revealed that the Security forces had ample prior knowledge of the bombing and did not act upon it.

Colm Murphy has been set up to pay the price for British and Irish Security forces complicity in the circumstances of the Omagh bombing.

The eyes of the world have seen in recent days just how corrupt "justice" is in Ireland.

D. Fennessy

Irish Freedom Committee

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Catalogue of errors undermined Ireland's biggest murder hunt - Omagh

- Ombudsman report reveals bad leadership and lost evidence

Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent

Wednesday January 23, 2002

The Guardian

The police investigation into the Omagh atrocity has generated huge since a report last month blamed multiple errors, incompetence, and poor leadership for seriously undermining the hunt for the bombers.

Though the joint inquiry of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), formerly the RUC, and the Gardai was the biggest in Ireland's history, it seems to have been flawed in a number of ways.

The Northern Ireland police ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, found that the RUC received two warnings before the blast on August 15 1998, but that Special Branch, which handles such intelligence, did not pass the information to officers in Omagh, deeming it irrelevant.

Details of the warnings were also withheld from detectives running the murder inquiry, cutting off potential leads.

One warning, from a double agent known as Kevin Fulton, told his police handlers on August 12 that a known Real IRA bombmaker, called "Mike", had been making a device and that an attack in Northern Ireland by dissidents was imminent.

Although records show that Mike rang one of the suspects as the bomb car was being driven into place, he has never been considered a suspect and has since disappeared. When ombudsman investigators asked Special Branch to hand over records of the warning, it denied ever receiving it.

Failures in communication between Special Branch and the CID team running the murder inquiry were not the only problems uncovered.

Mrs O'Loan's report detailed how the wrecked bomb car - crucial for forensic analysis - went missing for months and was later found rusting in a car park. Mrs O'Loan said it took officers up to a year to follow up some leads and take statements.

Her team found that neither the inquiry's senior investigating officer nor his deputy were on the inquiry full time, resources were cut after two months, there were failures in management and leadership, and "considerable errors in the management of the investigative computer database".

She said that police witnesses "inexplicably varied their accounts" to her investigators.

Further evidence of irregularities in the inquiry have emerged in the past few days.

Detectives in the murder squad "recreated" or manufactured 357 important documents, possibly including witness statements, which were either lost or inadvertently destroyed in the first 18 months of the inquiry. It is not clear how many were created to replace documents that had been inadvertently lost and how many had never existed, but it is thought some such documents may concern information from important witnesses about sightings of the bomb car.

On Monday, it was revealed that a logbook of terrorist warnings disappeared from Omagh police station at the height of an internal inquiry into the murder investigation by Chief Superintendent Brian McVicker, one of the force's most senior officers.

The hardback book, used to record threatened paramilitary attacks, vanished after detectives were questioned about warnings before the bombing.

The ombudsman's report echoed many of the findings in the secret McVicker report, which although written in 2000, only came to light in the ombudsman's inquiry.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, chief constable of PSNI, has consistently denied that there were any warnings before Omagh.

He has promised to explain this position and rebutt the ombudsman's findings in a report due out tomorrow.

He has said that Mrs O'Loan's report was littered with inaccuracies and errors.

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Irish Examiner - EDITORIAL

January 23, 2002

Tainted evidence probe shadows Omagh verdict

COLM MURPHY, from Jordan’s Corner, Ravensvale, Co Louth, was found guilty of conspiring with others to cause the explosion of the Omagh bomb on August 15, 1998.

It killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured hundreds of others, and caused the heaviest loss of life of any single incident in the Northern Troubles.

The court was told he provided the bombers with two mobile telephones, which were tracked to the Omagh area on the day of the bombing. Terence

Morgan, a builder’s foreman, testified he loaned Murphy one of those telephones, but Morgan later retracted this. He accused the gardaí of coercing him into making the allegation, but the court found his retraction unbelievable and accepted his initial testimony.

During interrogation at Monaghan Garda Station in February 1999, Murphy admitted he loaned the telephones and knew they were to be used in a bombing, but some of this evidence was seriously tainted when the court found two of the gardaí were discredited as witnesses because they had falsified their interview notes by rewriting them with additional details.

Although the evidence of those two gardaí was ruled entirely inadmissible, the court accepted the evidence of two other garda interrogation teams. Mr Justice Robert Barr explained that Murphy’s admission of guilt to those gardaí had played a part in the Special Criminal Court’s decision.

Although the verdict was a victory for the gardaí investigation, the bungling of two garda detectives tainted their success. That such a thing could happen is outrageous.

It was not just an investigation into the mere illicit use of mobile telephones; it involved the biggest mass murder in modern Irish history.

There were more than twice as many victims in Omagh that day than in Derry on Bloody Sunday. Recording of all interviews on audio and videotape could easily have eliminated interrogation difficulties. This would provide protection not only for the accused but also for interviewing gardaí. There have already been too many instances of contested testimony and what should have been a major triumph for the Garda Siochana was seriously tarnished by the news that the force is now conducting a criminal investigation into the conduct of some of its own members in relation to this case.

Instead of being able to devote more attention to catching those who made and planted the bomb in Omagh, garda resources are diverted into a criminal investigation of some of their own members.

It is time the organisation modernised itself properly.

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For more information on Omagh cover-up click here

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(O'Loan) Omagh Report at-a-glance

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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE NEWSLIST

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Subject: Conviction against Colm Murphy a Miscarriage of Justice

Date: Tuesday January 22, 2002

A three-judge, juryless Special Court in Dublin has convicted Colm Murphy for 'conspiracy' in the 1998 Omagh bombing. Sentencing will be passed down on Friday.

This ruling has been made despite evidence uncovered during the trial by forensic scientists, proving that Gardai officers modified interview notes in the case after Murphy was released from questioning. Further damning the evidence was the judgment by Justice Barr that two of the six Gardai detectives involved in the case had "engaged in persistent lying on oath in the course of the investigation".

In a week following world-wide scrutiny of suspect police practices throughout the Omagh investigation, with evidence consistently being 'lost', destroyed, and fabricated; today's ruling can be of little comfort for those who seek true justice for the whole scale slaughter at Omagh.

D. Fennessy

Irish Freedom Committee

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Irish Examiner

22/01/2002 5:26:37 PM

ICCL criticises garda conduct in Omagh trial

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has criticised the lack of garda accountability following the conviction of Colm Murphy in connection with the Omagh bombing today.

The ICCL has called on Justice Minister John O’Donoghue to immediately establish a garda inspectorate and introduce video-recording equipment in all garda stations.

ICCL director Donnacha O’Connell said: "Regardless of the verdict, the Garda Siochana is damaged by this case.

"Allegations of lying and forgery have been proven with scientific evidence. The case highlights the total absence of effective accountability mechanisms for the police."

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Irish Examiner

22/01/2002 6:08:01 PM

Taoiseach welcomes Omagh verdict

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has welcomed today’s Omagh verdict and said he hopes all those responsible for the Omagh atrocity will be brought to justice. "The judicial system is there to make its decisions and I think the gardai did their work," he said.

Mr Murphy’s wife Anne said her husband’s conviction is a miscarriage of justice. "This is 19th Century law in 2001. There is no justice in the Special Criminal Court. The Special Branch have perjured themselves on numerous occasions, not only in my husband’s trial, but in other trials also. Yet, they have never been charged with perjury…it was a foregone conclusion.

"The moment that my husband was charged at the Special Criminal Court there was going to be a guilty verdict."

The evidence of two members of the gardai was discredited during the trial after the court heard scientific evidence that they had forged interview notes and then lied under oath when questioned about them.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Kevin Carthy said the matter will be dealt with.

He said Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne "will take appropriate action to address the criticisms of the court in that area."

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" When something goes missing from a police station, it makes you wonder what is behind it and what is its significance." - Michael Gallagher, Omagh Victims Legal Trust

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The Guardian

Omagh police's terrorist logbook 'vanished'

Rosie Cowan, Ireland correspondent

Tuesday January 22, 2002

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims yesterday expressed disbelief at the revelation that a logbook of terrorist warnings disappeared from Omagh police station at the height of an internal inquiry into the murder investigation.

The hardback book, used to record threatened paramilitary attacks, vanished after police were questioned about warnings prior to the Real IRA blast that killed 29 people on August 15 1998.

Nuala O'Loan, the ombudsman who issued a devastating critique of the police investigation last month, has established that special branch received a warning on August 4 about a possible dissident republican attack on security forces on the day of the bombing, but it was not passed to Omagh police.

But she could not examine what might have been a significant assessment of threats and action taken regarding them. The book's unexplained loss was confirmed in her full report to John Reid, the Northern Ireland secretary, and Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the chief constable of the police service of Northern Ireland (formerly the RUC), but not in the summary given to the bereaved in December.

Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Adrian, 21, in the bombing, said: "I'm beginning to wonder what is coming next. When something goes missing from a police station, it makes you wonder what is behind it and what is its significance."

Mrs O'Loan has already confirmed many of the findings of Chief Superintendent Brian McVicker, whose internal inquiry found the murder investigation was littered with serious mistakes.

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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE NEWSLIST

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Subject: Security Forces Collusion in Omagh Bombing, Pat Finucane Murder

Date: Saturday January 19, 2002

As Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan prepares his arguments in rebuttal to the shocking O'Loan report issued last month, which revealed RUC knowledge of the Omagh bomb 11 days before it happened; further evidence has emerged yesterday implicating the RUC in a massive coverup in the Omagh investigation.

A report by Chief Superintendent Brian McVicker, presented yesterday to Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan, revealed that 357 important documents pertaining to the investigation, including witness statements describing the car that the bomb was in, were either lost or destroyed in the early part of the investigation. The report further reveals that these documents were then "recreated", and replaced into the investigation's files.

This news comes on the same day that the head of Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commission stated in Dublin that he is ``sufficiently convinced`` that security forces played a major role in the assassination of Human Rights attorney Patrick Finucane in 1989.

Allegations have long been made by human rights advocates regarding British Security Force collusion with Loyalist paramilitary activities.

The proof that the Security Forces have indeed played a larger role in the bombing of Omagh will be seen worldwide as the actions of a well-organised, British Government-sanctioned, murder machine; operating with impunity on the streets of the North of Ireland.

The Irish Freedom Committee

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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For more on the O'Loan Report on RUC knowledge prior to Omagh, click here

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Omagh police in bomb papers scandal

Rosie Cowan and Nick Hopkins

Saturday January 19, 2002

The Guardian

Detectives investigating the Omagh bombing "recreated" or manufactured 357 important documents, possibly including witness statements, which were either lost or inadvertently destroyed during the first 18 months of the inquiry, it emerged yesterday.

An internal review by a senior officer in the RUC, now the Police Service of Northern Ireland, highlighted the extraordinary practice as one of the serious deficiencies of the investigation into an atrocity that killed 29 people.

The report by Chief Superintendent Brian McVicker was handed to the chief constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, but its details were kept secret.

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Adrian was killed in the blast three years ago, was horrified by the disclosures. He said: "We trusted them with the investigation. This is unbelievable."

The revelations add substance to the criticism of the Omagh murder investigation made by the Northern Ireland police ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, who published her report before Christmas.

Mrs O'Loan was highly critical of both special branch handling of two warnings made before the Real IRA car bomb and of the police investigation, but her findings were not accepted by the force. Sir Ronnie is set to give a robust rebuttal of Mrs O'Loan's report to the policing board and to relatives of the dead when he meets them in the Co Tyrone town next Thursday.

But the previously undisclosed details of recreated documents, not included in Mrs O'Loan's report but pointed out by one of Sir Ronnie's own senior officers almost two years ago, could undermine his argument.

Mr McVicker started his review of the bomb investigation in March 2000, and reported to the chief constable later in the year that there were serious deficiencies that required urgent attention. It is understood that the senior and deputy senior officer on the murder team strenuously resisted an overseeing inquiry but undertook their own scrutiny, which found that some key wit ness statements had not been followed up and some documents thought to relate to these had been retrospectively created.

Mr McVicker has refused to make any comment to the Guardian. But it is understood his report confirmed these findings, indicating that 357 documents regarding the investigation could not be considered originals. It is unclear how many were created to replace documents that had been inadvertently lost and how many had never existed. Some of the documents in question are believed to concern information from potentially important witnesses about sightings of the car the bomb was in.

A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said yesterday: "The matters surrounding the bombing, its investigation and the ombudsman's report will be fully addressed in the police service's response on January 24."

Mrs O'Loan, who castigated Sir Ronnie for poor leadership, highlighted other aspects of Mr McVicker's report, including the fact that the inquiry team was cut by 42% two months after the bomb, and virtually shelved in February 2000 but reactivated in August 2001, around the time she launched her inquiry.

She also found that most of Mr McVicker's 250 conclusions, including a recommendation that the inquiry get an urgent injection of resources, were ignored.

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UTV

FRIDAY 18/01/02 16:08:19

Security forces colluded in Finucane murder - Dickson

British security forces colluded with loyalist paramilitaries to murder a Belfast lawyer, the head of Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commission said today.

Speaking in Dublin, Professor Brice Dickson said he was ``sufficiently convinced`` that security forces plotted with loyalists to kill Pat Finucane.

At the very least, he said, the collusion went as far as the failure to bring the killers to justice.

He said the case was just part of a ``very nasty can of worms`` regarding the handling of police informers in Northern Ireland.

Last month`s report by Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O`Loan was just some indication of unexposed ``horrors`` in this area, he said.

In his speech today he added to calls from Mr Finucane`s family yesterday for an independent judicial inquiry into the killing, saying existing plans for an international judge to investigate the death as one of six incidents would not ``go far enough``.

Human rights lawyer Mr Finucane was shot dead outside his home nearly 13 years ago in retaliation for his representation of nationalists in the province.

Former Ulster Defence Association quartermaster William Stobie was tried for conspiracy to murder him, but the case collapsed at the end of last year when a key witness was deemed medically unfit to give evidence.

Last month Stobie was shot dead outside his Belfast home by his former loyalist comrades who branded him a ``traitor`` for speaking about them.

Today Mr Dickson told the conference at Dublin Castle: ``To date we have been sufficiently convinced by the quantity and quality of the evidence available to us that there has been collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the British security forces in the murder of Patrick Finucane - or at the very least in the failure to bring people to book for the killing.`

`We have therefore added our names to the long list of those who are calling for a public judicial inquiry into Mr Finucane`s murder.``

He added: ``I do not think the inquiry called for by the UK and Irish governments in the Weston Park document of August 2001 will go far enough to allay our concerns on that case.``

One of the first incidents investigated by the commission was the 1999 death of human rights solicitor Rosemary Nelson.

The conference - organised by Irish-based human rights group Front Line - heard yesterday from her sister Bernadette McQuillan, who again said the family believed there was collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries to kill her.

But Mr Dickson told the conference today: ``In the case of Rosemary Nelson the commission has still not seen enough evidence of collusion to be able to add its name to those calling for a public inquiry.``

The commission would keep the issue under review, he added, and a meeting would be held next month over the affair.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, had been involved in the examination of the work of Special Branch officers in handling police informants in the province, Prof Dickson said.

``I firmly believe that there is a very nasty can of worms to be opened as far as that particular kind of activity is concerned,`` he said.

``The recent report by the Police Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O`Loan, regarding the police investigation into the Omagh bombing in 1998 is some indication of what horrors may still need to be uncovered,`` he added.

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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE NEWSLIST

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Subject: U.S. Envoy: Blame the Victim

Date: 01 12 02

During a week which saw British-backed Loyalists resuming daily attacks on Nationalist children walking to school, issuing death threats to Catholic school-teachers, and a claiming responsibility for the assassination of a Nationalist postal employee reporting to work; U.S. Envoy to North Ireland has called upon America's "44 Million with Irish ancestry" to understand the "growing insecurities" and "distress" of the Loyalist community.

This tact of 'blaming the victim' has long been official British policy for its dealings in Ireland. Now, it appears, the United States has responded in kind.

The Irish Freedom Committee

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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US State Dept Report on Haas's speech

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Write to the U.S. State Dept:

U.S. Department of State

2201 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20520

(202)647-4000

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Commentary by Owen Sullivan

January 11, 2002

RICHARD HAASS IS AN ASS!

Haass says we need to be more sensitive and understanding of the feelings of violent & bigoted Loyalists rioting in Ardoyne (reference January 10th, 2002 article entitiled “Bush envoy seeks more ‘sensitivity’ to feelings of Loyalist community” by Karl Brophy in THE IRISH INDEPENDENT, p.8). And unfortunately, THE GUARDIAN races to chime along in agreement (reference January 12, 2002 editorial entitled “The Protestant Factor” at page 17). Now where else have we heard such lunatic logic? Try some of the inbreeding states of the American South where hooded politicians used to burp that we needed to be more sensitive and understanding of the feelings of the KKK since after all when lynching some poor black guy for endangering their employment opportunities they had to waste perfectly good rope that could have been used elsewhere on a farm for instance.

And don’t forget that bleeding heart Josef Goebbels who was always expressing concern about the feelings of the SS when they had to waste bullets on (among others) Jews & Gypsies. Just think what else these poor Unionist thugs could be doing with their rocks and gasoline bombs but for 4 year old school girls causing them “transitional insecurities”. The echos of reverse discrimination from the raging days of Ron Reagan are deafening!

Can’t a white guy get a job around here? Will these victims ever leave those poor thugs alone?

I can’t believe American taxes actually pay for this ass Haass to utter such tripe. It’s bad enough that most of Ireland got hood winked into this Stormont Agreement of April 10, 1998 which recognized the partition of our country and English sovereignty over the northeastern part of it copper fastened by British Unionists’ (wink, nod) consent which we all know is an anti-democratic minority veto making the reunification of Korea much more likely than the reunification of Ireland (without Britain). And the fact that Lithuanians wouldn’t have gone along with such nonsense for the Russian Unionists who were living in their country anymore than West Germans would have permitted such a veto by East Germans or Greek Cypriots by Turkish Cypriots is always ignored for comparison purposes by the neo-colonial press in Ireland, England and the USA.

That is why clowns like Richard Haass and SDLP Mark Durkin can inveigh against “...majoritarian imposition” by all of the 32 County Irish voting for or against Brits out now without so much as a peep from the establishment press because true democracy in the eyes of the elite is really a bad thing. Reference the southern Irish elite’s hew and cry over the Treaty of Nice referendum, for them a crisis in democracy. But when we do as we’re told, it’s a triumph of democracy of course. Reference their accolades about most Irish voting for the so called Good Friday Agreement --- no majoritarian imposition that surprisingly.

And if you don’t think so, then just imagine for a moment what the sound and fury would most probably have been like coming from, among other places, the pages of (pick any Western newspaper) if Mikail Gorbachev had publicly announced to the Germans in 1989 that their choice for East Germany was either going to be continued centralized rule from Moscow or devolved rule from East Berlin, but there was not going to be any Plan B, i.e. German reunification.

However, British Prime Minister Tony Blair says substantially the same thing to the Irish in 1998, that they can either have continued centralized rule from London or devolved rule from Stormont, but there was not going to be any Plan B, i.e. Irish reunification, because the “Peace Agreement is whole package, Blair tells Sinn Fein” (THE IRISH TIMES, Front Page article of May 1, 1998, page 1). Yet this too goes without any reproach in the pages of THE IRISH TIMES (and most other Western newspapers) which even went so far as to praise him for this in the same issue with an article by one of its regular writers obsequiously entitled: “Whatever happens next, Blair is the greatest”(THE IRISH TIMES, May 1, 1998 article by Martin Kettle at page 9). Which in effect is like saying yes to Irish partition but no to German partition and its physical manifestation, the Berlin Wall, because while:

The notion of two separate German nations...is simply bizarre” (THE IRISH TIMES article of September 27, 1990 by Fergus Pyle at page 7), the notion of two separate Irish nations is simply understandable given “That (Irish) nationalism is moderated by the new reality and requirements of internationalization” (THE IRISH TIMES article of May 18, 1990 by Dick Grogan at page 6)(emphasis added). Whereas this same “internationalization” meant something different for the German nation: “New realities achieved as Berliners reunite.” (THE IRISH TIMES article of November 11, 1989 by Paul Gillespie at page 7)(emphasis added).

This so called new reality of “internationalization” is clearly a double-edge sword for smaller countries like the former East Germany and Ireland. It will if recent history is a guide most likely work to liberate nationalism in command market areas but subjugate it in free market areas.

In other words, a peace for Germany but only a piece for Ireland. Hence the continued attacks on 4 year old school girls which naturally generate the Establishment media’s concern for the feelings of these poor violent thugs because the 4 year old school girls aren’t in the Establishment’s chain of command. That is why an American ass like Haass and a Unionist circus poodle like Durkin can go unchallenged talking nonsense in the corporate ominated media.

Even the allegedly liberal UK newspaper THE GUARDIAN chimes in that what we Irish Nationalists need to do is respond creatively to these violent beasts “...by giving (our) full backing to the new non-sectarian police service of Northern Ireland.” (reference editorial in THE GUARDIAN of January 12, 2002 at page 17). One wonders though, would that have been their advice for the Catholic people of East Timor regards invading Muslim Indonesians? Or for the Muslim Algerians regards the invading Catholic French? Or for the Free French regarding invading Nazi Germans? Victims and Victimizers: have a joint police force. That will solve all of your problems. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Work hand in hand to maintain the status quo of British sovereignty over our country.

“This brings us to Antonio Gramsci’s insight about how hegemony works to induce people to consent to their own oppression”(Michael Parenti, Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media [2nd Edition], St. Martins Press, New York 1993, page 227)(emphasis added) and Benjamin Franklin’s insight when speaking as an American Terrorist he opined that: “Those who would trade freedom for peace will have neither.” Now that’s creative thinking! Brits out now with guaranteed civil rights for all will end the artificially gerrymandered majority status that gives these minority hoodlums the carte blanche rights of conquistadors. To say otherwise as Haass and the sycophantic media do is to just make excuses for them.

Eoghan O’Suilleabhain

Dublin, Ireland

“THOSE WHO WOULD TRADE FREEDOM FOR PEACE WILL HAVE NEITHER.” —Benjamin

Franklin, American Terrorist.

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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE NEWSLIST

www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Subject: Postal Worker Shot Dead, School-Teachers Issued Threats

Date: 01 12 02

The Red Hand Defenders have claimed responsibility for the point-blank assassination of a 20-year old Nationalist man reporting to work earlier this morning, and have issued a 'warning' to Nationalist school-teachers working in Belfast.

The Red Hand Defenders have previously claimed responsibility for the assassination of human rights attorney Rosemary Nelson. Prior to her 1999 murder, the RHD were associated with pipebombings and arson. The car bomb which was used to kill Rosemary Nelson employed highly sophisticated switching devices not previously seen in other Loyalist paramilitary operations; leading many to point to highly-placed involvement by elements within the British Army.

For more information on British Army/ RHD involvement in Rosemary Nelson's assassination please see the links below the following PA News stories.

The Irish Freedom Committee

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Postal Worker Shot Dead

PA 01/12/02 06:46

By Ian Graham, PA News

A Catholic postal worker was shot dead today as he arrived for work at a sorting office on the northern outskirts of Belfast.

Police said the murder bore all the hallmarks of a loyalist sectarian killing.

The 20-year-old man was shot several times outside the Royal Mail office at Barna Square in the strongly-loyalist Rathcoole area at 4.55am, said police.

He had just parked his car outside the sorting office when he was approached by two men wearing dark clothes and with scarves pulled across their faces.

He was shot several times at close range and died later in Belfast's Mater Hospital.

The gunmen made off in a silver Renault 19 car which was found on fire a short distance away soon afterwards.

The area around the sorting office was sealed off while police searched it for evidence linked to the killing.

Tom Gillen, of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, condemned the killing.

He said he had a feeling of "total disgust that we have to acknowledge the murder of another innocent worker going about his business".

"At a quarter to five in the morning he left his home to go and do an honest day's work and was murdered by sectarian bigots.

"Really, the situation is even worse than it was before and has to be totally condemned," he said.

----

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid condemned the killing and said everyone in the province had to confront the struggle between peace and hatred.

Dr Reid said: "Another young man has had his life cruelly and brutally ended and another family has been devastated by evil people.

"Everyone in Northern Ireland has to confront the struggle between peace and hatred. It is a struggle people of goodwill in both communities must and will win.

"We cannot let those who cling to hate-filled violence cast Northern Ireland back into the darkness."

Northern Ireland's First and Deputy First Ministers, David Trimble and Mark Durkan, also condemned the murder.

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Detective Superintendent Roy Suitters said the killers had been lying in wait for their victim .

As he parked his car they had run across the road from a parked car and shot him several timers at close range, he said.

Mr Suitters, who is leading the murder investigation, added:

"This poor fellow has obviously been targeted as a Catholic working in a loyalist estate and for no other reason."

----

The murder was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders -- a cover name used in the past by both the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

The victim worked as a postman in the Whitewell area of Belfast. He leaves a partner and a child under the age of one.

The Royal Mail said they were "deeply shocked and saddened" by the murder and pledged to do everything possible to support the victim's family and colleagues.

Meanwhile unions said staff at the main sorting office at Mallusk, Co Antrim, a short distance away from where the shooting took place, had walked out.

Alban Maginness, the SDLP Assembly member for North Belfast, said he totally condemned the dreadful murder.

He said: "This sectarian killing is a result of the overflow of sectarian hatred and violence that we have witnessed in north Belfast over the past week.

"Death was an almost inevitable consequence of such sectarian conflict. He was a young man doing his job, serving the community.

"At the end of a sickening week, this is the most sickening event of all."

North Belfast SDLP councillor Pat Convery added that during the week the party had met Security Minister Jane Kennedy to demand a crackdown on the UDA.

"We were right then and we are right now in demanding that the government and security forces act decisively against the UDA to end its murderous sectarian campaign against the Catholic community," he said.

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Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said: "The killing and the death threats against other workers, including teachers, represent a direct and vicious assault on civilised society and democratic values.

"It cannot -- and will not -- be allowed to succeed.

"It also represents a return to the brutality and futility of the past -- a past which we hoped was consigned to the darker pages of history.

"I call on all those with influence in the community to use that influence to calm the situation."

Mr Cowen said he had discussed the murder with the authorities in Belfast this morning through the British-Irish secretariat based there.

----

Security forces were today patrolling the tense streets of north Belfast after a calm night followed 48 hours of extensive rioting.

The area was reported by police to have remained relatively peaceful overnight, but there was sporadic trouble during the evening.

A Catholic man in his 60s was showered with glass when a hammer was thrown through the bedroom window of his home on the Crumlin Road while he was watching television.

His wife and two grandchildren were downstairs when the house was attacked.

Two Protestant homes in Twaddell Avenue off the Crumlin Road also had rocks thrown at them.

The relative calm descended after girls were able to get to and from the Catholic Holy Cross primary school without any violent loyalist protests being mounted yesterday.

Security chiefs are poised to set up a new community police unit in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast in a bid to prevent fresh rioting.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan yesterday assured political representatives that plans for a permanent squad were now at an advanced stage.

The move was welcomed by North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, who met Mr McQuillan to discuss the deteriorating security situation in his constituency.

"I asked that police should be deployed on a permanent basis as quickly as possible. He is hopeful he will be in a position to move ahead very soon."

At the same time temporary security cameras are to be installed at a community centre on the flashpoint Ardoyne Road.

The Northern Ireland Office said the decision to fit cameras at the Everton complex was taken following calls for a permanent system from Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

During intense rioting on Wednesday and Thursday nights, more than 80 members of the security forces were injured as mobs of nationalists and loyalists ran amok, hurling hundreds of petrol bombs, blast bombs and acid bombs.

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Police Warn Of Loyalist `Threat' To Teachers

PA 01/11/02 21:45

By Deric Henderson, PA News

Security is to be tightened at schools in Belfast after an alleged threat against teachers by loyalist paramilitaries, police said.

An anonymous telephone caller, purporting to represent the so- called Red Hand Defenders, warned of action.

Earlier this week at the height of the disturbances in north Belfast, up to 20 cars belonging to staff at a Catholic secondary school were damaged by six men armed with iron bars.

Representatives of one teachers' union also warned of possible strike action unless the trouble which forced the closure of the Holy Cross school ended. Classes were also halted at a number of other schools in the area because of fears for the pupils' safety.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan said last night that a number of threats against teachers had been made over the last 12 months. Many he said, proved to be hoaxes.

But he added: "In the light of concern about these threats we will be taking special measures which will include increased patrolling."

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BREAKDOWN OF BRITISH SECURITY FORCES ACTIVITY (British Army and British RUC police force) beginning with "marked increase in security presence in area" two to three months prior to Rosemary Nelson's assassination.

(Link from The Pat Finucane Center, "Rosemary Nelson - the life and death of a human rights defender")

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MAP OF LURGAN: Rosemary Nelson Assassination

(Link from The Pat Finucane Center, "Rosemary Nelson - the life and death of a human rights defender")

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IFC NewsList - Irish Republican News - January 2002