IFC NewsList - January 2003

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------

Subject: BLOODY SUNDAY 31 Years Later
Date: 01 30 03

Thirty-one years on, and the British Government has still refused to release over 1,000 photographs taken by the British Army during the massacre.

13 guns used that day were also found to have been destroyed during the course of the most recent inquiry into the events.

Thirty-one years on, and the British Army has not yet been held accountable for War Crimes for the willful assassinations of fourteen innocent Irish civilians, shot dead for peacefully protesting for Civil Rights. The responsibilities for these murders lay directly at the feet of the British Army commanders present that day and the British Government to whom they answered.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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UTV News
THURSDAY 30/01/2003 15:21:43

Bloody Sunday photographs demand

Bereaved relatives and survivors of Bloody Sunday today took their protest to Tony Blair, calling on him to order the military to hand over film and photographs of the 1972 shootings.

On the 31st anniversary of Bloody Sunday more than 30 protesters gathered outside the gates of Downing Street as campaign leaders delivered a letter to No 10.

It called for the Ministry of Defence to make available several hours of film and more than 1,000 photographs taken by the British Army on Bloody Sunday.

The footage should be made available to the relatives and to the Saville Inquiry, which is examining the events of that day.

Thirteen Catholic men and youths were shot dead by soldiers of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment during a civil rights march in Londonderry on January 30 1972. A 14th man died later.

The letter said: ``We are informed by the families and the wounded that the Army`s operation order specified that 10 photographers and one cine-film team (deployed in a helicopter) would execute the mission of providing maximum photo coverage of the civil rights march and all associated incidents on Bloody Sunday.

``To date almost five years into the inquiry, not one of the well over 1,000 photographs that were taken on Bloody Sunday had been provided to the inquiry for the families by the Ministry of Defence nor had any appreciable progress being made in determining the whereabouts of the original cine-film that was taken at the height of the massacre.``

The letter went on: ``It is a disgrace that a public inquiry entrusted to investigate a matter of urgent public importance with the purpose of restoring public confidence in Government should have what is clearly hugely important contemporary material denied to it by a Government department.

``It is simply unbelievable that no-one who was in, or formerly employed by, the MoD knows the location or what has become of this material.``

It added that the MoD had ``a significant interest in seeing the inquiry come to conclusions that exonerate the Army in circumstances where the parachute regiment are accused of mass murder``.

The MoD could not immediately comment.

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The Bloody Sunday website – Saville Inquiry
http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk/

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CAIN web service – Background of events – Bloody Sunday
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/bs.htm

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TWO FILMS on BLOODY SUNDAY RELEASED in 2002:

“Bloody Sunday” – Paramount Classics Productions
http://www.paramountclassics.com/bloodysunday/

“Sunday” – Sunday Productions/Gaslight Productions
http://www.sundayfilm.net/

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© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------

Subject: End of road for Provos
Date: 01 28 03

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Irish Times
January 28, 2003

End of road for Provos
Suzanne Breen

They said it would never go away but it looks like it just might. It was once the most dangerous guerrilla organisation in the world, set up to over-throw the state. It killed more than 1,780 people in the process.

Its members faced prison and death but continued to believe they could achieve victory. Yet, they didn't. The Northern Ireland state is still going strong and the Provisional IRA, as we know it, seems to be coming to an end.

Senior republican sources indicate a major statement, within eight weeks, effectively saying the IRA is standing down its active service units. The British government could then move to legalise the organisation. The Provos would still exist but as a type of old boys' association, concentrating on activities like unveiling plaques and building gardens of remembrance to fallen comrades.

The destruction of a substantial amount of weapons is also expected. The IRA might even agree to filming this in what is jokingly called a "Steven Spielberg act of decommissioning".

It is also understood Sinn Féin could make the historic decision of signing up to a partitionist police force by joining the North's Policing Board. Sinn Féin leaders say the speculation is "unhelpful" but, significantly, don't deny major developments are afoot. While mainstream society would undoubtedly welcome such momentous changes, the mood is more ambivalent in republican areas.

Among Belfast IRA members, there is caution, disbelief and some resignation. "I've been in the Army (IRA) 19 years," says one Andersonstown activist. "That's my entire adult life. It's very difficult to believe it's just going to become a commemorative committee or historical group.

"But the leadership knows best. They've brought us a long way. Wherever they take us is good enough for me."

Another activist says he would reluctantly accept the changes. "If I'm honest, I didn't think back in 1994 we would have ended up like this. I would never have went along with the ceasefire if I'd foreseen such little progress towards getting the Brits out.

"I thought we would be heading towards a united Ireland. I'd have called anybody a liar who had suggested we would sit in Stormont or disarm, let alone wind up. Things aren't the way I'd like but we're too far down the road to turn back."

A disillusioned member in north Belfast says: "I won't be waiting to be disbanded, I'll resign first and I'll tell the leadership exactly what I think of them. They are lying bastards who have destroyed this struggle."

He will never support the Police Service of Northern Ireland: "The PSNI are the renamed RUC. Sinn Féin can stand its own policy on its head but it won't make any difference to the people of Ardoyne.

"How could we support those who tortured us for decades? A few Catholics joining will change nothing." He claims the leadership has "rigged the IRA, promoting its supporters and sidelining those who are critical so now all at the top are yes men".

Another north Belfast member says it's unbelievable "at a time when loyalists are attacking this community, we are even considering decommissioning or saying the 'armed struggle' is over for good. It's a sell-out."

A south Belfast activist disagrees. "The peace process is the way forward for our community and new tactics are needed to save it. Unionists don't want the IRA to be bold and imaginative. So when we are, they will be the losers. They will be running around like headless chickens."

He would have no problem joining the police: "Maybe if Catholics had joined in the beginning, things wouldn't have been as bad as they were." Dissident organisations like the 'Real' and Continuity IRA claim the Provos have abandoned republicanism.

On the issue of decommissioning, they highlight General Order No 11 in the IRA's own rule-book, the Green Book which states any volunteer "who seizes or is party to the seizure of arms, ammunition or explosives being held under Army control shall be deemed guilty of treason". The penalty is "death".

Dissidents accuse the leadership of flouting the rules. Yet the failure of both the 'Real' and Continuity IRA to mount a sustained armed campaign in the North has damaged their credibility among republicans. "They are not seen as alternatives," says one disillusioned Provo. "The only place for people like me to go is home."

Before the 1994 ceasefire, the IRA had around 300 members on active service - that is engaged in shooting and bombing. It's reckoned up to a further 1,200 people were involved in other activities - intelligence-gathering, security, training, finance, education, recruitment, engineering and the acquisition of arms.

Republican sources say the IRA has continued recruiting in recent years, to maintain its strength and prevent an influx to dissident organisations.

According to the Green Book, supreme authority in the IRA rests with the 'Army Convention'. This is a meeting of around 70-150 delegates, elected by the entire membership. It adopts rule changes and chooses a 12-member IRA Executive which in turn selects a seven member Army Council responsible for conducting the war.

However, during the peace process substantial power has been transferred from the Army Convention and Executive to the Army Council which now makes all major decisions. Three of its seven members are Sinn Féin elected representatives from Belfast, Derry, and the South.

Senior republican sources say the remaining members are also in complete agreement with the Sinn Féin leadership's policies. "There is no dissension at this level. What Adams and McGuinness want, the Army Council delivers."

IRA grassroots meetings to discuss political strategy have been ongoing for several months and more are expected in coming weeks. "The views of volunteers will be heard but there are no votes," says the source.

"Final decisions lie with the Army Council. Volunteers have aired serious reservations. This is new territory for us all but we can meet the challenges and remain united. Divisions only play into the hands of our enemies."

Although in recent years, the IRA has ceased military activity against the security forces, it has continued intelligence-gathering, fund-raising, and procuring weapons as the Colombia, Castlereagh and Stormont episodes highlight. Until now, the policy has been to keep the organisation "ticking over" so members can be told a return to 'armed struggle' is viable if the peace process fails.

Since the ceasefire, the Provos have become increasingly profit-oriented. They are still involved in traditional fund-raising activities like taxi depots, cigarette smuggling, the illegal drinks' trade, slot machines and video game and CD pirating.

They are also moving into legal businesses. Republican sources say businessmen are approached with cash to buy property and legitimate businesses in their name for the IRA.

In return for fronting the enterprise, they receive either 20% of its profits or a similar share when it is sold. It's understood the IRA owns several pubs in Belfast and Derry. These activities are unlikely to stop regardless of other future changes.

While the IRA as an organisation is thriving financially, some of its members also appear to benefiting on a smaller scale. "People who have never had a legitimate job are now driving expensive new cars," says one Ballymurphy resident. "Nothing flash - like Mercs or BMWs - because that would get up people's noses. Just top-of-the-range family saloons."

While senior IRA members haven't moved out of their own areas, a taxi-driver says changes to their homes are noticeable: "You know the Provo houses from the big bay windows and the leather sofas in the front room." Two Army Council members have built luxurious holiday homes in Co Donegal.

Another senior IRA member, who is also an elected represented, owns four houses - one in Co Donegal and three in west Belfast. "He has never worked a day in his life," says a disgruntled republican.

Former IRA prisoner, Anthony McIntyre, who served 18 years in the H-Blocks, opposes a return to 'armed struggle' but is a staunch critic of the leadership. "There is a huge gap between the lifestyle of the leadership and the led which wasn't the case when the IRA was set up in 1970," he says.

"We all wore denim and duffel coat backs then. Now they have their summer houses and country villas across the Border. Very few ordinary people in these estates live like that. Former prisoners, not fully behind the leadership, earn a pittance as labourers and brickies. There are a lot of people dissatisfied with the way things have turned out. But the mood is more cynical than rebellious."

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© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------

Subject: RACIST REPORTING – Belmarsh Trial
Date: 01 27 03

Press Release from the Irish Prisoners Aid Committee in London. Please note contact information below to ITN News in London – make your objections to biased and racist reportage heard!

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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IRISH PRISONERS AID COMMITTEE
Sunday January 26, 2003

PRESS RELEASE

An Irish prisoners solidarity organisation has spoken out against the biased reporting by the British and Irish media, of the trial at the Old Bailey of three Irish remand prisoners.

Aidan Hulme, Robert Hulme, and Noel Maguire are currently Appearing at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) in London on charges of conspiracy.

The London-based Irish Prisoners Aid Committee (IPAC) condemned the media for it's biased reporting of the trial - claiming it 'bordered on racism - and could influence the jury to find the men guilty by association and background.'

Spokesperson for IPAC Michael Holden said – “We were appalled when the television news on the first day of the trial, described one of the defendants as ‘being unable to read or write - brain dead’ and then went on to report – ‘he lived with his family on a caravan site.’

“Our understanding of the situation is quite different. The defendant suffers from dyslexia - which can cause a learning difficulty – making reading and writing difficult - but not impossible. He has written to us, so to claim he can't read or write is a DELIBERATE lie by the media.

“We have protested to ITN (Independent Television News) about the way the defendants are being portrayed. We have also asked the Irish in Britain Representation Group (IBRG) to take up their case with the Dyslexic Association of Great Britain.

“We ask supporters and sympathisers to phone ITN directly and complain. ITN is based in London ( Tel. No. 020-783-33000).”

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Irish Prisoners Aid Committee
http://humanrightsonline.net/pac.html

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E-MAIL COMMENTS FROM US OR ABROAD regarding ITN News bias:
viewer_liaisonC3@itn.co.uk - Comments on ITV news programmes

LETTERS:
ITN Head Office, London
200 Gray's Inn Rd
London WC1X 8XZ
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WRITE TO THE BELMARSH FIVE
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net - Click on POWs and scroll down to BELMARSH PRISON
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© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------

Subject: Ex-wife of supergrass to appear as witness in McKevitt trial
Date: 01 26 03

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Sunday Business Post
News Features

Ex-wife of supergrass to appear as witness in McKevitt trial

By Barry O'Kelly
Dublin, Ireland, 26 January, 2003

A former wife of supergrass David Rupert is expected to testify as a defence witness in the trial of the alleged Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, according to sources close to the case.

A former employee of the American informant will also give evidence against him. Sources said the two had agreed to travel from the US to support allegations about Rupert's involvement in fraud.

It is believed that McKevitt will appeal to the Supreme Court against a decision to refuse him access to documents on the supergrass.

McKevitt (51), of Blackrock, Dundalk, is the first person to be charged with the offence of directing terrorism. He is also charged with IRA membership.

In the High Court last week, Mr Justice Iarlaith O'Neill refused McKevitt leave to take judicial review proceedings challenging a Special Criminal Court decision to refuse him further disclosure of documents relating to Rupert.

During a hearing in October, the Special Criminal Court heard that an assistant Garda commissioner sought to "remove" embarrassing e-mails that might damage the credibility of Rupert.

Dermot Jennings, based in Garda headquarters, requested that the e-mails be removed amid concerns that they would be seized by lawyers defending the alleged RIRA leader, the court heard.

Other official documents revealed that an unnamed British security service officer appeared to have urged Jennings to lie in order to cover conflicts in Rupert's evidence, the court was told.

However, there was no indication that Jennings responded to the overture.

McKevitt's lawyer, Hugh Hartnett SC, alleged that Jennings, in seeking to have e-mails removed, had attempted to pervert the course of justice. This is denied by Jennings.

Hartnett said documents obtained on discovery appeared to show that the assistant commissioner characterised some of Rupert's claims as "lies".

McKevitt's trial on charges of directing terrorism is likely to be decided on the basis of Rupert's credibility.

Hartnett, outlining the defence case, cited a number of British security service documents as evidence of official attempts to cover up Rupert's weakness as a witness.

He said the documents -- mostly e-mails -- would also embarrass the security services and the Gardaí.

In one e-mail sent by Rupert to his British handlers, the supergrass claims to have been told by Jennings that the Gardaí "did not care about what happened in the North, only what happened in the 26 counties".

When an MI5 official informed him about the alleged statement, Jennings emphatically denied making any such comments.

In a report obtained on discovery, the British agent is recorded as saying: "I responded that the problem was that the allegation was there in the e-mail and we now had to decide what to do about it. If the defence got hold of it and Jennings denied the report's veracity, that would make Rupert an untrustworthy source. Jennings urged that the report be removed."

Copyright © 2000 Sunday Business Post Ireland
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© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------

Subject: Holycross priest told he would be killed ‘within days’
Date: 01 23 03

Father Aidan Troy at Holy Cross primary school has received two death threats, one saying he will be killed “within two days”.

Please use the email links provided below to register your concerns at let government bodies know YOU ARE WATCHING.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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“It was serious, serious, raw sectarianism—without a shadow of a doubt.
Had I not walked, I do not think things would have been different, but
the fact that I was there gave them another object of hatred.”
- Fr. Aidan Troy interview September 2001

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Irish Examiner
23/01/03

Holycross priest told he would be killed ‘within days’

By Carl O’Brien, Political Correspondent

A CATHOLIC priest caught up in loyalist protests at Holycross Primary School in Belfast has been told he will be killed within days.

Father Aidan Troy, the chairman of the board of governors at the school in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, told the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation yesterday that police officers had twice warned him of threats to his life.

“The most recent threat relayed to me was by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, who told me I would be killed within two days,” he told the forum, which met in Dublin Castle yesterday.

The priest also said the planting of a pipe bomb at the school gates earlier this month had a devastating effect on pupils.

The numbers expected to enter the school next year have fallen from 23 to 16, while some children have also had to resume therapy since the bomb was discovered.

Fr Troy also quoted a statement by the Red Hand Commandos, who demanded the school be closed.

He said he understood why children would not feel it was safe to send their children to Holycross, but said it would be a tragedy to close the school in the face of intimidation. A minority of people was to blame, he added.

“I do not blame the people of the Glenbryn area for these messages. It takes only one sick mind or a perverted person to create fear, intimidation and a form of terrorism,” he said. Fr Troy said the board of governors at the primary school would never take its agenda from people who issued threats.

Despite the ongoing threats, he also disclosed details of a plan to open a cross-community crèche at Holycross, which would be separate from the school, within the next year-and-a-half.

The Holycross school was at the centre of worldwide media attention throughout September and October 2001 when loyalist protesters jeered children and the parents on their way to school.

Parents and children were twice-daily exposed to a barrage of verbal abuse, whistle-blowing and occasional spitting by the residents. At its height, the protests were marked by stink bombs, urine-filled balloons and even a blast bomb.

The protests eventually stopped following a series of meetings with community leaders.
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WEDNESDAY 22/01/2003 12:22:58
Catholic Priest 'received death threats'

A Catholic priest caught in the middle of a loyalist protest at a north Belfast school has received death threats in recent days, he said today

Father Aidan Troy, the chairman of the board of governors at Holy Cross primary school in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, told the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Dublin that police officers had told him twice of threats to his life.

``The most recent threat relayed to me by the PSNI told me I would be killed within two days,`` he said.

Father Troy also said the planting of a device earlier this month at the school gate had had a ``devastating effect`` on pupils, with some dropping out of class and others regressing in terms of the therapy they received.

The most recent threat relayed to me by the PSNI told me I would be killed within two days

Father Aidan Troy

He added: ``I do not blame the people of the (the loyalist) Glenbryn area for these messages.

``It takes only one sick mind or a perverted person to create fear, intimidation and a form of terrorism.``

The Holy Cross school was catapulted into the international spotlight during 2001 after loyalists staged pickets as the girls and their parents made their way to and from class.

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(thank you to Irish American Heritage Group for compiling this e-list)
---------------

Bertie Ahern (Prime Minister)
St. Luke's
161 Lower Drumcondra Road
Dublin 9 Ireland
E-mail taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie

Richard Haass
Director of Policy Planning Staff for the Department of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW Room 7311
Washington, DC 20520
Tel: 202-647-2972
Fax: (202) 647-0844
Email: haassrn@state.gov

House Commitee on International Relations
Phone: 202-225-5021 (Majority)
202-225-6735 (Minority)
Fax: 202-225-2035 (Majority)
202-226-3581 (Minority)
Room: 2170 Rayburn House Office Building (Majority)
B-360 Rayburn House Office Building (Minority)
Email: HIRC@mail.house.gov
The following links allow you to directly email Committee members with
public email addresses listed below en mass. (Note: These group emailing
links may not work with some browsers.)
http://www.iauc.org/govcontacts.htm
Mail all 28 Committee Members who have email

British Embassy
The British Ambassador, Sir Christopher Meyer, KCMG
3100 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington DC, 20008
http://www.britain-info.org/consular/embassy/embassy.asp

Britain at the United Nations
One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
28th Floor
885 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
E-mail: uk@un.int
Tel: (212) 745 9250
Fax: (212) 745 9316
http://www.ukun.org/
************************************************

© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------

Subject: Protest British Army Band U.S. Tour
Date: 01 21 03

The Irish Freedom Committee encourages members and supporters to join a nation-wide protest of what is being billed as an "exciting celebration of the majesty of the United Kingdom"-- but what in actuality is a flagrant display of Britain’s bloody war machine throughout the cities, streets and towns of America.

Britain has mounted an unprecedented publicity campaign in the United States and this tour is nothing short of an effort to “de-militarize” America’s perception of British occupation in Ireland.

The dates of the regimental bands tour are listed below. The Irish Freedom Committee is organizing protests in several cities along the way – please contact us for more information or watch this space for further announcements.

CLICK HERE FOR DATES AND CITIES

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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US protests against British Army bands

--------------------------------------------------------------
The Irish-American Unity Conference is currently organising
protests against the actions of the British Army in ireland at
shows held by the band of the Grenadier Guards & Scots
Highlanders in many locations across the U.S.
The following article by Michael J. Cummings of the IAUC
is followed by details of individual shows/protests.
--------------------------------------------------------------

The British Army is coming to town. The performance of the regimental bands of the Scots Highlanders and the Grenadier Guards is being hyped as an "exciting celebration of the majesty of the United Kingdom." The soldiers will hold drums and pipes instead of weapons but make no mistake about it these bands are marching across America to serve the military and political objectives of the British. The band tour is but a small part of British Information Services, the most pervasive propaganda machine in the nation with offices in most major cities. The objective? Think happy thoughts about Britain and the British
Army.

Why would Britain use as goodwill ambassadors' regiments of the British Army which British historian Peter Ellis has stated have "a record of dishonor in Northern Ireland unmatched by any security force in Europe?" While serving in the North, these regimental units and others have killed over 150 civilians "in
disputed circumstances" including 14 boys and girls under 16 years of age, 10 women and two priests. First, the British are gambling that few Americans actually know, care or have seen this record of murder amply documented by the International Lawyer's Inquiry (1985) and Amnesty International. Second, if the Irish peace process tanks in the coming months-the bad news is everywhere-British spin masters are looking to project a positive image and what better place then America's premier stages.

With an attack on Iraq on the horizon, Britain hopes Americans will not only feel good about the so-called "special relationship", but will continue their complacency over British misdeeds in Ireland. This will be no small feat. Consider that after a 5 year IRA cease-fire and a peace pact which calls for British demilitarization, today there are more British troops in the North of Ireland than any where else in the world outside mainland Britain.

But consider these other developments involving the British Army:

· Two members of the Scots Guards convicted of murdering Peter McBride, an 18 year old Catholic, were released last year after serving 2 years of a life sentence and restored to their regiments! Britain ignored the provisions of the Belfast Agreement governing such prisoner releases and acted, as they so
often do, unilaterally without regard for obligations under the international treaty.

· Dublin wanted three members of the Ulster Defense Regiment of the British Army after the single largest massacre in the entire conflict, the 1974 no warning bombing of the shopping centers of Dublin and Monaghan which cost 33 lives. Last month the British Ministry of Defense instructed its employees NOT to cooperate with an Irish Tribunal investigating the matter thus making a mockery of the Belfast Agreement. The cover-up continues unimpeded 30 years later with the support of Prime Minister Blair.

· Last month the Stevens Commission corroborated that a special intelligence unit of the British Army did supply data to loyalist terrorists who killed six elected Sinn Fein officials and 9 party workers from 1986-1990. The information enabled loyalists to kill these and others and make good their escape often in sight of British Army cameras that 'malfunctioned.'

· A Saville Tribunal set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998 to investigate the truth of the British Army killings on Bloody Sunday is now five years running with no end in sight. The House of Lords provided blanket anonymity to the soldiers and two weeks ago it was revealed that the Ministry of Defense had destroyed over a thousand pictures taken that day deemed to be of "no value". Not since the Amritsar massacre in India has the British Army killed so many unarmed civilians and yet a military employee is allowed to destroy evidence of that day.

Prime Minister Blair's fears over revelations about the Army's involvement in acts of pure terror like the Dublin/Monaghan bombings are real but misplaced. This tour of these regimental bands is evidence of British concern. Her Majesty's Government should end these propaganda performances and face the music of the misdeeds of their soldiers. Unless the British Army is made more accountable, it will remain the greatest threat to the Irish peace process.

Michael J. Cummings
Member, National Board
Irish American Unity Conference
529 14th Street NW Street
Washington, D. C. 20045
1-800-947-IAUC
Email: iauc@iauc.org

Band of the Grenadier Guards & Scots Highlanders Shows: protests are being organized at many of the following locations

PENNSYLVANIA Jan 23 Thu, 8:00 pm
Stabler Arena
124 Goodman, Bethlehem, PA 18015
(610)758-6611

NEW YORK Jan 24 2003 8:00PM
Grenadier Guards Tilles Center for the Performing Arts
720 Northern Boulevard Greenvale, NY 11548
Box Office Info - (516) 299-3100

NEW YORK Jan 26 Sun, 2:00 pm
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts
Bedford Park Blvd. West, Bronx, NY 10468
(718) 960-8833

NEW JERSEY Jan 25 2003 2:00PM
Grenadier Guards: Pipes & Drums of The Scots Highlanders
State Theatre 15 Livingston Ave. New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1903
USA Box Office Info - (732) 246-7469

NEW JERSEY Jan 28, 8:00 p.m.
Sovereign Bank Arena
550 S Broad St, Trenton, NJ 08650
(609)656-3222

NEW YORK Thu, Jan 30 at 8:00 pm
Proctors Theatre
432 State Street, Schenectady, NY 12305
(518) 382-1083

CONNECTICUT Saturday, February 1, 2003 2PM
Schubert Theater New Haven, CT 06510
203-562-5666

MICHIGAN Thu, Feb 6th - 7:30 pm
Van Andel Arena
130 Fulton West, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
(616) 742-6610

OHIO Feb 7 - 7:30PM
Grenadier Guards/scots Highlnd Palace Theatre - The Playhouse Square
Center
1615 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44115 USA
General Info - (216) 771-8403

MICHIGAN Saturday, February 8, 2003 at 8 p.m.
at Macomb Center for the Performing Arts Clinton Twp, Michigan 48038
Ticketing Service - (800) 585-3737 Sponsored by Comcast Discovery
Series

Sun, Feb 9th - 3:00 pm
Band of Grenadier Guards and the Scots Highlander
Detroit Opera House Detroit, MI

KENTUCKY Tue, Feb 11th - 7:00 pm
Whitney Hall Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 584-7777

OHIO Wed, Feb 12th - 8:00 pm Band of the Grenadier Guards
Ohio Theatre 39 E State St, Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 469-0939

INDIANA Fri, Feb 14 - 7:30 pm
Allen County Memorial Coliseum
4000 Parnell Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46805
(260)483-1111

ILLINOIS Saturday, February 15 at 7pm
Foellinger Great Hall Krannert Center
500 South Goodwin Avenue Urbana, Illinois
800/KCPATIX (527-2849)

IOWA Sun, Feb 16th - 7:30 pm
Band of Grenadier Guards & Scots Highlanders
Stephens Auditorium Ames, IA 50011
1-877-843-2368
http://www.center.iastate.edu/contact.html

ILLINOIS Mon, Feb 17th - 8:00 pm
6920 North Mannheim Road, Rosemont, IL 60018
(847)635-6601

PORTLAND February 21st - 8:00 pm
Rose Garden
One Center Court, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97221
(503) 797-9617

SEATTLE, WA Sun, Feb 23rd - 3:00 pm
KeyArena
1st Avenue N and 305 N Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 684-7100

CALIFORNIA:

San Luis Obispo, CA Feb 27 2003 8:00PM
Grenadier Guards Performing Arts Center
San Luis Obispo - Christopher Cohan Center
1 Grand Avenue San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 USA
General Info - (805) 756-7222
Box Office Info - (805) 756-2787

San Rafael, CA February 25th - San Rafael California
Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium
3501 Civic Center Dr, San Rafael, CA 94903
(415) 499-6800

Sacramento, CA February 26th - Sacramento California

Escondido, CA February 28th Fri, 8:00 pm
California Center for the Arts Escondido
340 N Escondido Blvd, Escondido, CA 92125
760-839-4100

Palm Desert, CA March 1st - Palm Desert California

Cerritos, CA March 2nd - Cerritos California (Matinee and Evening)

Thousand Oaks, CA March 3rd - 7:30 p.m.
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza - Fred Kavli Theatre
2100 E. Thousand Oaks, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
(805) 449-ARTS (2787)

ARIZONA Tue, March 4th - 7:30 pm
Dodge Theatre
400 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003
(602)379-2888

NORTH CAROLINA Fri, March 7th - 7:30 pm
Grenadier Guards the Pipes & Drums of the Scots Highlanders
Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Asheville, NC
828-259-5544
Asheville Bravo Concerts presents

SOUTH CAROLINA Sat, March 8th - 8:00 pm
Bi-Lo Center
650 North Academy St., Greenville, SC 29601
864-241-3800

GEORGIA Sun, March 9th - 8:00 pm
Fabulous Fox Theatre
660 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30305

FLORIDA Mar 12 2003 8:00PM
Grenadier Guards / Scots Highlanders
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
777 North Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34236 USA
General Info - (941) 955-7676
Box Office Info - (941) 953-3368

Mar 15 2003 2:00PM & 8:00 PM Grenadier Guards
Ruth Eckerd Hall - Richard B. Baumgardner
1111 McMullen Booth Road Clearwater, FL 33759 USA
General Info - (727) 791-7060
Box Office Info - (727) 791-7400

© RM Distribution and others. Articles may be reprinted with credit.

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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
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-----------------------------

Subject: Drugs-Free Zone Demand for Maghaberry Prisoners
Date: 01 20 03

A delegation of Civil Rights Veterans, human rights activists, and prisoners’ family members will form a delegation tomorrow to lodge demands for a Drugs-Free landing at Maghaberry Gaol in Antrim.

Press Release follows from the Irish Anti-Partition League in Derry.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT:
Full Status Now Campaign
fsncampaign@hotmail.com

January 20, 2003

SUBJECT: DRUGS FREE ZONE DEMAND: Maghaberry Prison

A co-founder of the Civil Rights Association in 1967 will lead a deputation of prisoners' relatives to meet the Bishop of Derry, Dr, Séamus Hegarty, tomorrow afternoon at St. Eugene's Cathedral. This was approved at a meeting of relatives yesterday (Saturday).

The relatives are convinced that the NIO and Brit administration in the Six Counties will hold out against the granting of full politicial status, gained by the laying down of the lives of ten brave IRA/INLA volunteers who died on hunger-strike in the summer of 1981.

The republican PoWs and the FSN Campaign are determined to pursue that demand. However, as a step towards ending the highly dangerous "mixing policy", whereby republicans are greatly outnumbered and isolated on specific wings, a new demand has emerged, which has the backing of the CR Vets, and other allied associations. The republican PoWs are demanding a drug free, secure zone, as a step towards their own protection. This may not end up a totally republican wing, but certainly would leave the PoWs in a much safer environment.

With the re-jailing of the Belfast loyalist drugs-baron'Mad Dog’ Johnny Adair, republicans expect the flow of hard drugs into HMP Maghaberry to rapidly increase, and so too the danger to their own lives, and general well-being. The PoWs have welcomed the plans for a Repatriation & Full Status Now Conference in Derry on February 22nd. Admission by prior registration only. Contact fsncampaign@hotmail.com or oct5th_vets68@hotmail.com

Please circulate this information to your friends and to whom it may concern. Thank you !!!!

Asst-Gen.Sec, IA-PL.

----------------------------------------
IRISH ANTI-PARTITION LEAGUE
http://www.ia-pl.org/

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© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
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-----------------------------

Subject: “Historical Unconsciousness” and “Fallen Anglicans” – Revisionism Rebutted
Date: 01 20 03

The following rebuttals are from Irish Freedom Committee members on the East Coast, in reply to Father Sean McManus’s “O'Bradaigh versus Adams Classicism versus Historical Consciousness”; published in today’s Blanket.

Read the McManus article HERE: The Blanket, January 14, 2003 http://lark.phoblacht.net/obvsachc.html

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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Historical Unconsciousness
20 January 2002
by Seoirse McLaughlin

Father McManus is at it again. He doesn't seem to realise that there is a grave difference between "historical consciousness" and revisionism. For Adams and his ilk are not just revising strategies but the founding principles that republicanism stand on. Although there were good things that came from the Second Vatican Council, it also opened the door for a Protestant culture to take root in the Church, for Protestantism allows for a myriad of individual interpretations of
theology, liturgy and morals. The universality of the Roman Catholic church has been ripped to shreds by this. Go to any ten churches around the world and tell me about the "catholic" nature of them! Fundamentally different liturgies, fundamentally different theological emphases and fundamentally different implicit and sometimes explicit moral teaching abound. Most criticism of Vatican II by what Father McManus would call "classicists" is not centered on the intent of the Council but on its outcome. The baby was, indeed, thrown out with the bath water, and he, if he has survived, is a grown man, wandering in a amnesiac's endless and formless haze, looking for his roots.

This is the grave danger with Sinn Fein's "baby" and how it flew from the window when the dotted line was signed on the GFA. Our roots have become obscured and are in danger of being lost. To assume that all of us who are against such a grave error are naive, overly militaristic or detached (because we, like Father McManus himself, has done for decades, don't live in the North) is amateurish and equally dangerous in the world of ideas and debate. Why doesn't Father McManus use Bernadette Devlin McAliskey as an example of all of these defects in judgement then?

To become a functioning part of the British illegal and immoral statelet which England has erected and maintained against the will of the majority of Irish men and women is wrong, if you are a republican. To undermine the belief in transubstantiation in the Mass is wrong, if you are a Roman Catholic. That which pursues progress is good, but that which undermines the raison d'etre of a system of beliefs and the struggle to bring those beliefs to fruition are not. The Church pursues the kingdom of God and the republican movement pursues a united, independent Ireland. If, in pursuit of God's kingdom the bishops decide
that housing our sanctuaries in the beautiful palatial homes of rich pagans is good for Catholicism, or republican leaders decide that pursuing a revolutionary Ireland is best done in an English legislature and will help republicanism to flourish, then we have a moral obligation to say "no." It's not very complicated, Father, unless you're unconscious.

Seoirse McLaughlin

Providence Chapter
Irish Freedom Committee

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FALLEN ANGLICANS AND OTHER LIMPING ANALOGIES
January 20, 2003
by Eoghan O’Suilleabhain

Back in my undergraduate days I had a Professor who used to say that: “All analogies limp, but some analogies limp more than others.”

Now along comes the Papal Agent, Sean McManus, to analogize for us, in The Blanket, January 14, 2003, that Rory O’Bradaigh is like a static Second Vatican Classicist resisting all change to Republican orthodoxy, whereas Gerry Adams is like a dynamic Second Vatican New Theologian willing to push
for change. And of course, O’Bradaigh’s a loser, and Adams a winner --- according to McManus & Madison Avenue.

And while I would agree with McManus that Gerry Adams and Company have indeed pushed for change that’s about as far as I can go with his nauseating
analogy. I think a better Catholic Church analogy would be the Protestant Reformation with Adams as a fallen Anglican begging to be re-admitted back
into the Roman fold, and O’Bradaigh as (dare I say it) John Knox, a principled Presbyterian.

That is, Adams pushes for change alright, but it’s of the prodigal kind --- which not surprisingly is the only kind of change the Catholic Church has ever really supported --- demanding instead that we (speaking of cul-de-sacs) just keep giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Nothing McManus said should come as a surprise. Irish history is replete with examples of the Catholic Church conniving with our Conqueror. And since when has any Pope ever supported “liberation theology”? Even the present Pope left El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romaro out on the skinny branches. But to even put a mendacious Machiavellian like Adams in the same sentence as the word “consciousness” is to drain that word of any meaning (unless also accompanied by the word “without” as an antidote).

Worse still are the petty insults unbecoming a man of the cloth. As if Adams is the only person “…staying in the North, and putting his life and liberty on the line every day for justice and peace.” Where does Sean McManus think Ed Moloney researched his book? Zimbabwe!

Naturally, McManus doesn’t define his terms, “justice and peace” being many splendid things depending on one’s perspective. And apparently he only writes in The Blanket neglecting to ever read it hence his silly (if not indeed pernicious) observation “…that it is often the people who have been least involved --- in this country and in Ireland --- who are quickest to cry ‘sell-out’.” Tell it to Marion Price and all of the other Irish Republicans putting their life and liberty on the line every day for justice and peace in Northern Ireland and elsewhere who see the GFA for what it is: just another clever ruse for supporting the status quo.

And why does Sean McManus think just because the Cold War is over, the race by the British & Americans for global hegemony is too? The US is still on
the military loose and the usual paranoid British Securicrats now fear a Muslim invasion by way of Ireland.

Hence the British perceived (and intentionally not talked about too much) need to maintain their Northern Ireland NATO beach head. Reference British Rear Admiral G.R. Sloan’s book: The History of Anglo-Irish Geo-Political Relations (1997).

So much for the British being unable to convince the English-American infested US State Department about Ireland as another Cuba. Or did Sean McManus actually think that that ass Dick Haass was really a furniture mover?

All of which means Sean McManus has got it wrong because Adams has led his PSF personality cult into the same historical Irish cul-de-sac that Michael
Collins did. Proof: the British were there then and here now and for all the same reason with the Catholic Church once again as their complicit side kick.

Like Collins, Adams got the support of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy --- which truth be told is Irish National Caucus President Sean McManus’s real
foreign principal (his parting declarations to the contrary notwithstanding). So much for liberation theology, an oxymoron if ever there was one.

Me thinks a better analogy for Gerry Adams would be the one by Gerry Adams for Frank Ross after the split between the Provisional and Official IRA in
the early 1970’s: “Poacher turned Gamekeeper.”

And Frank Ross, like Michael Collins, also had the Catholic Church’s support then like Gerry Adams has it now and all for the same reasons. Like prodigal sons, all fallen Anglicans are welcomed back into the static as ever geo-political Church of the Status Quo. And as ever, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Hardly a winning liberation strategy unless you can fool people into believing it for your very own self-aggrandizing ends like Eoghan Harris bleating periodically about how he was once left but is now right. Not a very principled position but it pays well.

Just ask Judas.

Eoghan O’Suilleabhain

Boston Chapter
Irish Freedom Committee

************************************************
THe above rebuttals are directed to:
“O'Bradaigh versus Adams Classicism versus Historical Consciousness” by Father Sean Mc Manus – The Blanket, January 14, 2003
http://lark.phoblacht.net/obvsachc.html

************************************************
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IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
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-----------------------------

Subject: Fair Trial Not A Farcical Travesty – B. Sands-McKevitt
Date: 01 20 03

The article below is published in the Blanket magazine at http://lark.phoblacht.net.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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The Blanket
http://lark.phoblacht.net

Fair Trial Not A Farcical Travesty

Bernadette Sands McKevitt • 18 January, 2003

Over the last number of weeks I have observed with great interest the criticisms of the Colombian trial of three Irish Citizens by eminent Irish politicians, human rights activists and international observers. The main criticisms being the length of custody - sixteen months, the failure of the prosecution to deliver crucial evidence, specifically key witnesses and whether or not these men could be guaranteed a fair trial owing to the public statements of senior politicians including the president of Colombia.

Irish politicians Finian McGrath, John Curran, and Senator Paul Bradford and Paul Hill — one of the Guildford four all agreed that it is doubtful if these men can get a fair trial and that the length of time — sixteen months in custody — is too long.

Catriona Ruane, spokesperson for the ‘Bring them Home’ campaign described the proceedings as a “travesty of justice,” claiming that if this trial had happened in any other country in the world, these men would be coming home.

Colombia is a long way from Dublin, Ireland, however, the criticisms voiced so forcefully by all concerned could be echoed equally in the case of my husband, Michael McKevitt.

On March 28th 2001, my husband and I were arrested at our home. When in custody my husband was informed by a Detective Inspector that his arrest had been a political decision and that he was being “stitched up”. After being questioned for thirty-six hours I was released. However, my husband was charged with membership and directing an illegal organization — namely the IRA — the latter carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. These charges were levelled at my husband Michael Mc Kevitt on the word of one person — David Rupert, who is an American citizen of dubious character. My husband has been held on remand in Portlaoise Prison for almost two years.

At a recent preliminary court hearing it was disclosed that David Rupert worked for both the FBI and MI5. Mr. Rupert has been promised a “resettlement payment” of three million dollars from the FBI and an undisclosed amount from MI5 (believed to be in the region of £2.5million) on completion of his testimony. In addition to this, an outstanding IRS debt of 700,000 dollars was reduced and settled for 25,000 in November 2001. It was revealed that this self-confessed
criminal had been deployed to the Republic of Ireland by the FBI and MI5 without the knowledge of the Irish authorities.

Prior to my husband’s arrest, my family were demonised and vilified on a continual basis by the media. It became commonplace that all sections of the media felt they could say what they liked about our family and my husband in particular. This trial by media included publishing front-page photographs with the intention of identifying our young children. This unprecedented, co-ordinated media onslaught, which continues to this day, has ensured that my husband’s name is constantly connected with the Omagh bomb. My husband has never been questioned nor charged with any offence relating to this tragedy.

It gives me great strength to know that there are individuals and human rights groups who are prepared to travel long distances to ensure that justice is seen to be done. The Irish Government has been a champion of human rights throughout the world, however, at a recent preliminary hearing, our legal team were refused important disclosure documents. This decision is a direct breach of Irish law and has ensured that my husband will not be able to defend himself and the court case will have a foregone conclusion.

In conclusion, my family asks for no more than that awarded to any other Irish citizen - the right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence. We feel that the co-ordinated media attention and the failure of the authorities to disclose important information has seriously damaged my husband’s chances of getting a fair trial.

We are also asking international observers to attend the trial, which is currently scheduled to be held in Dublin’s non-jury Special Criminal court on 11th February 2003. Your support in ensuring his right to justice and a fair trial would be greatly appreciated.

************************************************
‘Explosive new tapes lift lid on Omagh bomb’ – Andersonstown News, 23 September 2002
http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/october_2002.htm#Explosive%20New%20Tapes%20to%20Lift%20Lid%20on%20Omagh%20Bomb

OMAGH COVER-UP!
Watch the VIDEO of Lawrence Rushe's challenge to the RUC! Go to: http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/omagh_cover-up.htm

************************************************

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-----------------------------

Subject: Provos to “Stand Down”?
Date: 01 19 03

In a deal to secure dismantled watchtowers and amnesty for some on-the-run volunteers, the Provisional leadership is said to be in discussions with its grassroots to “stand down” and make yet another disgraceful decommissioning of weapons.

It will not be lost on the observant that spy posts at Sheriff’s Mountain in Derry and in the Ardoyne have been “decommissioned” recently, with no deals made to the British government!

With its New Broy Harriers at the ready, the Adams/McGuinness leadership stands primed to join the Policing Board in the not-too-distant future, and to unleash its uniformed Stormont Troopers on a newly besieged Occupied Ireland.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

************************************************

The Sunday Times - Ireland
January 19, 2003

IRA nears decision to stand down
Liam Clarke

THE IRA is to meet this month to consider standing down, signalling an end to a 30-year campaign to unite Ireland. A secret gathering to discuss formally abandoning violence, destroying weapons in public and joining the governing body of Northern Ireland's police will take place within weeks. Any such move would mark a historic departure for the terrorist group and would breathe life into the flagging peace process.

The concessions form part of a planned deal to be discussed by Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, and Tony Blair, the British prime minister, in Downing Street
on Thursday.

The proposal would see the IRA issuing a statement expressing a willingness to stand down its active service units and pledging support for the peace
process. The organisation would agree to carry out a "transparent" act of decommissioning, possibly on film. The term "standing down" means that the
IRA could continue to exist as a kind of old comrades' association without being involved in terrorism or intelligence gathering.

The statement would probably be accompanied by a move to join the Northern Ireland Policing Board. Sinn Fein has so far resisted this, arguing that
reform of the police force has not gone far enough, although legislation working its way through Westminster will accelerate the process.

In return, the British government has offered to dismantle about a dozen watchtowers along the border and grant pardons to "on the run" terrorists.
The planned amnesty - which would apply to high-profile offenders such as the Enniskillen bombers, who killed 11 people in 1987 - is likely to cause
most controversy.

It is the most sensitive concession being offered as part of a "process of completion" in which all the remaining objectives of the peace process and
the Good Friday agreement would be achieved.

One British official said: "It would require new legislation and there is no way we would get it through the House of Lords unless there was a very
convincing end to IRA activity and it was absolutely clear that the war was over." One model being considered is that offenders would have their
sentences commuted in return for confessing their crimes to a court or a special body set up for that purpose.

The provisions might also be available to members of the security forces and would cover only the period up to the signing of the Good Friday agreement
on April 10, 1998. Offences committed since then would be prosecuted in the normal way.

British generals used to threaten to resign when the prospect of removing the south Armagh watchtowers was raised. The so-called bandit county is
home to the IRA's most feared hardliners. A senior military source said: "It is now regarded as largely a matter for the police. There is an element of
risk in dismantling them, but not one which is unthinkable."

The army's change of heart reflects the current security assessment that despite continued IRA intelligence gathering, the threat from both the Provisionals and the dissidents in the border area has receded. A military source said: "The terrorist threat has two components, intent and capacity. The Provisionals still have plenty of capacity but little intent and, if they decommission further, the capacity will be reduced. The dissidents have plenty of intent but limited capacity."

If Sinn Fein joined the police board, the force would find it easier to recruit Catholics. Speaking in New York earlier this month Hugh Orde, the Northern Ireland chief constable, said Sinn Fein support for the policing board would solve his recruitment problems.

There is doubt in British government circles about whether the deal would be implemented in time to save the Northern Ireland assembly. However, if progress is made, elections will be held in May and negotiations would start soon after.

British officials have been heartened by recent statements from the Democratic Unionist party that spell out conditions under which they would sit in government with Sinn Fein, should the DUP emerge as the single largest unionist body. In the past the party had promised to keep Sinn Fein out of office altogether.

Obstacles to reaching a settlement remain high. Jeffrey Donaldson, the Ulster Unionist party MP for Lagan Valley, said he believed that a new initiative from the IRA was likely:

"The bottom line is that the Ulster Unionist Council agreed unanimously a very clear policy position requiring that the IRA not only disarm, but disband. We will not accept Sinn Fein on to the policing board while the IRA remains an active terrorist organisation." oNine men were arrested and three rifles seized at a suspected Ulster Volunteer Force show of strength on the Monkstown estate near Belfast yesterday. At least one of those arrested is believed to be an English journalist working for a right-wing publication. Detectives in Newtownabbey are questioning the suspects. The weapons were sent for forensic examination and British Army bomb experts are examining a number of suspicious items.

******************************************
UTV News
SUNDAY 19/01/2003 09:45:25

IRA To Discuss Standing Down

The IRA is set to meet to discuss the possibility of standing down later this month.

The Sunday Times reports that a secret meeting is to be held to consider ending their 30-year campaign, destroying weapons in public and joining the Policing Board.

The move would form part of a deal to be discussed between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in Downing Street this Thursday.

It is believed that the IRA would issue a statement outlining a willingness to stand down its active service units and stating their support for the peace process.

It is also reported that the organisation would agree to carry out an act of decommissioning, possibly on film.

There would also be a move to join the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which Sinn Fein has refused to do so far on the grounds that changes to policing have not gone far enough.

In return for these concessions the British government would dismantle around a dozed border watchtowers and grant an amnesty for "on the run" terrorists.

http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=27851&pt=n

******************************************
Irish Independent

Cut in troops if SF backs police
Saturday January 4, 2003

Tom Brady, Security Editor

A DEAL on a major scaling down of British military presence in the North in return for Sinn Fein's involvement on the policing boards will be put to the Provisionals by the two governments shortly.

The demilitarisation plan will include dismantling the controversial watchtowers in south Armagh where local IRA figures are destined to play a key role in determining acceptance of the overall deal.

The Provisional leadership has sent representatives around the country to brief the movement's grassroots on likely developments and gauge their reaction to the proposals that will be put on the table in the coming weeks.

Senior IRA figures in south Armagh, which has two representatives on the organisation's ruling army council including the chief of staff, are wary of taking the momentous step of participating in the police boards.

But Sinn Fein negotiators are confident that the deal will convince the waverers that they should take what is being described as "a giant leap forward".

Security sources have dismissed recent reports that a split will take place among hardened Provisional activists in the south Armagh region if Sinn Fein takes seats on the police boards.

Up to now security advisers in the North have argued that the watchtowers must remain in place because of the level of activity of the two dissident republican groups, the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA.

But in recent months the contribution to security made by the spy towers has been questioned as the two renegade groups have been forced to drastically reduce their operations because of a spate of arrests and seizures by police on both sides of the border.

A declaration by Sinn Fein of participation in the policing boards will be interpreted by the two governments as further confirmation from the republicans that "the war is over".

A similar interpretation will be put on the other side on an announcement of large scale demilitarisation by the British government.

"Its a chicken and egg scenario," one source said last night. "The two measures will have to be agreed and announced in tandem."

The overall package is also thought likely to include some concessions on the plight of the OTRs, the prisoners on the run whose fate if they return to the North has yet to be determined.

Secondment of gardai to the Police Service of Northern Ireland is also envisaged and could ultimately result in gardai patrolling the streets of Crossmaglen.

Sinn Fein negotiators are currently insisting on the full implementation of the Patten policing proposals plus additional measures.

The party's demands also include a widening of devolution to include a Northern Minister for justice to take direct responsibility for policing away from the British government.

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness has warned that the next six weeks will be the most critical "in the course of the last 30 years".

******************************************

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-----------------------------
Subject: High Court refuses documents to McKevitt team
Date: 01 14 03
The Irish Free State has refused to allow lawyers for Micheal McKevitt access to documents relating to David Rupert's
activities as a paid informant and agent-provacatuer working for Briatain's MI5 Intelligence and the United State's FBI.

Many questions remained unanswered as to David Rupert's involvement in the Omagh atrocity. This refusal to hand over
documents can only be seen as an concerted effort to hide the de facto involvement of the British and United States
governments in the needless and brutal massacre of 31 innocent lives at Omagh.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

************************************************
RTE News
January 14, 2003

Court decision clears way for McKevitt trial
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A High Court decision today has cleared the way for the trial of alleged Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt to begin in the Special Criminal Court on
11 February.

The Court refused an application by Mr McKevitt for leave to challenge a decision made by the Special Criminal Court refusing further disclosure of
documents relating to an FBI agent, David Rupert.

He still has the option of appealing today's ruling to the Supreme Court and his legal team says it is considering this.

VIDEO: 1.00 News: Mary Wilson, Legal Affairs Correspondent, outlines why Michael
McKevitt's application was rejected by the High Court
56k - http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0114/1news/1news56_6a.ram

************************************************
‘Explosive new tapes lift lid on Omagh bomb’ – Andersonstown News, 23 September 2002
http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/october_2002.htm#Explosive%20New%20Tapes%20to%20Lift%20Lid%20on%20Omagh%20Bomb

OMAGH COVER-UP!
Watch the VIDEO of Lawrence Rushe's challenge to the RUC!
Go to: http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/omagh_cover-up.htm

************************************************

© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
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-----------------------------

Subject: Army 'link' to Dublin bombings - - Dublin/Monaghan 1974
Date: 01 12 03

The Sunday Times - Ireland
January 12, 2003

Army 'link' to Dublin bombings

Liam Clarke, Northern Ireland Editor

MATERIAL for bombs that killed 33 people in Dublin and Monaghan may have come from the British Army, according to an official inquiry into the atrocities.

The inquiry has been given evidence that army members supplied loyalist terrorists with explosives that had been confiscated by the army from the IRA and that these were used in the three bombs which exploded in Dublin during rush-hour traffic.

The findings of the inquiry into the bombings, on May 17, 1974, are being written up by Mr Justice Henry Barron, a retired Irish judge. He has been forced to delay his inquiry repeatedly because British authorities have been slow to give him vital information. The report, due to be completed in April, will fuel persistent allegations that the bombings were engineered by undercover agents working inside loyalist paramilitary groups. A British Army bomb disposal expert has concluded that the three car bombs in Dublin used crystallised ammonium nitrate. The home bomb making technology was known to the IRA at the time but was not mastered by loyalists for at least another six years.

Originally, both loyalist and republican terrorists made most of their bombs from ammonium nitrate fertiliser mixed with fuel oil, but in 1973 restrictions introduced on the nitrate content of fertiliser made this simple process impossible.

IRA members quickly developed a crystallisation technique that allowed them to extract nitrates from the new fertiliser, a method loyalists did not learn until the end of the 1970s.

The expert's 100-page report submitted to the inquiry states:

"Loyalist terrorist groups did not have the skills to undertake this operation in 1974. Further, I do not believe they have ever possessed them, otherwise a similarly complex operation would have been repeated."

It goes on: "The loyalist terrorists who undertook this operation were at least guided, and very likely directed, by somebody with considerable knowledge of terrorist bombing activities. The most likely sort of person who could have provided that guidance is an ammunition technical officer or ammunition technician with experience of intelligence processes and practices and with access to loyalist terrorists."

The bomb disposal expert's report estimates that only five people, all of them British soldiers, combined this level of access to seized IRA explosives and to loyalist terror groups. It describes another bomb in Monaghan, near the border with Northern Ireland, which detonated 90 minutes after the Dublin blasts and
killed eight people, as of standard loyalist construction.

It did not use IRA explosives and is believed to have been built by a different loyalist unit.

The bomb disposal expert's report was commissioned by Justice for the Forgotten, an Irish government-funded group for the victims of the atrocities, at Barron's request in 2001. However, it is understood further reports have been commissioned from the same expert into other explosions in the republic. These
found two other loyalist bombs were probably composed of explosives seized from the IRA.

One of these was detonated at Kay's Tavern in Dundalk, a bar which was at the time used by republicans, on December 19, 1975 and claimed two lives. The second exploded on the same day outside a bar in Silverbridge, Co Armagh, and killed three people.

Last month Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, told the Dail that he had raised the alleged non-cooperation of British authorities with Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland secretary, who assured him that "further material would be forthcoming".

Ahern added: "The prime minister is fully aware that we want to see the maximum co-operation from the British authorities and the matter has been raised through the British-Irish secretariat and at the recent meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference."

************************************************

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-----------------------------

Subject: British brigadier quizzed over killing of Finucane
Date: 01 12 03

The Sunday Times - Ireland
January 12, 2003

British brigadier quizzed over killing of Finucane

Liam Clarke, Northern Ireland Editor

THE British military attaché in Beijing, Brigadier John Gordon Kerr, has been questioned by police about the murder of a Belfast solicitor and other crimes allegedly committed by military intelligence agents during the late 1980s. Kerr, 55, who is from Aberdeen, was head of the Force Research Unit (FRU), a shadowy arm of the British Army’s Intelligence Corps which handled undercover agents in Northern Ireland. Last month he was interviewed under criminal caution by detectives working for Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.

Stevens heads an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Pat Finucane, a solicitor who acted for high-profile republicans, and into alleged collusion between security forces and loyalist terrorists. Stevens, who is expected to report in April, said last week that he hoped to make arrests and convictions.

Kerr was being questioned because of his leading role in the FRU, since renamed the Joint Services Group, which has been at the centre of persistent collusion allegations. In the 1980s its two principal agents were Brian Nelson, the head of intelligence in the UDA, and a senior IRA figure whose codename is Stakeknife, who is still in place.

Kerr was head of the FRU from 1986 until 1989. In 1987 he travelled to Germany and received MI5 clearance to recruit Nelson, a Belfast-born former soldier with the Black Watch regiment. He asked Nelson to return to Northern Ireland and infiltrate the UDA.

With the help of his handlers, Nelson looked after the terrorist group’s intelligence files on IRA suspects, which were used as the basis for its murder campaign. William Stobie, also an RUC agent, acted as the group’s quartermaster, handing out the weapons to the killer gangs.

In 1992 Nelson received a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to five charges of conspiracy to murder. At the trial, Kerr, who used the pseudonym Colonel J, was a character witness.

Kerr took the opportunity to praise Nelson for his bravery, resourcefulness and loyalty to the army. He said 730 intelligence reports had been passed to the RUC as a result of Nelson and that the agent had provided the FRU with the names of 217 people at risk of being killed by the UDA, including Gerry Adams. According to Kerr, Nelson prevented a plot to fix a limpet mine under the Sinn Fein leader’s car. Statistically, the UDA killed more people after Nelson was removed from its ranks, and military intelligence sources cite this as evidence of his effectiveness as an agent.

However, Stevens has found that no arrests were made as a result of intelligence passed on by the spy. He also found that Nelson allowed some murder plots to go ahead, including the assassination of Finucane and an unsuccessful attempt to kill Alec Maskey, a Sinn Fein politician with no criminal record, now
lord mayor of Belfast.

The Stevens report is likely to conclude that a decision was taken to sacrifice Maskey, who was regarded by the FRU as an IRA suspect.

Nelson was involved in several other murders while working for the FRU under Kerr’s command. In January 1992 he made a statement admitting that four years earlier he had handed a file card bearing the personal details of Gerard Slane, a Catholic, to a UDA man called Jim Spence, in the knowledge that he would arrange Slane’s murder. According to Nelson, Spence told him: “I’ll soon deal with him. We can’t have these bastards getting away with this.”

Stevens is investigating whether Nelson told his handlers the murder was planned and whether they, in turn, passed the information to the RUC as they were legally obliged to do. It is known that Nelson passed copies of all the UDA’s intelligence files on Catholics it wanted to assassinate to the FRU. Stevens
has to determine whether FRU operatives working under Kerr saw the files, yet allowed some of the attacks to proceed.
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Subject: Christmas in the cell, censorship of Gaeilge
Date: 01 08 03

Saoirse

Statement issued to the media by OC, CIRA POWs, Maghaberry
January 8, 2003

Petty-minded punishments inflicted on Republican prisoners in Maghaberry

Christmas in the cell, censorship of Gaeilge

Republican prisoners in Maghaberry gaol wish to highlight an incident which occurred on Christmas Day.

Republican prisoners were forced to eat their dinner in their cells. Representatives of the Republican POWs met with an SO and a PO in the sentenced house. The reason behind the meeting was to address the issue of getting the use of the dining room for all prisoners. This proposal was flatly rejected by the two senior officers.

These two officers went on to say that there is a dining room on our landing and would not be permitted the use of the main hall.

The Republican representatives went on to stress that the dining hall on their landing was being used for other purposes. The officers in question asked what was going on in the room, but as they and governor had just left the landing they already knew that there was a party in full swing and of course it wasn't the
sort of party which Republicans would be comfortable with.

The representatives of the POWs stressed that as Christmas Day was full association why then could the prisoners not get the use of the main hall. This again was ignored and the two senior officers told the Republicans to eat in their cells, saying that they were lucky to be getting a dinner at all.

The Republican representatives then asked to see the governor and were told that no-one was available, although he had been in the house minutes previous.

The Republican representatives refused to give any further details about the prisoners party instead insisting that the two officers in question should come forward and give their reasons as to why they told the Republicans to eat in their cells. We also called on the governor who was on duty that to divulge all
relevant information the Republican Representatives who met the officers would just like to emphasise that had any officer or governor made any attempt to negotiate with them then we would not have felt the need to contact the media.

CENSORSHIP OF IRISH

Sectarianism, bigotry and hatred of the Irish language and culture is rife in Maghaberry gaol.

Republican prisoners incarcerated inside Maghaberry gaol wish to express their total disgust of the apparent hatred of the Irish language shown by officers and governors within this establishment.

This loathing of the Irish language has become more evident in the recent weeks with Republican POWs receiving cards and letters from friends and family throughout the world. These greetings in general are addressed in Gaeilge.

When, we, the POWs receive these letters the Irish is in most cases completely censored. When we complain about this we are told by the landing officers: "nothing to do with us" but when we try to find out who is at fault we hit a brick wall of ignorance.

This wall usually appears in the form of a screw with an extra pip on their shoulder - along with this pip comes an inherited attitude.

The attitude shown by these officers toward anything Irish is astonishing to say the least. It seems these philistines have refused to move with the times.

The Republican prisoners have raised these issues through complaints to officers and petition forms but all we have received are empty promises that they will never happen again but still it continues.

We the Republican POWs deem this use of censorship totally unnecessary and would ask a spokesperson from the NIO and the prison to come forward and explain the reason behind this abhorrent behavior. We also that this hatred of our native tongue is addressed forthwith and that censorship of the Irish language is abolished. Finally we would ask everyone involved in Irish language institutions to voice their disgust and revulsion at this hatred of the Irish language and call for an immediate end to the censorship.

ENDS

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SUPPORT IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS

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Subject: Belmarsh Hunger Strike Ended
Date: 01 07 03

An eight-day Hunger Strike mounted by two remand political prisoners at Belmarsh Prison in Britain ended today, after concessions to demands for their basic human rights were granted by the prison administration.

John Paul Hannan (19) and Jim McCormack (33) embarked on Hunger Strike eight days ago after enduring weeks of selective abuse and denial of their basic rights by the Belmarsh prison administration, including:

· Relatives being refused visits for no reason
· Civilian clothes being denied to them
· Phone privileges denied for the holidays
· Letters in and out being held for up to three weeks
· Both held in isolation from three other Irish remand political prisoners at Belmarsh

A prison chaplain made contact with a London clerical member of the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas earlier today to announce that a settlement had been reached. The Irish Freedom Committee recognizes the efforts of the Irish Political Status Committee and the London 32 County Sovereignty Committee for their continuing assistance in this urgent matter.

Trials for John Paul Hannan and Jim McCormack and three other remand Irish prisoners at Belmarsh are scheduled to begin in London on January 16th. The Irish Freedom Committee joins other human rights groups in Ireland, Britain and the United States in encouraging world-wide attention to what will surely be a show trial bereft of an impartial justice.

For more information on appalling conditions for Irish political prisoners at Belmarsh please see links below.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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More on Conditions for Irish Prisoners at Belmarsh:
http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/october_2002.htm#Ongoing_Mistreatment_Irish_Political_Prisoners

Search “Aidan Hulme” at green Search box HERE:

Travesty of “justice” British style - Torture sanctioned at Belmarsh Prison!!!
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
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SUPPORT IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS

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Subject: OMAGH COVER-UP CONTINUES!!
Date: 01 06 03

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Irish News
January 6, 2003

NIO agrees 'pay deal' for Omagh informant
by Barry McCaffrey

A compensation deal has been agreed with a former British army agent to prevent him from publicly revealing the identity of a top IRA mole, the Irish News has learned.

The financial deal has been agreed with Kevin Fulton, who tipped off RUC special that a bomb was being prepared in the Republic prior to the Omagh bombing.

Reliable NIO sources last night (Sun) confirmed that it has agreed to ‘compensate’ the former agent after he threatened to reveal the identity of another agent alleged to have been at the heart of the IRA for the last 30 years.

It is understood that the deal includes providing accommodation and a weekly allowance for the former soldier and has been in place since early December.

It addition it is understood that Fulton has been advised that if he was to sue the MoD the case would not be contested by the state.

The agent, who uses the pseudonym Kevin Fulton, refused to comment last night when contacted by the Irish News. Fulton first came to prominence when it emerged that he had warned police about the Omagh bomb.

In 2000 it was revealed that Fulton had tipped off his police handlers three days before the Omagh attack that the Real IRA was preparing a major bomb destined for Northern Ireland. While Fulton did not give the precise target, he named the bomb-maker and his whereabouts. He later questioned why the information had not been passed on to detectives.

It was later claimed that police had at least three other warnings that the Real IRA was preparing to bomb Omagh which resulted in the death of 29 people and two unborn children, but had failed to act.

In the aftermath of the Omagh inquiry Fulton fled to England claiming that his cover had been blown and that his life was now in danger.

An NIO source last night admitted that attempts had initially been made to use the Police Ombudsman’s Office as a conduit to offer the compensation deal to Fulton, but that was abandoned after Nuala O’Loan’s office refused to get involved. But it is understood that one of Fulton’s police handlers travelled to England late last year and advised the former agent he would receive ‘compensation’ if he dropped threats to reveal the identity of the IRA mole known as ‘Steak-knife.’

“They are currently picking up the bill for his accommodation in England and have agreed to give him a new identity and buy a house for him although he has been told that they won’t be giving him a pension,” the source said.

An NIO spokesman refused to confirm or deny the compensation deal with the former agent last night saying it did not comment on “matters of personal security”.
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OMAGH COVER-UP!!! Hear the damning indictment by Omagh widow Lawrence Rushe HERE

http://members.freespeech.org/irishpows/bb3/omagh_cover-up.htm

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