SEARCH ARCHIVES

UTV News
06 29 04

Four Co Tyrone men set-up by missing south Armagh man Gareth O'Connor were acquitted today by Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Girvan of a republican plot to murder police and troops. 

Mr Justice Girvan, who has already acquitted the men of Real IRA memberhsip after ruling it was not an illegal organisation under current legislation, said while there were many aspects of the men`s claims remained "unconvincing and strained, a reasonable doubt remains (as to their guilt) in the minds of the court". 

The four, 33-year-old Donald Mullan from Firmount Park, Dungannon, Coalisland men, Sean Dillion aged 27 of Roughan Way and Kevin Murphy 33, of Altmore Park, and 26-year-old Brendan O`Connor of Cavanoneill Road, Pomeroy, claimed they were set up by Gareth O`Connor to be allegedly caught red-handed with an RPG launcher by undercover troops and police in a field at Loughview Gardens, Coalisland on February 17 2002. 

In his judgement Mr Justice Girvan said that "the role of Gareth O`Connor remains enigmatic as an informer playing an active role in liaision with the police". 

And he added: "There are many unanswered questions as to his involvement and as to the pressures and inducement that may have been exerted on him to bring about the capturing of the defendants". 

The four Tyrone men said their acquittal was "the best ruling any judge could have given bearing in mind the evidence," and that while they too were "victims so are the family of Gareth O`Connor". 


************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

Belfast Telegraph
29 June 2004

Unmasking of top tout protector awaited
By Gail Walker


AFTER more than 30 years of countless beatings, kneecappings galore, bodies found in plastic bags along the border with placards round their necks and, recently, the sad return of some of the Disappeared, the tout is coming into his own.

Press reports indicate that the Provisionals are about to name three new informers who for donkeys' years carried on a double life within the Republican Movement. 

And these aren't the harmless drunks, loose-talkers, foolish relatives of IRA men, mistaken identities, scared young people, good Samaritans, entirely innocent individuals or any of the other categories of victim killed by the murder gang over the decades for breaking the code of silence. 

Oh no. These are three high-ranking Provos. 

Like Freddie Scappaticci - aka Stakeknife - they are the very guys who presided over the very distinctively brutal killings the IRA reserved for traitors. 

But the word is that, just as in Freddie's case, the Provos won't be nipping down to Poundstretcher to re-stock on binliners.

The IRA claim that they can't do anything about the touts because shooting or otherwise disposing of them would jeopardise the peace process. Which is all a bit rich for the relatives of people who were maimed and murdered because of gossip, unsubstantiated allegations and confessions forced from victims hanging upside down on meat hooks in barns in south Armagh.

Like the Italian Stallion, the worst these three have to fear is being snubbed in Irish class, tea ladies spitting in their mugs and being asked to leave the Sinn Fein ard fheis during the closed session.

Mind you, at the time the Provos furiously denied that Scappaticci was a tout (remember those press conferences and messages of support from the SF leadership?) and they still haven't formally admitted that he was and that the security forces had indeed infiltrated their organisation to such an extent and for such a very long time.

Now, some think that the movement's new-found openness has more to do with smothering suspicion in the officers' mess that the toutery goes higher up - much higher up! - than even these three former Heroes of the Revolution. They'll hope everyone believes that the Provos wouldn't take the step of unmasking informers if they weren't now in control of the situation.

It's unlikely the strategy will work, though. The public image of the noble and invincible terrorists is crumbling before the very eyes of their supporters. And the "splinter" IRA groups don't buy it either. They think that someone at the very top in the Provos is still protecting the informers, directing this strange policy of naming but not maiming.

Who on earth do they have in mind?


************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

The Blanket
Dolours Price • 24 June 2004 

A few comments around the recent Elections. 

I am not a member of Sinn Fein and never have been but I have been watching this party closely over the last number of years. I watched the transformation of their candidate for Europe, Mary Lou McDonald, from card carrying Fianna Fail member to elected Sinn Fein Representative in a matter of, what, two or three years? 

The Sinn Fein motto for all elections is "An Ireland of Equals". 

Over the past twenty years I have been aware of the spade-work being done by dedicated Sinn Fein members at times when that party was not flavour of the month, or any other month. I wonder why these experienced and articulate party members did not "make the grade" when it came to nomination time? Are nominations still the domain of the Cumann or is selection handed down by the "Leadership"? We have been told it is a "leadership led movement" (so was Stalin's Russia!). 

Is it perhaps that the accents of the longterm member are more Donamede than Dun Laoirghe, that as politicised working-class people they did not, despite their obvious ability, have an opportunity to get a third level education? 

Mary Lou has a fine political career ahead of her be that with Sinn Fein or Fianna Fail. I feel she will jump ship whenever it suits Mary Lou. What of the people who worked so tirelessly to put her on the career ladder; they will still be shinning up lampposts, manning the clinics, working for the party. I do not support Sinn Fein, but I give credit where it is due. It seems a pity that the "leadership" is more opportunistic than it is loyal to its members. 

Can they call out for "An Ireland of Equals" from a Party that seems not to be all that "Equal"? 

Briefly but importantly, Gerry Adams dismissed the disgraceful degradation of the National Flag at count centres throughout the State and up in the North as, "a few people getting carried away." People do not normally store a tri-colour in their inside pocket to be whipped out like a nose-rag to be waved in the faces of other Irishmen, be they political opponents or tribal opponents. The picture of the victorious Mary Lou Mc Donald clutching a tri-colour nailed to a bit of stick was a shame on her and on Sinn Fein. 

Gerry Adams grew up in a traditional Republican home like my own. He would have learnt there the respect due to The Flag. For too long Sinn Fein have abused the National Flag and by implication claim it as theirs and theirs alone. Is that perhaps why they paraded down O'Connell street on Easter Sunday to the tune of "Take it down from the Mast Irish Traitors"? The words go on, "it can never belong to Free-Staters for you brought on it nothing but shame...." Ironic to me for several reasons, insulting to others for the obvious reason. The National Flag also flies prominently on the Falls Road in Belfast adorned with Celtic emblems, a defacement again, flags put there by Ogra Sinn Fein, a group of youths slightly reminicent of another group of boyscouts from the 1940s Germany. Take those down from the mast and save some of your dignity, Sinn Fein. 

************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

McKevitt to challenge legal aid refusal


Jailed former Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt is to challenge the refusal of legal aid to fight the multi-million pound civil action brought against him by victims of the Omagh bomb massacre. 

McKevitt`s lawyers have lodged papers in the High Court in Belfast seeking a judicial review of the decision by the Legal Services Commission. 

McKevitt, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the Republic for belonging to the RIRA and directing terrorism, is being sued for £14 million along with four others suspected of carrying out the RIRA atrocity in which 29 people died. 

He was initially granted legal aid but last month his lawyers were informed that it had been suspended on three grounds:- 

1. His conviction for directing terrorism was not consistent with his statement to the legal aid department. 

2. There was no prospect of him being able to meet any judgement made against him, given the expected level of damages likely to be awarded if the case was successful. Therefor, defending the proceedings was considered futile 
as McKevitt was effectively a man of straw and it was unreasonable to spend substantial public funds in defending such a case. 

3. The committee which made the decision was bound to take account of the existence of others who were in a position to defray the costs of the proposed litigation. 

In papers grounding the application McKevitt`s lawyers stated that it was precisely because he was a man of straw that he required to defend the proceedings. 

It was alleged that the decision to suspend legal aid and then withdraw it completely was "not unconnected to the widespread adverse public criticism to which the Legal Aid Department was subjected." 

The papes also contrasted the decision with the government`s grant of £800,000 towards the legal costs of the people bringing the civil claim. 

"There is clear inequality of arms and it is difficult to imagine a more stark example," lawyers claimed. 

The papers are now in the hands of a judge who is expected to convene a hearing to consider the granting of leave before the full application for judicial review can proceed. 

************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

Soldiers who opened fire on Bloody Sunday were today branded a "death squad" by a leading lawyer. 

By Press Association 
June 14, 2004

He made the damning accusation during his final submission on day 431 of the Saville Inquiry into the 1972 killings by paratroopers of 13 people on a civil rights march in Derry. 

Lord Gifford, QC, representing the family of James Wray, 22 - who was shot dead in the Bogside as the marchers fled from troops - said he was "murdered by a group of soldiers who called themselves a brick but that we have called a death squad". 

James Wray had been shot once in the back as he fled and once more at close range as he lay on the ground, said Lord Gifford. 

He and others fired on were shot "for no other reason than that they were easy targets", he told the inquiry in the Derry Guildhall. 

Each of the four soldiers in the group had offered a pretext for opening fire which had been "contradictory and manifestly false" he added. " They did not fire at people who were either throwing stones or collecting stones." 

The lawyer said that if it had been a case of a "squad of underworld hit men shooting members of a rival gang, there would have been no hesitation in a prosecuting authority in charging every member of the squad with the murder of every victim who died." 

He questioned when the "common purpose" had been formed to open fire that day and said there had been a sense of anger among the paratroopers sent into the city for the march that the youths of Derry had previously been treated with "undue restraint" by the resident troops. 

Lord Gifford said there was a "sense of resolve that the exercise on Bloody Sunday was an opportunity to teach them a lesson," he said. 

Mr Wray had been shot once in the back while running away and once more at close range as he lay on the ground trying to move. "That shot was one of the defining moments of that day," said Lord Gifford. 

The shot had not been fired out of a sense of being in danger but deliberately to "get a kill", he added. 

He referred to the words of one of the soldiers during the shooting of Bloody Sunday - `I have got another one` - and said it was "the triumphant report of a team member who has done what the team expected of him." 

************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

Brit war crimes candidate wins US security contact in Iraq!  Please read the following press release from the Pat Finucane Center in Belfast.  

The Irish Freedom Committee® 
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

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

From the Pat Finucane Center

PFC action alert/ Iraq Contract Awarded to Controversial former Scots Guards Officer

Mother calls for US Investigation into Contract 

Please forward

 A former Scots Guards officer who suggested that murdered Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride may have been carrying a bomb when he was murdered by two soldiers under his command has been awarded a major private security contract in Iraq by the US Department of Defence. Jean Mc Bride has appealed to supporters of the family to raise the issue in the US Congress and Senate. “We are asking our supporters in the US to raise this directly with John Kerry and call for a congressional hearing into Tim Spicer’s track record.

  Lt Col Tim Spicer of Aegis Defence Services has attempted to justify the Mc Bride murder on a number of occasions and in doing so has made inaccurate and offensive claims about the circumstances that have been proven totally wrong by various courts.

 A spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre has urged all those concerned at the role of private security firms in human rights abuses in Iraq to raise concerns at this contract.

 “Spicer is a highly controversial figure. Despite numerous court rulings that held that the soldiers under his command murdered an unarmed 18 year old boy and concocted lies to cover up their actions Spicer has continued to claim that his soldiers should not have been prosecuted. By his own admission he wanted to send Guardsmen Wright and Fisher back on patrol immediately after the murder. “It’s the same principle as getting straight back on a horse when you have been thrown off” he wrote in his autobiography. His deeply offensive claims about the murder were repeated in the Daily Mail leading to calls for a boycott of the paper by Jean Mc Bride and a complaint to the Press Complaints Council.  

 Reacting to the news today Jean Mc Bride appealed to supporters of the family to raise the issue in the US Congress and Senate. “We are asking our supporters in the US to raise this directly with John Kerry and call for a congressional hearing into Tim Spicer’s track record. Given the involvement of private security firms in torture and murder in Iraq I shudder to think that Spicer has been awarded a contract to create the world’s largest private army. As Commanding Officer of the Scots Guards he told a pack of lies about Peter’s murder and dragged his name through the dirt. God knows what his own private army will do in Iraq. ”

 Controversial Commando Wins Iraq Contract

by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
June 9th, 2004

 “ Occupation authorities in Iraq have awarded a $293 million contract effectively creating the world's largest private army to a company headed by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, a former officer with the Scots Guard, an elite regiment of the British military, who has been investigated for illegally smuggling arms and planning military offensives to support mining, oil, and gas operations around the world. On May 25, the Army Transportation command awarded Spicer's company, Aegis Defense Services, the contract to coordinate all the security for Iraqi reconstruction projects.

"I am pleased to confirm that we've been awarded a contract to assist the Project Management Office (PMO) in Iraq by the United States Department of Defense," said Spicer, who started Aegis just over a year ago on Picadilly in London, only a short walk from Buckingham Palace. "The contract involves coordination of security support for reconstruction contractors and for the protection of PMO personnel."

Under the "cost-plus" contract, the military will cover all of the company's expenses, plus a pre-determined percentage of whatever they spend, which critics say is a license to over-bill. The company has also been asked to provide 75 close protection teams--comprised of eight men each--for the high-level staff of companies that are running the oil and gas fields, electricity, and water services in Iraq.”

See full article at

 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11350

 “We apply First World standards to all our military work, including respect for human rights” Extract from Spicer’s autobiography.

 “There was no question that these soldiers had concocted some story to cover their actions.” Spicer’s affidavit in relation to Guardsmen Wright and Fisher-June 1998.

 “Not only did he not accept the verdict, he has continued to purvey the story that the judge described in court as a "concoction of lies." Roy Greenslade on Spicer The Guardian Nov 19 1999

 “There was no reasonable possibility that either Wright or Fisher honestly held the belief that he [Mc Bride] was armed.” LJ Kelly in judgement.  

 “Suddenly Mc Bride stopped running and ducked down between two cars.” Extract from Spicer autobiography.

 “It is a well known fact that if you take cover behind a car, whether you be a terrorist or a member of the security forces, the place to be is behind the engine block because that would give you the cover from fire that you need.” Spicer’s affidavit-June 1998

 Peter Mc Bride did not take cover or duck down between two cars. He was shot in the back and fell wounded over a car. As he slid to the ground he was shot again. PFC 

See the PFC response to Spicer’s claims at http://www.serve.com/pfc/ under menu item Peter Mc Bride in an article entitled ‘An Open Letter to Tim Spicer’ Oct 1999

For information contact pfc@iol.ie mobile 07989323418

************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

Sunday Herald
13 June 2004

Fury as MI5 describe IRA terror as ‘just’
Secret briefings enrage victims’ relatives 
By Neil Mackay, Home Affairs Editor 

MI5 has caused outrage after one of its spies stated publicly that the IRA “fought a just cause” and won a “successful campaign” during the 30-year Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

The Sunday Herald is unable to name the MI5 officer following a threat of legal action from the government . However, the spy’s comments have provoked fury from the victims of IRA violence and Ulster politicians. 

The controversy centres on a briefing given by the MI5 officer, a former Royal Navy commander, at a maritime security conference on Orkney. Details have been given to the Sunday Herald by Mark Hirst, the former head of communications at Orkney Islands Council, who attended the seminar. 

The conference was held by the Department of Transport (DoT) in Kirkwall. Delegates included representatives from the council, port authorities, ferry services, energy firms, the tourist board and police. 

Hirst says the MI5 officer said the IRA was “the biggest threat to British national security”. But the officer then said “in our opinion they [the IRA] have fought a just cause”. 

“The conclusion of MI5, according to this officer,” said Hirst, “was based on the fact there had been legitimate grievances among, and discrimination against, the nationalist community and this had sustained the IRA through the length of the campaign.” 

The MI5 officer then added: “Has it been a successful campaign? The answer is yes.” 

Hirst said: “He referred to the fact Sinn Fein had two ministers in power. What better success can you wish for, he said, than to have your people in positions of power in government.” 

Hirst said the comments were “not off-the-cuff as they were supported by an official MI5 PowerPoint presentation, complete with the official crest”. 

“Presumably this was sanctioned at some level,” he added. 

The DoT confirmed that the briefing took place, adding: “This was part of a programme to ensure that security staff at UK ports were up to date with the terrorism threat they are countering. We are not prepared to comment further .” 

Orkney Council declined to comment. However, William Frazer, who runs Fair (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives), a Northern Ireland support group for victims of paramilitary violence, was horrified . 

Frazer’s father, a member of the security forces, was killed by the IRA, as were two uncles and two cousins. Five of his friends were also murdered, and his home was bombed five times. 

He said the officer’s claims reinforced his belief that the government and intelligence agencies controlled the IRA campaign, using double-agents to manage republican violence. Frazer pointed to Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed Stakeknife, who was exposed by the Sunday Herald last year. Scappaticci, who worked for British intelligence, was also one of the IRA’s highest-ranking volunteers. 

“The MI5 officer’s comments back up the fact there was no determination to beat the IRA,” said Frazer, who is now writing to the Prime Minister in protest. “It is a disgrace to the memory of victims. He is talking about the killing of innocent people . 

“ This MI5 officer needs to be held to account. What this man is saying is treason – it shows the ‘dirty war’ really was dirty.” 

A senior source in the intelligence services said: “I am staggered by these comments.” 

But Kevin Fulton, a former double-agent who infiltrated the IRA, said he was not surprised by the MI5 officer’s comment. He said : “The insight I have leads me to ask ‘who was running this war?’. I believe it was run from London.” 

Martin Ingram, a former intelligence officer in the army’s spying arm, the Force Research Unit, said: “I think what this officer is saying is an honest appraisal. The nationalist community was unjustly treated and that led to the resurgence of the IRA, although I disagree with the IRA’s methodology. 

“What this man has said will be detrimental to his career , but there are those in senior positions in MI5 who would probably agree with him.” 

Hardline unionist MP, Jeffrey Donaldson, said it was “totally out of order” for an MI5 officer to make such statements. “ How would MI5 explain this officer’s comments to people who lost loved ones in Enniskillen, La Mon House or the Shankill bombing? It is incredible that a man in his position would justify the slaughter of innocent civilians and the security forces. 

“It is still an offence to be a traitor and this man’s comments are treacherous. He is betraying Britain. He should be removed immediately.” 
************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

Sunday Independent
Sunday June 6, 2004

SF takes the Queen's shilling 
John Drennan 


THE decline of public spirit was revealed by last week's Standards in Public Office Report on donations to political parties. 

The world may once have been full of civic-spirited grocers who would spend their afternoons handing out biscuits and thirty grand cheques to the Brut, free house extensions to his ministers and the odd few bob to retired BigFellas. 

Not any more. Last week's report indicated that when it came to donations, poor Fianna Fail only received a mere €8,579. 

As for poor Fine Gael and the PDs, they received absolutely nothing. 

However, while the well of capitalism's kindness may have run dry, taxpayers have more than made up for any shortfall by donating a tidy €11m to the political parties. 

Still at least this non-consensual bung is spent on worthy areas like research and policy formation. Er, no. 

In 2003, Fianna Fail spent not a cent of its €1.4m on such fripperies. 

In fairness to Fine Gael, it spent €25,236 while the Greens spent all of €424. 

There was one other winner. As SF/IRA TDs whooped about their new status as the party which received the highest level of donations, our surprise was increased when it was revealed that the majority of the donations came from a place known as the Administration Offices of Stormont. 

Who would have thought SF/IRA would be the biggest recipients of the Queen's shilling since the old 19th-century soupers? 


************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

IRISH NEWS
16/06/2004 13:50:18

Officer' knew Bloody Sunday innocents were being shot' 

A senior British officer in charge of paratroopers on Bloody Sunday must have been aware that innocent civilians were being shot, it was claimed today.

Mike Mansfield QC accused Colonel Ted Loden, a major at the time of Bloody Sunday, of being wrong in claiming he compiled a list of engagements in the immediate aftermath of Bloody Sunday.

The lawyer said senior military figures had produced the list to show that soldiers had acted in self defence when shooting dead 13 civilians.

He added its purpose was to give an impression to the public that the paras had faced an onslaught when they went into the Bogside area of Derry in January 1972.

Mr Mansfield rejected the officer’s evidence to the inquiry that he had written the list in the back of an army vehicle after interviewing soldiers shortly after the shootings.

“We say that the evidence that the exercise that Major Loden claims he did, of sitting in the back of a Pig and noting down, is an exercise that did not take place.”

He said the details written on the list, claiming soldiers had shot gunmen and petrol bombers, differed widely from the truth – that civilians were murdered.

“Given Loden’s position himself on the street, he must have known what was going on or at least some of it. We say, therefore that the compilation of the list, however it occurred on that night, was not in relation to a search for the truth.”

Last year Mr Loden, who was in command of the paratroopers who fired more than 100 shots on Bloody Sunday, said he had interviewed most of the men in his unit and wrote down a list of 15 engagements.

Mr Mansfield, in his final submission to the Saville Inquiry, said the document was an attempt to cover up the truth by suggesting that those who were shot were terrorists.

“The object was to ensure that the public understood that the (British) army had acted in self-defence. They had to ensure that the public were given a diet of a barrage of materials.

“Not just one or two, a barrage effectively, of an onslaught which they faced as they went into Rossville Street.”

The lawyer said that once the British army had decided to claim that the soldiers had acted in self defence, there was no going back.

“What happened was a series of statements taken from the Royal Military Police which, as you know from the inconsistencies and the statements, was an exercise in which individual soldiers were desperately trying to explain the number of injured and dead.” 



************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates

Charges were also withdrawn in the case of co-accused JOHN BRADY, but the prison has refused to release him, saying that he was a Life sentence prisoner before the 1998 Stormont Treaty releases and that he must now resume that sentence. It is expected that his solicitor will mount a judicial review to seek his release.

Mary Burns recently undertook an eight-day hunger strike at Maghaberry, which was ultimately resolved to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. On arrest last November she refused to give her name and was only named after police searched her apartment for identification.

The Irish Freedom Committee®
************************************************
SUPPORT IRISH REPUBLICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS
Joint the Irish Freedom Committee
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

************************************************
© The Irish Freedom Committee® NewsList - IFC Updates