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RTÉ LAST NIGHT aired Collusion, a documentary which showed the link between loyalist paramilitaries and British security forces.
The documentary provoked calls for an independent inquiry, a demand that London stop shying away from the issue and widespread anger.
If you missed the programme, here’s what we learned:
An RUC unit linked up with loyalist paramilitaries to kill Catholics
John Weir told how he was a member of an RUC unit which colluded with paramilitaries to carry out shootings and bombings members of the Republican community.
If ordinary Catholics were shot, nobody was too worried about it.
The programme also told the stories of a number of victims of murders, including Betty McDonald, murdered in 1976 by a UVF car bomb at the family pub in Armagh. John Weir was involved in that plot, he told the documentary team.
He said that the bomb that killed Betty McDonald was built at a house frequented by British Army and RUC sergeants. A surveillance unit which was watching the farm the night before the bombing was inexplicably withdrawn.
The car used, despite being reported stolen by a serving RUC officer, was never properly investigated by the force.
Lord Stevens, who conducted a decade-long investigation into the RUC said that the scale of leaks from the RUC to paramilitaries was extensive. He said that there was very little done about the leaks, despite a man named as an IRA operative being killed by the UDA.
Sir Hugh Orde, former PSNI chief, said that there was evidence that members of the security forces were operating outside the law.
The British Army knew loyalists had weapons, but “turned a blind eye”
General Harry Tuzo, the head of the British Army knew that the Ulster Defence Association had arms, but decided to “turn a blind eye” to it, according to a declassified document.
This was as long as the weapons were confined to loyalist areas.
Some British figures felt they “had no alternative”
Former Northern Ireland Security Minister Michael Mates said that the British authorities were co-operating with loyalist groups – because they felt that they were fighting the same enemy.
“If the paramilitaries in the Protestant communities want to protect their own communities and are being, I suppose the word is vigilantes, we will turn a blind eye to that.
And I don’t think they had any alternative.
The Ulster Defence Regiment, a locally recruited and predominantly Protestant part of the British Army, was accused of lending equipment to paramilitaries. Sean Donlon, the former Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs said that this accusation had been conveyed to him.
Donlon says he was told by British authorities told him they would only “fight the battle on one front”.
A number of murders were linked to collusion
Former British police commander Dave Cox led a team of detectives in a review of Troubles-related murders. He told the documentary that there were numerous examples of collusion.
There were many examples of involvement by security forces in the commission of terror offences. The provision or loss of weapons to loyalist paramilitaries was at an alarming rate.
“There was a serious problem.”
The Dublin-Monaghan bombs were orchestrated by “bigger men”
The worst atrocity of the Troubles has been linked to the Glennane gang who carried out the bombing on the McDonald’s pub in 1976.
An Irish inquiry into the Dublin-Monaghan bombings found they had likely been planned at the farm. Weir says that “everybody knows who did Dublin-Monaghan”.
“The men who carried out the attacks, a lot of it was retaliation. But there were bigger men behind the scenes. Security forces, army intelligence, special branch who had their own motives.”
The Glennane gang were linked to atrocities, but never stopped
The gang were linked to such atrocities as the Miami Showband massacre, the bombings in Pomeroy and Silverbridge, but they were never stopped.
Former RUC Assistant chief constable Raymond White said that it was “undeniable” that the response was slow.
The response only began when one member ended up on a psychiatric ward and began talking. He and Weir were both sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a Catholic chemist.
White said that “where the RUC could prosecute, we prosecuted”.
Collusion was raised with the British Prime Minister
Both Jack Lynch and Liam Cosgrave directly raised their concerns with British leader Edward Heath. They were assured that it was not the case, but remained sceptical, said Donlon.
Cox says that papers his team had access to show that British authorities show that there was at least concern that UDR weapons were ending up in loyalist hands.
Civil war was a possibility – one that was planned for
Weir says that the British plan was designed knowing that if it was “pushed far enough” it could lead to all-out civil war.
“If there was a civil war, everybody was going to have to take a stand for their own side and there were men willing to do that.
At the end of the day, we had the UDR behind us, we had the guns. We would have confidence that it would be in our favour and we could crush the other side.
Protestants were killed as well
Former PSNI Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan said that when the IRA ceasefire was announced in 1994, a UVF gang in North Belfast kept killing, including killing Protestants.
They were like killing machines.
She says that she was pressured not to report what she had found in 2007 by senior government figures.
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A great deal of the hardship arises from the world’s bully imposing sanctions for decades. They then have the neck to call for freedom.
@Anto Harris: yes yes true
Yes indeed, it always amazes me how people could ever be dissatisfied living under a Communist dictatorship with a very efficient security service who suppress and jail all political opposition and how many Irish people who profess to believe in freedom and democracy see them as ingrates and U.S. dupes for doing so. Funny how Cuba is always great for their holidays but they wouldn’t want to live there! And no, I don’t work for the CIA nor am I on their payroll but if they’re monitoring the Journal comments section then hey, I’m available and I’ve seen all the ‘Bourne’ and ‘Mission Impossible’ movies…
@William Tallon: the US has no moral authority to oppose dictatorships. It has allied with dictatorships for generations. It has allied with some dictatorships only to overthrow them after they have become less useful. The US has supported coups against democracies, and only occasionally against dictatorships, but in the latter only when useful to the US
When it gets involved it’s about power.
@john smith iv: Using that logic then most democratic countries today should just keep quiet about human rights abuses by dictatorships because of their own not too perfect history in that area. You’ve sort of proven my point. You seem to be suggesting that because you believe the US to be morally bankrupt that if it expresses support for people protesting a very repressive dictatorship that automatically makes those protesting extremely suspect and probably US agents or dupes. The bottom line is either you believe Cuba to be a repressive dictatorship and you support the right of its people to demand freedom and democracy or you don’t. I support them. I support freedom and democracy for all people even those in the US…
@William Tallon: I didn’t say “most democratic countries” now did I. That’s your straw man editorialising. I said the US. Nor did I say the protestors were dupes, you inferred that. The bottom line is that US has no moral authority to demand the end of dictatorships it disagrees with while propping up or supporting dictatorships or feudal kingdoms like Saudi Arabia.
@john smith iv: You’re perfectly correct, I mentioned them by way of contextualising and illustrating my point. No ‘strawman’ argument or editorialising. You’ve missed my point or as I think is more likely ignored it. I’ve made what I consider a totally logical inference by the way given your obvious and single-minded antipathy towards all things US which I think has affected you ability to make any sort of unbiased and meaningful point in relation to the current situation in Cuba. You still haven’t said whether you support the right of people in Cuba to protest and demand freedom and democracy. Your silence is interesting…
@William Tallon: well said man.
@William Tallon: When one looks at Cuba it’s unfair to compare the system to European democracies. When Castro took power in Cuba the vast majority of the population was illiterate and extremely impoverished with no medical system. Now illiteracy has practically been wiped out with a high standard of education for all, the medical system is one of the best in the world(despite American pharmaceutical being unable to supply it) and the vast majority of Cubans are happy with the political system despite the shortages they have to endure, mostly because of U.S. sanctions. When one compares life in Cuba to the rest of Latin America one can see the true progress it has made since the revolution . Why are the U.S. soo afraid to lift the sanctions?
@john smith iv: The US doesn’t need moral authority. It’s authority comes from the fact that it spends dollars and blood to exert whatever influence it deems necessary to achieve it’s goals. I am surprised they didn’t take care of Cuba when the Soviet Union fell. They missed the easiest opportunity then, but they are free to deal with Cuba now in whatever way they see fit.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell not urge the US to end the sanctions that are arguably the main cause of the economic crisis and shortages. Pretty hard to be prosperous when living under crippling sanctions.
Why does the ….
Ah ya its not like the US have ever interfered in Cuban affairs…. The whole bay of pigs fiasco… The fact Guantanamo bay is held hostage by the US. Castro has survived 634 assination attempts by all accounts…. Then there was the whole USAID sponsored social media outlet run by the CIA. I think I;ll finish with the yearly UN vote to lift US sanctions on Cuba that every nation is the world voted for except the US and Israel…..
The Yanks have been waiting to pounce and put a puppet government in Cuba for the past 60 years.
From Wikipedia.
1952 – 1959 the dictator Batista seized power with support from the United States. Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. He placed most of the main industries including the sugar industry in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. He negotiated lucrative relationships both with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts.
Rebels finally ousted Batista on 31 December 1958. Brutal US sanctions followed which are still active today.
Here’s Cuba, shows how dysfunctional it is, why people protest: https://youtu.be/wcseyA2aL8k?t=63
@David Jordan: just some guy walking around shops
@David Jordan: wanting Wexford strawberries in winter
@john smith iv: Is that really all you can garner from that video?
@Alan Watt: Yes because nappies, toilet rolls and ballcocks are seasonal….
@David Jordan: Wouldn’t be so bad if the US would lift the pointless sanctions they’ve been under since long before the Cold War ended. There was a vote to lift the sanctions recently, only two nations voted against, the USA and Israel… Over 180 voted to lift sanctions, that says it all.
@Alan Watt: “wanting Wexford strawberries in winter”
That is very intensive, once of the people interviewed was traveling around Cuba trying to find chemotherapy drugs for his son who has cancer.
@David Jordan: If Europe imposed sanctions here, we wouldn’t be far off that
I guess some influencal sectors of a near by nation wants their casinos and brothels back again.
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