Window dressing. They still think these things can be swept under the rug, or at worst dealt with by some token action intended to fool the public. Typical centuries-old attitude of the British towards the Irish.
10
This is just like selecting one camp guard who happens to still be alive to take the blame for all the atrocities that occurred in German concentration camps.
3
The British government has the same sympathy and respect for the Irish people that the US imperial State has for the people of Venezuela. . . . Colonial populations are always expendable. . . .
3
British defense secretary, Gavin Williamson issued a statement praising the soldiers who served in Northern Ireland and confirmed the soldier being prosecuted would receive full support including legal costs. Not a word for the families who had their lives torn apart. He must be aware that the British government have accepted the findings of the saville inquiry; Those shot were doing nothing wrong. The soldiers opening fire, were not justified.
16
correction: bloody Sunday took place in Derry.
12
let's not forget, not only was 1 Para at the center of the Derry Bloody Sunday massacre, they were also at the heart of the Ballymurphy massacre in August 1971 where they killed 11 citizens.
5
The key takeaways from this articles should be that the British security forces continue to escape accountability for their criminal actions in NI. One glaring mistake in the article was the description of Lord Widgery merely as a former soldier. He may well have been a soldier but when he issued his whitewash he was the Lord Chief Justice, roughly equivalent to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Savile Report, begun in 1998 and published in 2010, utterly demolished Widgery's but no prosecutions resulted. With minimal diligence the author or an editor could easily have described Widgery properly which would provide important context as to how far the Britsh security establishment could go to cover up their crimes.
The Bloody Sunday incident, and its coverup at the highest levels of the British military, political and legal establishment, was the key inflection point in the nationalist community for turning civil disobedience into "The Troubles" and a major catalyst for the growth of the IRA. Why did it take 9 years post-Saville to get to this point? Because the British security establishment will go to any lengths to protect itself.
13
Terribly late but also absolutely necessary.
The British state, just like the US empire, has a long and dishonourable tradition of denying its wrongs and, when that becomes unsustainable, delaying facing the issue for as long as possible.
After decades of obstruction and deceit this quest for accountability will hopefully rebuke the culture of impunity in the army.
I hope this is just the start and maybe the US will also eventually become a country of lawfulness again when she puts their war criminals, from Henry Kissinger, Bush W, Cheney, Rumsfeld to Obama and Hillary on trial for their horrific crimes. Not holding my breath.
3
As an undergraduate law student in the late 1980’s , I first came across the concept of “ in the public interest to prosecute “. I also was schooled in the competing arguments associated with prosecuting elderly nazis , decades after their egregious wrong-doing . Instinctively , I concluded that criminal trials , many years after the subject of complaint , were unfair and therefore wrong . Almost 30 years after beginning practice as a lawyer, I am more convinced of this fact than ever . The British Army committed a multitude of crimes in my country . These include , in scores of instances , murder . Less than 5 members of the military were ever convicted of murder , and when they were, their sentences were not fully served and they were re-admitted to the ranks of their previous command . This was corrupt , cynical and the antithesis of the rule of law . Yet Irish nationalists were compelled to simply endure this manifest injustice . I weigh these sentiments gravely . But , as I first concluded, little will ever be achieved- legally, societally , politically - by bringing the old and infirm before the courts to stand trial . This rationale should apply to all former combatants .
3
What about the findings from the Saville inquiry (in terms of evidence)?
"The Saville inquiry found testimony by Lance Corporal J and two other soldiers — who testified that they had opened fire on men they believed to be armed — to be 'knowingly untrue.' The three soldiers were believed to be involved in the deaths of Michael McDaid, 20, William Nash, 19, and John Young, 17.
“'We are sure that these soldiers fired either in the belief that no one in the areas toward which they respectively fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat,' the report found."
from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/world/europe/bloody-sunday-massacre-arrest-northern-ireland.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer
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@cmk
My understanding is soldiers gave evidence to the Saville inquiry on the understanding it could not be used in any future prosecution.
If Parliament can't get their act together and deal with the Brexit nonsense, prepare for more of this. The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland will be bombed and mined once more.
3
A recent book: "Say Nothing". Highly recommended.
7
Well, it's "Derry" to some of us.
15
@RB not for much longer.
another book to read: Those are Real Bullets, Aren't They" Also watch the movie, Bloddy Sunday.
why was British One Para using live ammunition when the normal protocol was for rubber bullets?
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@bored critic Yes, the "Real Bullets" book is especially valuable in that it contains so many contemporaneous sources.
In my opinion, the paras were using live bullets for sport. British government's attitudes to NI working class Catholics then were comparable to those of police depts in the rural American South toward African Americans at that time.
The Provisional IRA emerged because NI police and Brit military not only failed to protect NI Catholics but actually perpetrated harassment and violence against them. Then all hell broke loose.
7
@cmk-- you're correct, it was for sport. and because Maggie Thatcher was fed up and frustrated with NI Catholics and the IRA. let's not forget that 1 Para was also at the heart of the Ballymurphy massacre in August 1971 where they killed 11 citizens.
4
Someday, perhaps not in my lifetime, the British government may at last do the right thing and give Northern Ireland back to the Irish. It will no way make up for the famine that killed tens of thousands and led even more to flee there home country while English landowners exported tons of grain and livestock overseas rather than feeding the Irish masses who they viewed as subhuman. Nor will it make up for the years of discrimination and violent repression of Irish Catholics for a century or more in Northern Ireland. I am not so naive as to blame the entire United Kingdom for such tragedies as the record of the upper ruling classes treatment of their own working class was only slightly better. Prosecuting one soldier for the misdeeds of an entire nation seems like scapegoating, when what he did occurred on a regular basis, if not by British soldiers then by Protestant Paramilitary groups sanctioned by the British Government and the IRA which was not. The Scottish and Welch seemingly have the right to self determination, but the Irish living in Northern Ireland have no such right and their continued subjugation is just one more stain on the British Empire.
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@George
What about the Unionist? They're not just going to go away. There's got to be a way to paper over the radicalism of the gun and the bomb. Nobody is going to win if it goes back to that.
5
Northern Ireland already belongs to the Irish. Being Irish is a broader construct than being Catholic, the majority of Northern Ireland are Protestants who desire a continued relationship with Great Britain. Northern Ireland has a devolved government within the United Kingdom, just as Scotland and Wales do. The island of Ireland has rarely been united, except under British rule, the North is broadly coextensive with the old kingdom of Ulster, one of four traditional kingdoms, there is little historical precedent to suggest that a united Ireland is a natural construct.
3
I'm a bit shocked to read that the British government has decided to prosecute a single soldier for events that occurred 50 years ago. (Scapegoat?) On the one hand I can understand the need for justice for the innocents killed - as I understand it, it's widely accepted now that the crowd did nothing to provoke or warrant the use of deadly force. On the other hand, I'd like to know what type of training the soldiers had and what were their rules of engagement - obviously, it wasn't one or two soldiers who fired on the crowd, so it seems that it was done in accordance with a widely understood policy. To put a single soldier on trial seems to avoid putting the chain of command on trial.
9
@tjm--this military unit was One Para. they were elite commandos, the equivalent of Seal Team Six. they were the most highly trained unit in the British military.
3
The soldier in question is described in the Saville Report as having killed several protestors, including walking up to a wounded protester lying on the ground and killing them from close range. There were a lot of witnesses, and it's a lot more clear cut. I imagine the prosecution services feel there's enough evidence to potentially secure a conviction here, unlike the other soldiers involved.
As for it being 47 years ago, we didn't stop hunting Nazis after 47 years, so why should this soldier not face justice also?
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@bored critic
this is nonsense, the paras are an elite regiment but are closer to the rangers than the seals... The SAS and the SBS are the special units
2
One person is singled out for prosecution? Of 18?
A half-century later?
Gives fresh meaning to the folkwisdom
JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
9
During the Peace Process, some of the most deranged murderers in human history were set free, part of the price we paid for peace in Ulster. Senior leaders of brutal terrorist organizations from both sides of the conflict were given seats at the highest levels of government and forgiven for their heinous crimes. Every citizen of Northern Ireland was injured by the conflict in some way, but we agreed that it was more important to have peace and move on than to nurse past grievances. There’s no real path to justice to be found here, but we had to have peace.
Northern Ireland is facing major challenges today, including Brexit, corruption, and the dysfunction of our regional government. Be very suspicious of anyone who stirs up past conflicts now.
8
@Eve Gourley: Your clasification of the people in the war in the North as "deranged murderers" is inappropriate.
You seem to ignore the fact that too many British politicians, past and present, were never called to account for their behaviour.
Additionally, I do not understand how you ignore that the leaders of the various factions were there for a reason. There was no-one else that they felt represented them.
I think Martin Mcguiness and Ian Paisley showed exactly what can be achieved when everyone is prepared to move forward to common goals.
However, particularly on the side of the DUP, that willingness seems to have "died" with the passing of Rev. Paisley.
I remember a speech by Michael D. Higgins a few years back, in which he admonished the British for thier lack of a memory(and responsibilty) and the Irish for being unable or unwilling to forget.
In the bigger context of the history of Ireland, the lack of memory of the British is the "heinous crime". Forgiving is one thing, forgetting is another.
I share your wish for the entire Ireand (and the UK in general) to move forward. I do not see that happening just yet, but Ireland has overcome bigger challenges that the current ones.
10
@Eve Gourley "Be very suspicious of anyone who stirs up past conflicts now." In the case of the gummint (any gummint), wise words. In the case of the families of the slain, hardly. To seek justice is, particularly when the longer of the two inquiries (12 years!) seemed for all that time and effort (and which occurred much closer in time to the event) handily to have been able to pinpoint which individuals and which command structure was at fault, in what proportion and what for, in the debacle.
3
Soldiers with guns in the presence of unarmed protesting citizens should always be held to the very highest standard of conduct. They are not individuals only. Their uniforms and powers officially represent the government's commitments.
If armed soldiers fail to recognize or uphold justice, it is the government that has failed, and which must be held responsible, however long it takes.
Trying one soldier is clearly not enough to restore justice, but it is at least one step in that direction.
18
The protesters on that occasion may well have been unarmed, but based on recent events the soldiers deployed that day could reasonably have expected to meet armed resistance.
3
You send young kids with guns and life ammunition but without riot control experience into a situation like this and then act surprised that people get killed? Joking, right? Will anyone higher up in the chain of command be prosecuted?
12
@gvn--the military unit in question was not "a bunch of kids with guns". it was One Para. an elite commando unit, the equivalent of Seal Team Six. they were the most highly trained unit in the British military at that time.
8
@bored critic
1st Bn Parachute Regiment is certainly not akin to Seal Team Six. The airborne are (or were) shock infantry, utilising speed and aggression to destroy an enemy - or at least an ‘enemy’ as defined by HM Govt. Look to the Falklands War, at Goose Green and Mt Longdon, for examples of the modern (70’s - 80’s anyway) Parachute Regiment. They were shock infantry, like I guess the Rangers or Marines. Some are professionals, some are regulars paying the bills, some are violent individuals.
Seal Team Six, like Delta Force, is an elite special forces formation more like the British SAS or SBS. Neither of those units would ever be employed to police a demonstration.
(Incidentally 3rd Battalion have been implicated in the alleged shooting dead of an Argentine PoW and the mutilation of Argentinean dead on Mt Longdon. But it had a cursory investigation and came to nothing in the early 90’s).
But characterising them as “young kids” may be a bit naive. Sure, some were technically young - but within a hyper-masculine regimental culture with a hardened espirit-de-corps, rituals, uncompromising aggression and which despises all outsiders, be it civilian or regiment, as inferiors.
In a straight war they are people you want on your side. Acting as a peacekeeping/police type unit in a confusing counter-insurgency conflict that needs tact, sensitivity and cultural awareness? Absolutely no way. Whoever sent them there also needs to face charges for it.
5
Picking one scapegoat paratrooper to charge is a sick joke. The whole world knows that this was an atrocity with many authors, all but one of whom will never face charges. The British Empire is still unwilling to acknowledge the extent of its crimes in Ireland. Tory and Unionist politicians still proclaim that British troops were on a peacekeeping mission when they worked hand in bloody glove with Loyalist death squads to keep six Irish counties in the United Kingdom. The only Brexit I want to see is the exit of British troops and security forces from England's oldest colony.
29
I, too, am reading "Say Nothing." While I am old enough to remember these awful events as The Troubles occurred, only now am I realizing the toll that this took on a nation and perhaps more importantly, individuals and families such as the Mc Convilles. When will humanity awaken to realize that war, declared or otherwise, solves nothing?
7
This reads like the Kent State shootings a couple years earlier. Peaceful protestors killed by armed troops and the blame is initially placed on the protestors. The wounds from these two events are still fresh for many.
9
@Dave Bruns A more apt view was reportedly expressed by a regular Army general who reviewed the matter (the soldiers were Ohio Nat'l Guard troops, not regulars): "what did you expect when you had a bunch of draft dodgers facing a bunch of draft dodgers?" Apparently, the Brits on Bloody Sunday were elite forces, the very opposite of the Ohio troops.
2
I believe we have a similar issue over here, over the failure to try any of the National Guard soldiers for killing unarmed students at Kent State.
Sending young men (boys) into a tense situation with live ammunition is not a good policy. There has to be a better way to control crowds than shooting and killing them. That's how they react in Iraq, or Saudi Arabia. It shouldn't be the same in western democracies.
6
@WesTex Speaking as a veteran, if I am to face a mob of protesters, privileged perfumed college drunks/dopers high on weed or self-induced antiwar morality, or hoodie street urchin at-risk youth high on crack or BLM self-induced morality, I would prefer live ammo, thank you armchair moralist. Recall the guardpost sentries in Lebanon where a truck bomb was able to get through because, to avoid trouble, command had forbid live ammo to the sentries (which is not usual). Sure, maybe the truck would not have been stopped, but then again maybe it would have, and 241 Marines would not have died. One thing is sure; to guarantee the bomber/mob/rioters' success, disarm your troops. Lesson learned.
2
I am of Irish descent, and visit the north and the south of Ireland regularly, for vacation, business and to meet family.
The ongoing mistrust between both parts of the divided island as well as the ongoing underlying animosity in the north is both obvious and painful.
The lack of commitment from both sides in the North to find compromises is understandable from their limited viewpoint, but I believe that the hardline position of the DUP related to Brexit is directly (sadly) related to the hardline position of Sinn Fein. I am a member and supporter of Sinn Fein but I believe their strategy to be wrong in not getting back into government at Stormont.
The approach of the British government has not improved since the Conservatives took power, and this kind of result and process in dealing with the deaths in Derry so long ago, will add more mistrust, cause more feelings of resentment and prolong the inevitable reunification, with all the associated issues.
I doubt that the current British government is intelligent enough to understand that, or perhaps simply incapable. The preoccupation of the Parliament with themselves will cost all UK citizens dearly - for many many years.
But most of all, it will cost the people of the North of Ireland dearly.
6
Better late than never.
1
@Walter McCarthy Pith good.
A good article on a very long painful story. Highly recommend reading "Say Nothing" which is a first hand account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and is currently on the NYTs best seller list.
6
@TVM So glad you recommended it, I'm reading "Say Nothing" now and can't put it down! Shock, horror, heartbreak. If you go to Belfast and speak with the people there, so many say the pain is deep. They feel betrayed and heartbroken still. England should apologize.
9
@meo--Britain needs to let NI go. especially now with Brexit.
3
@bored critic I don't think it's quite the story that the Brits won't let go, it's that the Northern Protestants won't let them. Be that as it may, I wondered if Brexit proceeds (with the latest vote, who knows?) if there isn't an opportunity for the Irish, supposedly sooo clever at outfoxing their city cousins across the Irish Sea, to seek unification along these lines: if the North wants to stay in the EU (and if that balances the opposed benefits of staying in the UK), then why not unify, and get the Wogs in Bruxelles to pay for it or to make up the difference. And if the EU don't go along if this plan gathers momentum, perhaps the IRA and Loyalist militia could pool forces (they know who each other are I assure you) and start a bombing campaign in Brussels to, ahem, persuade them. Now there's an Irishman's fantasy.
Not knowing anything about the relatives of those killed in the massacre, they appear in the photograph to be doing well in a general sense. I can imagine that the struggles of their relatives had some to do with that. And that their sacrifice was not in vain.
1