Showing posts with label DIRTY WAR. Show all posts

Monday, 27 April 2015

IRISH GUINEA PIGS

"A knock on the door! In the early hours of the morning. A splintered lock and armed men break into your home. They are military and police. You are dragged from your bed. Jail or internment camp? No charge. No trial. This has been the pattern in Ireland, North and South, for almost 100 years.

It is the story of internment; of the thousands of men and women who have been subjected to it; of the conditions, the brutality the escapes and the politics of it all. From Frongoch to long Kesh, Mountjoy to the Curragh. From the hulk of theArgenta to HMS Maidstone..."...Maghabury!

In Ireland, Political Internment without trial or by remand, has been going on for almost 100 years, right up to the present day, along with censorship, it is the primary instrument, to silence Free Speech and the Traditional Voice of Irish Republicanism, since the foundation of the two Scum States by Brtain in Ireland, after the overwhelming majority of Ireland had voted for a United Democratic Republic, in the wake of the Easter Rsing of 1916. Those who exercise their right to Free Speech, in the Irish Republcan tradition, have been interned, in every generation, up to the present moment. Below is an account of the Irish Guineapigs, tortured in experiments, conducted by the British, in the test laboratory of British Dirty War in Occupied Ireland, later used in counter insurgency operations, mentored and overseen by the British, in places like Abu Graib.

‘The Guineapigs’ by John McGuffin (1974, 1981)

The Guineapigs

by John McGuffin (1974, 1981)

Originally published in London by Penguin Books, 1974. Paperback, 192 pp. Out of Print.
2nd edition Minuteman Press, San Francisco, 1981. Paperback, 75 pp. Out of Print.

The first edition by Penguin sold 20,000 copies and was banned after one week by the British government and Reginald Maudling. The 2nd edition in 1981 updated the fate of the victims and named the torturers, but omitted two chapters from the original edition.
A complete compilation of both editions is now here available for the first time. Feel free to download these pages, but if you decide to do so we would like to ask you to make a donation to Irish Resistance Books, in order that IRB can publish further works. (Note: We are not in receipt of any grants or Art Council funding.)
You may not edit, adapt, or redistribute changed versions of this for other than your personal use without the express written permission. Redistribution for commercial purposes is not permitted.
From the back cover (2nd edition):

The Guineapigs in the title were fourteen Irish political prisoners on whom the British Army experimented with sensory deprivation torture in 1971. These 'techniques' are now outlawed, following Britain's conviction at the International Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, but have been exported and used by Britain's allies throughout the world. This book first appeared in 1974, published by Penguin Books in London. It sold out on its first print run and was then abruptly taken off the market following pressure from the British Government.

In Ireland in 1971 there was deliberate and careful use of modern torture techniques, not merely to get information but to perfect the system of Sensory Deprivation for use against civilians. The author, an ex-internee himself spent two years researching the book following his release from Crumlin Road jail where he had been held without charge or trial. In this new edition he is at last able to name the torturers and those responsible for this sordid episode in British Imperial history. No member of the British Army or the Royal Ulster Constabulary has ever been convicted of torture or brutality to prisoners, although the Government has been forced to pay out over $5 million in compensation to torture victims.

This re-issue of 'The Guineapigs' is dedicated to the blanket men in Long Kesh concentration camp and the women political prisoners in Armagh jail. 'Na reabhloidi Abu.'

Acknowledgements

This book could not have been written without the active help and advice of many people. Firstly I must thank the 'guineapigs' themselves, and in particular Jim Auld, Pat Shivers and Paddy Joe Mc Clean. A large debt is also owed to the Association for Legal Justice, Amnesty International (and in particular Richard Reoch) and the British Society for Social Responsibility in the Sciences. For help on the medical and psychological aspects of SD I am particularly indebted to Dr. Tim Shallice of the National Hospital and Dr. Pearse O'Malley of Belfast.

As for the rest, many have preferred that they remain anonymous, but special thanks must go to Judy Smith, Frank Doherty, Johnathan Rosenhead, Kevin Boyle, Hurst Hannum, Father Denis Faul, Margaret Gatt, Ian Franklin, Eamonn Kerr, Billy Close, Joe Quigley, Noelle, Hugh, Judith and, of course, R. W. Grimshaw. I am grateful to Gil Boehringer for permission to use part of his work for Appendix I.

Finally, I must thank Marie for her typing and Fra for putting up with it all.

JOHN McGUFFIN
Belfast, February 1974

Preface

Torture and brutality – or 'ill-treatment' as Sir Edmund Compton would prefer to call it – are as old as war itself. Mankind has expended centuries of research in trying to devise newer and more bestial ways of extracting information from reluctant witnesses or causing lingering and painful deaths.

The purpose of this book, however, is not to deal with torture in general. It is specific. It deals with the treatment meted out to fourteen Irishmen by the British 'security forces' in the period from August to October 1971. It is not written to show that this treatment was more barbaric than that practised by the British Army upon hundreds of other Irish internees/ detainees/ political prisoners since 1969 nor upon the victims of the ten colonial actions undertaken by the British since the Second World War. Instead it is an attempt to show how these men were selected as unwilling and unwitting subjects upon whom Army psychiatrists, psychologists and 'counter-terrorist strategists' could experiment in that particular field known as 'SD' – Sensory Deprivation. That the experiment was a dismal failure, both from a military and a propaganda point of view, mattered little to the men in the War Office. Worse still, the fact that several of the men used were literally driven out of their minds and still today, over two years later, suffer from severe mental traumas which they will carry with them to the grave has evoked not a shred of remorse, admission of guilt, or apology, let alone an attempt at recompense – though how do you give a man back his mental health? – from the 'mother of parliaments'. This book is an attempt to tell these men's story, the story of the 'guineapigs'.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: 'Ill-Treatment' – A Brief History

Chapter 2: What is Sensory Deprivation?

Chapter 3: The Swoop – The First Forty-eight Hours

Chapter 4: The Experiment

Chapter 5: The Compton Report

Chapter 6: Replay

Chapter 7: Parker: Cover-up MK2

Chapter 8: The After-effects

Chapter 9: Down on the Killing Floor

Chapter 10: Postscript – Torture in the World Today

Tailpiece

Afterword

Appendix I: Memorandum of Modest Proposals for Preventing the
Spread of Torture and Ill-treatment in Northern Ireland

Appendix II: Proposed Draft for a UN Resolution on a
Convention on Torture and the Treatment of Prisoners

Friday, 20 March 2015

CHILD RAPE DIRTY WAR BLACKMAIL IN BRITISH OCCUPIED IRELAND

Dead men don't talk, neither do dead women or dead children. They often became disappeared, in the British Dirty War in Occupied Ireland. The hidden facts around child rape, are meant to determine the political outcome of the troubles and long war in Ireland. Machiavellian tactics, justified in the name of a Pseudo Peace Process, disguising Occupation. Knowledge is power and the British Intelligence community, principally MI5, are witholding that knowledge, secret, ensuring they remain the Principal powebrokers, not just in Ireland but also, it would appear to be the case within the British Establishment. Gathering Intelligence is but one facet of their exercise. Entrapment and creating State Terror is another. Connecting the dots and utilizing it, is the principal. Under the British Official Secrets Act, this knowledge is meant to be made public, after thirty years, this apparently does not apply to Occupied Ireland, so you will have to connect the dots yourself, from the considerable information now emerging, from whistleblowers and victims. Politicians and journalists around both Westminster and Stormont are starting to get nervous, their body language betrays them.

One does not have to be particularly bright, to realize, that the British Establishment and Intelligence Community, are waiting for all of the main players and particpant's in their Dirty War in Ireland, to die, before they concoct their own version of events, like they did in the instance of the Irish Holocaust. Yesterday another of the tortured "Hooded Men", Gerry McKerr, died. He was one of the "Guineapigs' of torture experiments, later used in places like Abu Graib. Like many other techniques experimented on, in Ireland, they were later used in Empire building, around the World. Child Rape, Child abuse and political blackmail, being others, among many. The account of Gerry's experience, is at the bottom of th page, because it is a seperate issue. The link immediately below this article, reveals, significant emerging details, that is tightening the noose around padeophile politicians in particular. Again, please share, because this material is being hidden and slowed with intranets. Please campaign for the Kincora Home, to be part of the investigation, with relevant Intelligence material, to be a compulsory part of evidence, which demands an immediate public Inquiry, before all relevant people die. Check the link below for details.

What did police know about historic child sex offences Link

A former Army officer has said any new investigation of the Kincora Boys' Home must have access to information from intelligence agencies.

Colin Wallace tried to draw attention to sexual abuse at the east Belfast home in the 1970s.

He said if the home is included in a UK-wide investigation into abuse, then the terms of any inquiry into what happened must be widened.

In 1981, three senior care staff at the home were jailed for abusing 11 boys.

It has been claimed that people of the "highest profile" were connected.

Mr Wallace received intelligence in 1973 to say that boys were being abused, but claims some of his superiors refused to pass on the information.

"I know that some officers from the security services in Northern Ireland did know and actually reprimanded intelligence officers from raising the matter and also told them they were to desist from any further investigation," he told the BBC's Sunday Sequence programme.

Mr Wallace said two previous inquiries which looked at Kincora - the Terry Inquiry and the Hughes Inquiry - did not examine evidence relating to the intelligence services.

"My evidence, and the evidence of other people, was ruled out, because those inquiries quite clearly, and indeed, we know now specifically and deliberately, ruled out the role of the intelligence services," he said.

"The evidence that I was willing to give to previous inquiries, from the Official Secrets point of view I couldn't do that because that was not within the terms of those inquiries.

"If there is going to be any way of moving this forward, the government - and David Cameron has said no stone will be unturned - must make sure that any information, held anywhere by any agency will be made available.

"But of course the problem is, I know from my own personal experience, that those files have long since disappeared."

'Truth may never be known'

Mr Wallace said he doubted the full truth would ever be known about Kincora.

"I don't want to be pessimistic and I genuinely hope that there will be a major effort now to bring closure, now that we know more about abuses on a national scale," he said.

"But I have to say, based on my own personal experience, I really doubt that very much (that the full truth will ever be known)."

Colin Wallace is a former Army information officer

Kincora victims, politicians, former police officers and campaign groups have all called for Kincora to be included in a UK-wide investigation into abuse.

The chair of Northern Ireland's Historical Instorical Abuse Inquiry, Sir Anthony Hart, has said it "does not have sufficient powers" to investigate some of the allegations relating to Kincora.

'Terrible abuses'

On Friday, NI First Minister Peter Robinson said the terms of reference for the UK's abuse inquiry should include Kincora.

"I want to see a full investigation into the terrible abuses which occurred in Kincora," he said.

"Having received this communication from Sir Anthony, it is clear that the proper route to fully investigate the abuse at Kincora Boys' Home is to have it included in our United Kingdom's Child Abuse Inquiry."

An Conradh Ceilteach

STATEMENT FROM HOODED MEN CAMPAIGN

It is with great regret that I announce the death of Gerry McKerr from Lurgan.

Gerry was one of the original “Hooded Men” and had been active in the Republican movement, since the mid 1960s.

Gerry was arrested and interned on Monday the 9th of August 1971.Early on the morning of 11th August Gerry and the others were hooded and handcuffed, bundled into a truck where they were kicked and beaten, and brought to a helicopter.

After a flight of 30-60 minutes, they were pulled out of the helicopter, beaten and put into another vehicle, which brought them to RAF Ballykelly.

At RAF Ballykelly, Gerry’s hood was tightened and he was beaten badly before being taken into a room with a noise similar to “a constant roar of steam escaping a valve from a steam boiler.”

He was given another physical examination, stripped, and issued a pair of army overalls that were far too small. He was put into the search position against the wall, his feet bare on a slippery floor.

After a period of time, he was no longer able to hold himself up, fell and passed out. He awoke while being beaten around the kidneys. This pattern continued for days.

Gerry was eventually given a pair of boots and taken back to a helicopter, beaten all the way. He was transported to a place where he was served with internment papers; he felt some sense of relief that although the beatings continued, he was no longer subjected to the wall-standing and other techniques.

At Ballykelly, the torture continued. Gerry found it much more difficult to keep track of time. The interrogations became much more violent, as he was threatened, abused and insulted each time before being taken back to what he began to refer to as the “music room.”

He was told that he would never see his wife and children again if he did not cooperate. I recall Gerry telling me, his thoughts at the time were “Hell dare not be like this,”

After several days, Gerry was finally allowed to sleep, given a meal, and permitted to wash up before being taken to Crumlin Gaol.

At the Gaol, all of the men experienced an air of jubilation that they were still alive and free of the torture. Gerry called it “an absolute high.” In mid-October 1971, the Hooded Men were transferred from Crumlin Road to Long Kesh internment camp, where Gerry served as OC.

Gerrard McKerr was released from Long Kesh in 1975. The last year of his interment he was sick, developing a number of lumps on his neck for which he was given antibiotics.
Upon his release, he was diagnosed with lymphoma.

Two years later, his wife called him to the door; there were some men who were looking for him. Gerry, sensing trouble, grabbed the first man and slammed the door; the second man fired a gun through the door, hitting Gerry in the abdomen and groin area.

He believed the perpetrators were members of the Glenanne gang, to which nearly 90 murders in the Armagh area were attributed, including those of the Miami Showband.

Six weeks later, when he was getting ready to take his children to school, Gerry found a bomb planted beneath his car. Gerry moved his family from their home to a new house in the town.

I was with Gerry the moment we received the news the Irish government would request the European courts reopen the case of the Hooded Men. He was delighted and said “Justice, finally we will get justice”.

I will ensure that Gerry will receive justice. The case will continue in his honour.

Our thoughts are with his wife Eileen and children at this sad time.

Jim McIlmurray
Case Coordinator
The Hooded Men

The late Gerry McKerr

Tuesday, 10 March 2015

BBC COMPLICIT IN 9/11 TERRORISM

Tony Rooke refused to pay a TV license fee because the BBC intentionally lied about the facts of the 9/11 attacks, when they reported the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7, more than 20 minutes before it happened.This means they had prior knowledge about the attacks and are therfore complicit in terrorism. WTC 7 a 47-story skyscraper was not hit by a plane on 9/11 but collapsed in free-fall speed later. By paying for your TV licence, you are funding terrorism, which makes you liable for imprisonment for the rest of your life and complicit in the murder of innocent people.

Tony Rooke said the BBC must have had prior knowledge of a terror attack, making them complicit in the attack. He presented BBC footage to the judge along with a considerable amount of other evidence which the judge agreed, made a reasonable case to protest. Tony Rooke was found not guilty and was not fined for failure to pay the BBC licensing fee.

The September 11 attacks, resulted in 2,996 immediate deaths: 2,977 victims and the 19 hijackers. A total of 372 people with non-U.S. citizenship died in the attacks, 2,606 in theWorld Trade Center and on the ground, with 125 killed at the Pentagon. Around 292 people were killed at street level by burning debris and falling bodies of those who had jumped or fallen from the World Trade Center's windows. More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Most of those who died were U.S. citizens. The other countries with the highest losses, are the United Kingdom with 67, the Dominican Republic with 47, India with 41 and just two Irish citizens.

Since then Paedophile associates of the BBC, have been spreading rumours, that the IRA were involved, to distract from BBC ivolvement in the crime. A Sinn Fein MP was asked by families of missing Irish to intervene, who confirmed later, that one Irishman had been found. The BBC Paedos, rumoured that an undocumented Irish worker, using false identification, narrowly escaped, who stated afterwards, that he saw many undocumented Irish construction workers, going up to higher floors on ladders, the morning the buildings came down, suggesting that the IRA had dynamited the buildings.

After 45 years of BBC propaganda, about the troubles in Ireland, Irish people are well used to BBC bullscutter.The moral of this story is; don't pay your BBC licence, otherwise you are funding terrorism and you are guilty of funding British Dirty War. Gerry Adams has since stated, that Sinn Fein are good for business, so we can all safely assume, they would never interfere with American Corporate business or the World Trade Centre.

Monday, 9 March 2015

KITSONIAN SINN FEIN COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY COLLABORATION

Part of the Kitsonian manual of British Dirty War in Ireland, includes using the courts and detention system, as part of the process of criminalizing and isolating Irish POWs in Maghaberry, from their communities' struggle on the outside, and also isolating them from their leadership within the prison system. This was part of what led up to the death of 10 hunger strikers previously, but yet again Sinn Fein are also abusing the current POWs, for political expediency. The admission recently of events explained, in part of the statement from IRPWA below, demonstrates this. It also demonstrates, that the loyalist DUP are politicizing the treatment of POWs, while Sinn Fein, who are also part of the Stormont Junta, appear to be enabling it. Juan Mendez of the UN, needs to be contacted, regarding this breach of Human Rights, by both Sinn Fein and the DUP Junta. Sinn Fein seems to have a very short memory, about the treatment of Irish POWs, or perhaps yet again, they would prefer airbrush all of these facts, from the current political landscape, with their British illusion of normalization.

"During meetings with Tom McGonigle he has, like so many others, largely agreed with our analysis; he even went so far as to state: “…there is political interference by the DUP”, and that, “…the situation is political”. David Ford, and a spokeswoman for the Ombudsman’s office, further declared that there are Staff working within the gaol that are directly answering to the NIO and the Secretary of State (Irish News 17-02-15) and not to the Jail Administration. Contextually, these are euphemisms for MI5. Neither could answer as to whether they had oversight of such staff. Such recognition of MI5 interference should certainly have led to the Ombudsman’s office issuing a public statement of outrage, yet Tom McGonigle seems indifferent. As a consequence, Republican prisoners in Roe House are being persecuted by faceless ‘staff’. The presence of these unaccountable NIO/MI5 personnel, and their malign influence, has been ignored by the Ombudsman’s office for far too long."

Know the Enemy

By Jon Taylor
March 08, 2015 "ICH" - "Dissident Voice"
A terrorist is someone
who opposes the dictates of imperialism;
an extremist is someone who defends
his country against foreign invasion.
A radical is someone
who takes democracy seriously;
an anarchist is someone who gets beaten
and arrested at a street rally.
An Islamofascist is someone
who gets the goat of a Christofascist;
An anti-Semite is someone who condemns
the genocide of the Palestinian people.
A political fanatic is someone
who challenges the mainstream consensus;
a traitor is someone who refuses to fight
in wars of criminal aggression.

Statement from Roe 4 Republican Prisoners 8/3/15

Prisoner Ombudsman and Prison Oversight Bodies are Paper Tigers.

From its inception in 2005, Republican Political Prisoners in Roe House have been zealously engaging the office of the Prisoner Ombudsman in an effort to resolve serious issues of concern. We have found that the Prisoner Ombudsman is at times weak and is used by the Jail administration as afaçade of accountability. We have regularly used its complaints systems, as well as multiple meetings with former Prisoner Ombudsman Pauline McCabe and the current Prisoner Ombudsman Tom McGonigle, with a view to resolving all on-going issues. In the last quarter alone, the complaints which we have registered number in the hundreds.

During the recent attack on a Republican prisoner by the Jail’s Riot Squad and the subsequent lock-down, the ombudsman was being kept up to speed (during and after the events) via phone calls. He was also made aware that medical treatments, along with legal and social visits, were being withheld. Despite this, it took several days for him to arrive at the Jail and in spite of having viewed video and physical evidence of the events confirming the account of Republican prisoners; he has yet to contradict the blatant lies issued by David Ford and Sue McAllister. For the Prisoner Ombudsman to cite Prison Rule 79 (part VIII) or Terms of Reference for Complaints as a means to avoid its responsibility can only be seen as submitting to these bodies, and cannot be viewed as having any degree of impartiality or independence.

Pauline McCabe released a report, nearing the end of her tenure, in May 2013, in which she made a number of recommendations. The Jail administration largely ignored the substantive recommendations within her detailed report. After further multiple complaints, and meetings with ourselves relating to this, Tom McGonigle compiled and released his report, recommending the Stocktake in June 2014, in order to re-engage the implementation process of, and remove ambiguity from, the August 2010 Agreement.

What as come of the recommendations and of the reports? In short, the Jail administration had dismissed the views and intent of those substantive recommendations regarding Republican Roe House; ignored the recommendations which do not suits its agenda; and twisted others to give the impression of fairness. Prevarication and unaccountability are the order of the day.

Security Governor Brian Armour stated, when confronted with the Ombudsman’s recommendation on controlled movement, that the Prisoner Ombudsman “was not qualified” to make that recommendation. Further recommendations have been repeatedly ignored or rejected by the Jail, including recently, those related to 35 complaints regarding persistent sleep deprivation, and continuous ‘alarm tests’, by night guards. This aggravating issue has been challenged ad nauseam during both Pauline McCabe and Tom McGonigle’s time in office, whilst the Jail persists with its sleep deprivation policy, and other methods of psychological torture unabated.

During meetings with Tom McGonigle he has, like so many others, largely agreed with our analysis; he even went so far as to state: “…there is political interference by the DUP”, and that, “…the situation is political”. David Ford, and a spokeswoman for the Ombudsman’s office, further declared that there are Staff working within the gaol that are directly answering to the NIO and the Secretary of State (Irish News 17-02-15) and not to the Jail Administration. Contextually, these are euphemisms for MI5. Neither could answer as to whether they had oversight of such staff. Such recognition of MI5 interference should certainly have led to the Ombudsman’s office issuing a public statement of outrage, yet Tom McGonigle seems indifferent. As a consequence, Republican prisoners in Roe House are being persecuted by faceless ‘staff’. The presence of these unaccountable NIO/MI5 personnel, and their malign influence, has been ignored by the Ombudsman’s office for far too long.

The conduct, and lack of grit, shown by Tom McGonigle and others involved in the complaints, assessment and facilitation process within the Jail, will only serve to embolden those who are determined to provoke conflict. The prolongation of instability within the Jail is the only definite result of evasive and political responses from bodies who are supposed to be independent and averse to political interference.

Republican Political Prisoners

Thursday, 12 February 2015

ENTRAPMENT IN A BRITISH DIRTY WAR

Entrapment

British Occupied Ireland, entrapment is a common practice, used by British Secret Service agencies, to prosecute their Dirty War and induce people, to be involved in activity, that they would otherwise normally not engage in. For example slipping a drug into their drink, along with planting incriminating evidence on them. This practice, is widely used in Occupied Ireland, to politically intern people for many years, in some instances for the rest of their lives and is also used to turn activists into agents for the British. The practice, combined with secret courts, has been estimated to account, for more than half of the political convictions in Ireland currently, combined with British secret courts, without a jury.

It makes a nonsense of any claim, to a peace process and calls into question, the integrity of British Sinn Fein who appeal on all Irish people, to become informers to British Occupation Forces in Ireland. It compounds the belief, that all parts of the British apparatus in Ireland, is still part of a low intensity, ongoing British Dirty War in Ireland, which includes dirty tricks within all the pillars of the Orange State. In a jurisdiction without a Dirty War, the prosecution, would be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant was not entrapped, or the defendant would be required to prove, they were entrapped, as an affirmative defence.

Sting operations are a regular feature of the British in Ireland. Sometimes entrapment occurs, when the British paramilitary, PSNI/RUC go beyond simply providing an opportunity to a compromised agent or individual to commit an actual attack, often it results in the entrapment, of his associates. A lot of the time, the persistence and frequency of attempts by the PSNI/RUC, by inducement, fraud, deceit, reward, amplifies, the actual existence of implied threats, to give credibility, for major increases in budgets, to justify British taxpayers, massive funding of their Dirty War in Ireland or further the careers, of many sectarian, paramilitary, police, in British Occupied Ireland.

Factors which should be Considered in Cases of Entrapment

a)

Whether the PSNI/RUC officers concerned are secret members of the Orange Order.

b)
Whether the Paramilitary Police acted in bad faith.

c)
Whether the PSNI/RUC had reason to suspect the accused of legal political activities.

d)
Whether the Secret services, were politcally under pressure, to get a result, in areas where attacks were particularly prevalent, where the entrapment took place

e)
Whether reactionary investigatory techniques are used, because of difficulty in detection of Irish political activity, supported by the native population.

f)
The accused circumstances and vulnerability because of endemic state bigotry and prejudice.

g)
The nature of the political offence

Entrapment often occurs, when the various British secret services, cause an attack to be committed, which otherwise would not occur, had it not been for secret service involvement. The lawyers in Occupied Ireland, who were particularly talented, in challenging the admissibility of evidence through entrapment, have already been executed, by British death squads in Ireland.The case below, which is covered in today's Belfast Telegraph, is a current example.

IRA 'plotted terrorist attacks on Northern Ireland's transport infrastructure', court hears
The men allegedly discussed sniper strikes on high-profile targets

A Translink train

BY ALAN ERWIN – 12 FEBRUARY 2015
Secret recordings of alleged Continuity IRA terror plot meetings revealed plans to attack Northern Ireland's transport infrastructure, the High Court heard today.

ALSO IN THIS SECTION

Discussions also explored future sniper strikes on high-profile targets, prosecutors said.

Further details of the covert MI5 operation at a house in Newry, Co Down were disclosed as bail was refused to one of the men accused of attending some of the gatherings.

Terence Marks, 54, denies charges of belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA, and conspiring to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

The father-of-six's lawyer claimed the recordings were of singing and drink-fuelled bravado.

He also expressed concerns about possible entrapment in the surveillance.

The investigation centres on meetings held by alleged key members of the Continuity IRA's leadership.

The house at Ardcarn Park was raided last November after being bugged for three months.

Twelve men were arrested at that stage, with charges brought against seven of them and the other five released pending reports.

Marks, of Parkhead Crescent in the city, was among a further three men detained the following month.

A total of nine meetings were recorded, with each of the suspects said to have been present on at least one occasion.

According to the prosecution topics discussed included membership of an outlawed organisation, weapons procurement and training, terrorist funding and plans to commit acts of terrorism.

Based on voice analysis Marks is alleged to have been present at three gatherings in September and October.

Among the issues explored at those meetings were: previous operations, using household items for bomb-making, constructing improvised explosive devices and and transporting a small weapon in a loaf of bread.

Opposing bail, prosecution counsel said police are still seeking other suspects.

He contended: "There are clearly very significant steps being taken by this group to prepare for future significant terrorist acts, (including) preparation for sniper attacks on high-profile targets and an attack on the transport infrastructure."

According to the barrister it would involve "a reckless disregard for life if such an attack were to take place".

John Connolly, defending, said Marks strenuously denies any past or present involvement with dissident republican groupings.

Mr Justice Burgess was told the accused is a chronic alcoholic who drinks up to ten cans of beer and as much as a litre of vodka a day.

Mr Connolly stressed that Marks is only alleged to have been present for eight of the 70 hours of surveillance at the house.

He said: "It's clear from the recordings that there's a lot of bravado from individuals, talking about events of the past and gesturing about what to do about the future.

"Within the recordings there's a lot of banter, there's arguments, there's fun, there's light conversation and there's heated debate.

"There's also singing and recounting of some songs."

It was claimed that one of those present can be heard going into "numerous monologues" and inviting others to recall stories.

"There's a concern that there has been a state involvement in almost what is known as entrapment," Mr Connolly said.

He added that the Public Prosecution Service had responded to a request about whether any of those arrested were state agents by saying it was not obliged to answer the question.

Refusing bail, Mr Justice Burgess said he had "grave doubts" any release conditions would be complied with.

The judge also stressed: "These are serious matters impacting on the whole community and in particular various sections, including danger to their lives and serious injury."

Monday, 9 February 2015

SCHIZO SINN FEIN KITSCH

Britain's Dirty War in Ireland started in 1970, with the arrival of former Aide-De-Campe to the Queen, Frank Kitson, who formed British death squads, that run amok in all parts of Ireland. That war continues to the present day, with varying degrees of intensity. Kitson wrote the modern day manual for such dirty wars, all over the world, which includes, employing the use of politicians, police, media, courts, prison service and any Government agency, fit for purpose. One of the first facts of life, any child learns in this conflict zone, is that the price of being a 'Tout,'(informer singular A person whom the government pay to snitch on people) is death. I have explained in previous posts, my own personal experience, with regard of this matter. To look your own Irish people and community in the eye, and betray them to British Occupation forces, is something I personally could not do, and I was prepared to take a bullet, rather than engage in this activity. I call it crossing the rubicon and it is an extremely fine line in reality, which must be explained with absolute clarity, by any Irish Republican, who claims any leadership status. It is not for me to judge Gerry Kelly, one of provisional Sinn Fein's most senior leaders but bearing in mind, its critical role in the history of his party, I do believe he has crossed the rubicon, calling on all Irish people to become informers to British Occupation forces, which certainly includes the PSNI<RUC, despite his qualities of courage.

Young children in Occupied Ireland, after 45 years of Britain's Dirty War, deserve better leadership than this. The photograph and excellent video above, not for the first time, portray an irresponsible leadership of schizophrenia, as far as I am concerned and does not have credibility, as presented thus far. It is the result of a populist, reformist, party politic, that not alone betrays young teenagers, like the young lad, featured in the article below, but also all of the volunteers, who sacrificed so much, for the Cause of Ireland over the last 45 years and beyond. Irish politicians at the highest levels in all parties, continue to exhibit a considerable lack of compassion and responsibility to both the young and the vulnerable, to a neo-fascist extent, with consistency. Schizo Sinn Fein under the microscope, exhibit all the same, sell out bacteria of Me Fein, that seems to be the consistent factor of bearers of this tag, generation after generation. I would be overjoyed, to be proven wrong, but for people, with a couple of brain cells, who have evolved over 45 years, observing the schizo, neanderthal, butcher of Derry, its a no brainer.

Below is an article from Ciarán MacAirt, that I borrowed from somewhere or other,to explain the Dirty War a little more.

Digging for documents in the Britains' Dirty war National Arin Kew, London, at the start of the year, a “personal and confidential” letter dated 30th December 1971 caught my eye.

It was from Howard Smith, Whitehall’s UK Representative in Northern Ireland, to leading civil servant, Philip Woodfield CBE, head of the Northern Ireland department at the Home Office. It began:

“I think you will you will be interested to see the enclosed copy of a paper written by Frank Kitson”

I was very interested as Brigadier Frank Kitson is a renowned author and counter-insurgency expert who was commander of the British Army in Belfast at that time. The impact of his short tenure here is still debated by historians as I discussed in my book, The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth.

I argued though that he laid the foundations for the British military strategy in the north of Ireland for years thereafter, especially with regards to armed contact with Britain’s enemy and the management of information. On our streets, this meant he oversaw Britain’s deployment of in-depth interrogation techniques, psychological operations, pseudo-gangs and covert Special Force units who murdered civilians with impunity.

The Military Reaction Force (MRF) (1) was one of Kitson’s creations and he actually records the importance of this covert death squad in the paper which is dated the 4th December 1971, the day of the McGurk’s Bar massacre. The paper is entitled Future Developments in Belfast:

“The main interest of the paper”, Howard Smith writes, “is that it shows how the man on the ground is feeling the lack of policy guidance on matters going wider than the redevelopment of Belfast… You will also see that the first paragraph expresses a cautious view about the prospects of success in dealing with the IRA”.

The main body of the paper draws on Kitson’s experience of counter-insurgency and community relations in the likes of Cyprus. Whilst he warns that his analysis is a “gross over simplification”, he can be insightful – if not at times prescient – as the problems he highlighted continue to blight us today: sectarian housing, segregation, the acceptability of policing and the lack of political direction. Nevertheless, it is this first paragraph of Kitson’s paper that I find most resonant. The very first sentence gives his – and by inference, the British Army’s – mission with regards to Internment:

“Operations in Belfast since 9th August have been carried out on the basis of so weakening the IRA that a future political initiative can be launched under favourable circumstances”

What a mess that turned out to be. Kitson recognised the “clumsiness of the Security Force machine” and that any success it had enjoyed in the months after Internment was “largely because both wings of the IRA were also clumsy, and indeed much too big for the purpose for which they were designed to fulfil”. The counter-insurgency theorist was mindful though that a slicker, leaner IRA would prove problematic for a lumbering British Army but he had prepared to develop just like his enemy:

“It is likely that having fined down the enemy organizations to the extent we have done, future successes will be increasingly hard to achieve from an operational point of view, unless we are able to make our own organization very much more efficient.”

Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist, wrote hundreds of years before the birth of Christ “To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy”. Kitson may have had this in mind when he wrote:

“As you know we are taking steps to do this in terms of building up and developing the MRF and we are also steadily improving the capability of Special Branch… by building up Special Branch’s records with Int Corps Sections.”

Armed contact and information gathering are the foundations of Kitson’s low intensity counter-insurgency theory, and this is evident in this very sentence. So too is the importance of the MRF in his future plans. This is the earliest record of the MRF which I have found and here written by Frank Kitson on the day of my grandmother’s murder.

It may have been a ghost force for generations but the MRF was evidently the spearhead of Kitson’s campaign to eliminate the IRA. Indeed military reaction and military reconnaissance represented the two masked faces of the MRF – contact and information. We now know from this letter and paper too that the top brass of the British Army and the cream of Britain’s political class in the north of Ireland at the time also knew of its development and importance. Therefore, they cannot shirk the responsibility for the crimes the MRF carried out with impunity and in Britain’s name.

Lawyers representing the families of civilians murdered by the MRF, such as Daniel Rooney and Patrick McVeigh, should demand that the PSNI question 88 year old Brigadier Frank Kitson as the police have done elderly suspects of Loyalist and Republican killings carried out at the same time. Frank Kitson is allegedly as much a director of terrorism as any paramilitary leader as he records here the development of a clandestine unit at the cutting edge of British military plans which killed ordinary civilians.

As one former member of the MRF admitted to journalist John Ware in a recent Panorama programme:

“We were not there to act like an army unit. We were there to act like a terror group.” (2)

If the Police Service of Northern Ireland is truly impartial, Frank Kitson would be arrested and interrogated about these taped allegations. The PSNI may even take this paper as proof that he was instrumental in the initial development and direction of this death squad.

Unfortunately, though, we know that the PSNI does not deal with our past impartially. The police refusal to investigate filmed allegations of MRF criminality proved that.

Then again, none of these old soldiers – Frank Kitson included – have ever needed to go on the run or worry about amnesty, so why should police inaction surprise any of us.

Further Information:

Read the archive Future Developments in Belfast by Commander 39 Airportable Brigade (PDF 3MB)

Read more about the book The McGurk’s Bar Bombing

Download for free: From Belfast to Palestine: Post-War Counterinsurgency… A Very British Family Affair

Footnotes: (1) The MRF is also recorded as Military Reconnaissance Force but both may be correct as reconnaissance and reaction are two sides of the Kitson coin: information and contact; one section for each.

(2) Reported in the online Irish Times, 21 Nov 2013 (subscription link)

Ciarán MacAirt is an Irish writer and author of The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth.
He also manages Paper Trail, an innovative social enterprise which offers legacy archive research services and helps families unearth the truth hidden in public records.

Boy agent reveals frame-up plot

A vulnerable teenager in west Belfast was recruited by the PSNI as an informer and then put under pressure to plant explosives and weapons on his neighbours, it has emerged.

The terrified nineteen-year-old Thomas Boyle, who has a history of self-harm, came forward to the media with a shocking account of PSNI abuse and illegality.

He said he was recruited last year after being arrested for shoplifting. He was then forced to plant tracking devices under the cars of prominent ‘dissident’ republicans at the behest of PSNI Special Branch and was even asked to plant a gun in a neighbour’s car and Semtex explosive in another neighbour’s shed.

Boyle confessed to his activities alter becoming afraid that he was “in over his head”.

Security sources are reported to have confirmed that Boyle had been working for the PSNI since last year.

The west Belfast teenager said he was prompted to confess after becoming afraid he was being coerced into carrying out ever more dangerous activities by his police handlers.

“They told me they wanted me to break into a car of a man who lived near me and plant a gun under the driver seat,” he said

“They said smash the side window and make it look like I was trying to steal [the car] and then leave the gun so they would find it when investigating the break-in.

“I met one man a few times at the top of the Whiterock [Road]. He gave me money and mobile phone SIM cards.

“He told me they were going to give me Semtex and wanted me to put it the garden shed of a man.

“If I didn’t they said I was going to be done with making hoax bomb calls and would get seven years [in prison]. They said they could pin other charges on me any time they wanted.

“It just all got too much and I told my ma about what had been happening.”

He was also ordered to try and join the dissident group Oglaigh na hEireann so he could report back on their activities. In return, the PSNI promised him thousands of pounds -- although he was only ever paid fifty pounds.

Oglaigh na hEireann said it had interrogated Boyle and released him over the weekend. PSNI and British army helicopters had been visible over west and north Belfast as they undertook a massive search for their teenage informant.

In a statement the group said the teenager had contacted them willingly.

“He is alive to tell his tale for a number of specific reasons, including the fact that he is quite plainly vulnerable and has fully admitted his covert activities,” it said.

The breakaway IRA group warned other informers to come forward.

“If we discover other agents in the future then the penalty will be death,” its statement read.

Sinn Fein Policing Board member Alex Maskey said that any use of informers against republicans should be ‘open to thorough scrutiny’.

“Using informers would be standard practice for police services the world over,” he said.

“However, we obviously have a polluted history of politicised activity which has often seen the use of agents provocateurs.

“I have no knowledge of this particular case but there has to be proper protocol and any allegations such as this need to be scrutinised,”he said.

Suicide prevention campaigner Phil McTaggart said the use of vulnerable young people as informants by the PSNI was a “disgrace”.

“When you have a young person who is already vulnerable and at a low ebb and put them under this type of enormous pressure then you leave them with very limited options.”

He advised any young person who is in a similar predicament as Boyle to seek help.

Carl Reilly of the Republican Network for Unity warned that people may have been charged by the PSNI on the back of evidence planted by an informer.

“Once again the re-branded RUC has destroyed its carefully contrived facade of normal civil policing by manipulating a young person to become an Informer and spearhead a British dirty tricks campaign in an attempt to whip up anti-republican hysteria in Belfast,” he said.

Throughout the recent conflict, the RUC and MI5 had blackmailed “scores” of agents to undermine working-class communities and the republican struggle, he said,

“This disturbing affair highlights the nefarious tactics used by Crown Forces to set up Irish Republicans for arrest, imprisonment or worse.”

He called for an independent investigation.

“Given the above revelations, the Republican Network for Unity ask nationalists and republicans to re-examine their support for the re-branded RUC, as it is clear they are not capable of the changes many believed were possible.”

Friday, 6 February 2015

BRITISH DIRTY WAR TORTURE IRELAND

Ireland will only get justice at the International Criminal Court - brionOcleirigh

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Reuters / Enrique Castro-Mendivil)