The Army admits mistakes over Bloody Sunday
The Army has admitted for the first time that it did not win the war against the IRA.
The admission is contained in an internal document released by the Ministry of Defence after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Army also admitted mistakes were made on Bloody Sunday, but only in how it deployed its vehicles.
The 100 page document analyses in detail the British army’s role in Northern Ireland over 37 years.
It focuses on specific operations as well as providing an overview of its performance.
The document, obtained by the Pat Finucane Centre, points to a number of mistakes, including internment and highlights what lessons have been learnt.
It describes the IRA as “a professional, dedicated, highly skilled and resilient force”, while loyalist paramilitaries and other republican groups are described as “little more than a collection of gangsters”.
The Army admits mistakes over Bloody Sunday - but only in how it used vehicles during the arrest operation.
It concedes for the first time that it did not win the battle against the IRA - but claims to have “shown the IRA that it could not achieve its ends through violence”.
In a statement, the Pat Finucane Centre - a human rights group - said the document “betrays a profoundly colonial mindset towards the conflict here and those involved in it”.
“Loyalist violence and the links between loyalist paramilitaries and the state has been airbrushed out of this military history,” it said.
maybe i’m being mr pessimistic but…
I have a feeling “the conflict” in the six counties is not over.
IF the nationalist community forges links with the south and a cross-border situation develops expect to see the loyalist bretheren pull together to oppose the “coming together of north & south”.
i hope I’m wrong but i just dont see it as plain sailing from here on in .
maybe i’m being mr pessimistic but…
I have a feeling “the conflict” in the six counties is not over.
IF the nationalist community forges links with the south and a cross-border situation develops expect to see the loyalist bretheren pull together to oppose the “coming together of north & south”.
i hope I’m wrong but i just dont see it as plain sailing from here on in .
Thats an interesting perspective which I could easily see happening.
Is it not more than a little ironic that you use the partitionist and obsolete term ‘Free State’ in your description of a part of Ireland in the context of Sinn Fein’s popularity given they are supposed to be an all-Ireland party?
It’s not partitionist, it’s not obsolete, it merely recognises the reality of the sicheeayshun - there are two failed statelets on this island, and Sinn Fein is now doing exceedingly well in changing both for the better.
The Irish Free State has ceased to exist since 1937. That’s obsolete in my book.
The Free State is coextensive with the 26 counties south of the border confirmed after the Boundary Commission concluded, therefore use of the term is by definition partitionist.
Sinn Fein is in government in the northern ‘failed statelet’ and seeking to become president of the southern ‘failed statelet’. An establishment party in both jurisdictions from what I can see.
