Truth, Lies And Red Tape
Recently, the British government selected, funded and launched the ‘Consultative Group on the Past’, which professes to be “an independent group established to consult on the best way to deal with the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland [sic]”.
However, the group’s independence, or rather its alarming lack of it, has been thoroughly exposed by the British Irish Rights Watch, amongst others.
In their written submission to the CGP, the BIRW confessed to having strong reservations about even contacting the group. These reservations emanate primarily, although not exclusively, from the fact that being in the pay of the British government, is equivalent to being beholden to them, which, in itself, “undermines its independence”. With its ‘independence’ mortally wounded, it stands to reason that the only hope for the group would be for its paymasters, the British government, to tell the truth about their occupation of the Six Counties and its associated crimes against the occupied population. The only way in which they could even attempt to “deal with the legacy of the past” would be for the British government to cease in its diversion from, and its perversion of, the truth.
One doesn’t have to look far for examples of the British government, and its various nefarious agencies, commitment to establishing the truth.
Last month, the family of IRA volunteer Pearse Jordan has experienced, for the umpteenth time, the British government’s commitment to the truth. On November 25 1992, an undercover RUC squad rammed Pearse Jordan’s car. Having emerged from the car and staggered across the road, Pearse, who according to the civilian witnesses, was unarmed and made no threatening actions, was shot three times in the back at close range. No warnings were issued. The four independent civilian witnesses have also testified that, whilst Pearse lay dying on Belfast’s Falls Road, he was verbally abused, searched, kicked and had his face pushed into the ground.
Unsurprisingly, the Jordan family found little redress through the disgraced British judicial system. Pearse’s father, Hugh Jordan, took the case to the European Court of Human Rights which found the British government guilty of violating Pearse’s human rights. The Court was also scathing of the ‘investigation’ into his execution, the actions of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the subsequent inquests.
Sixteen years after the British government’s shoot-to-kill policy resulted in the death of Pearse Jordan, the inquest into his death is still far from complete. The inquest was originally delayed due to the fact that the coroner had been denied access to the Stalker and Simpson reports on the RUC’s shoot-to-kill policy. Recently, this decision was overturned and John Leckey, the coroner in the Six Counties, has been granted conditional access to the reports.
The ‘conditions’, however, render the development decisively less significant than it may have been. RUC-PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde reserves the right to censor what Leckey has access to, via Public Interest Immunity certificates and, rather bizarrely, John Leckey is prohibited from discussing the report’s contents with any other person and/or forum. Which begs the question, how can the reports form the basis of any legal proceedings, if the very person accessing the reports is forbidden from relaying the contents to the court?
Having said that, however, the most recent delay was primarily the result of the meddling of MI5, which is in the process of enacting its increased powers in the Six Counties. In what is thought to be the first public declaration of MI5 taking power from the RUC-PSNI, it was revealed at the preliminary inquest hearing that MI5, and not the RUC-PSNI, would conduct ‘security risk assessments’ in relation to the 14 RUC personnel due to give evidence in relation to the killing of Pearse Jordan. Thus, MI5 will ultimately decide whether or not members of the RUC will be granted anonymity throughout their testimony to the inquest.
Speaking after the hearing, Pearse Jordan’s mother, Teresa said, “MI5 and the [RUC] Special Branch set in place the operation that led to the killing of Pearse. This included the calculated misinformation in a series of subsequent attempts to somehow justify the killing of Pearse. It is our firm view that a so-called risk assessment must be undertaken independently of those responsible for planning and carrying out Pearse’s killing…”
Éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac an Mháistír, speaking on the recent ‘truth’ initiatives, said:
“This is the British governments commitment to establishing the truth? The British government, and those in its pay, will use any forum, any guise and any group to conceal the truth. The British government, through the machinations of MI5 and other state agencies, will continue to use their bureaucracy and ‘red tape’ to bury the truth and promote their lies.
“It is in no way in the interest of the British government to have any ugly element of their multifaceted war machine exposed and vilified in their own courts or through their own inquiries.
“Therefore, we can only be sceptical when the responsibility for uncovering the truth about British war crimes in Ireland rests with a body or group affiliated with the perpetrator.
“We in Éirígí extend our solidarity to the families of all of the victims of British state violence and would like to add our voice to the collective voice seeking truth and justice.”