Irish History

Britian's Dirty War

I. Overview
II. Shoot to Kill
III. Covert Operations
IV. Target Democracy
V. Legal System
VI. British Garrison in Ireland
VII. Conflict's Deaths
VIII. Orange Myths

THE BRITISH MILITARY GARRISON IN IRELAND

"What they are saying is that the British army is doing a wonderful job sorting out a few criminals, a few terrorists, who are sort of making life terrible for the vast majority of peaceful law abiding citizens... But that is a total travesty of the truth. In Northern Ireland there is a war situation by any sensible definition of the term."
--a British Army soldier [quoted in Decade of Terror]

Brigadier Frank Kitson, one of Britain's most experienced counter-insurgency officers, served in Malaya, Kenya, Muscat, Oman, and Cyprus. In 1969, he was at Oxford writing, Low Intensity Operations, Subversion, Insurgency, Peace-keeping. All of his concepts were to be implemented in Ireland, including establishing coordinating committees of military, police and civil authorities; the formation of intelligence networks; psychological warfare units; the 'judicious promise of concessions' to temporarily appease the disaffected; setting up 'dirty tricks' and covert units; and using the law 'as a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.'

According to Dillon and Lehane [Political Murder in N. Ireland], Kitson argued that the "Army is the creation, and governed by the prevalent morality, of the State to which it is accountable... If an individual soldier cannot stomach these actions, he can refuse to support it, but Kitson says, he must 'take the consequences... The spirit of [Kitson's] book would seem to countenance under certain circumstances a campaign of assassination by the British army undertaken by plain-clothes troops. There are few, if any, courses of action that Kitson would not have his special force take if they seemed likely to achieve the ultimate aim.'"

From The Start, A Military State

Since the British government's enforced partition of Ireland in 1921, they have systematically created and sustained a military state in the six northeastern counties of Ireland.

This garrison comprises regular British army regiments, the Royal Irish Regiment recruited totally from the local loyalist community, and the militarized state police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, an over 93% Protestant force,

Add to the above "Special" covert units. The Special Air Service is a unit of the British army which was established for covert operations. Some SAS personnel were sent to the north of Ireland in 1969, although not formally assigned until 1976. The SAS is ideally suited to direct the special units recommended by Kitson.

David Bundy, in a '77 Sunday Times [London] article, summarized SAS operations: setting off bombs that the IRA would be blamed for; planting ammunition on suspects; carrying out 'sectarian' assassinations; discrediting politicians deemed hostile to the government; and engaging in 'shoot-to-kill' attacks on unarmed, targeted or surrendering individuals.

Albert Baker, a British army SAS operative, went on the record. He had been planted in the Ulster Defense Association and had personally participated in the killing of 21 Catholics. He also admitted transporting explosives later used in the bombing of Dublin which resulted in 2 deaths and 100 injured. This is the tip of the iceberg of British army covert operations.

Training for Military Duty in Ireland

British army units receive special training before going to Ireland. "Within the barracks there is a mock town consisting of several streets, alleyways and generally resembling any ordinary working-class district. Practical training is given in riot control, house searching, interrogation techniques, sniper positioning, setting up secret observations posts, etc., etc. The training is so realistic that every day, people were injured [British Soldiers Speak Out On Ireland]."

A sample of the final briefing before going to the North is given by A.F.N. Clarke, a former paratroop officer [quoted in Contact]. "If you can see them, you can shoot them. Just remember, you are still bound by the conditions of the yellow card [the army rules of military engagement]. That means whatever happens, they always shoot first. Whether they actually do or not, nobody will ever know. Get my meaning?"

Brian Ashton, who served in Ireland, testified his training created the impression that Catholics were the violent section in the North. "We were told to become a funeral march, a Protestant funeral march, and the rest of the troops were told to be Catholics and attack us, and steal the coffin, and we were led to believe that his was common practice, and this sort of thing created in people's minds an idea what Catholics were like." [Quoted in Voices for Withdrawal]

"I was sent to the North the day of my 18th birthday. At the time Protestant paramilitaries were at the peak of their sectarian assassination and bombing campaign. Nevertheless, all our activity was directed against the Republicans. Local Catholic pubs were being bombed frequently, and yet in the week following four attacks not one Protestant suspect was brought in. But all the time we were picking up Catholics." - a Soldier [British Soldiers Speak Out... ]

The Current Level of British Military Occupation (1994):
32,085 Armed Personnel

Today, the combined British military force, made up of regular British Army regiments, the Royal Irish Regiment, the armed colonial constabulary [the RUC], and covert SAS operatives hold the occupied area with a combined military strength of 32,085 personnel.

• The British army has a total of 135 instillations within its control.
  
• The RUC has 161 military-type installations.
  
• The Greater Derry City area has a total of 11 Barracks, 3 Permanent Vehicle checkpoints, and 20 closed border roads.
  
• There are 55 British military installations located within Greater Belfast.
  
• Two large, high-security prisons at Long Kesh and Maghaberry are maintained by heavily armed military personnel and hundreds of warders.
  
• There are countless surveillance installations and procedures -- from military spy-towers with electronic equipment to satellite phone surveillance. Permanent photographic devices are trained on nationalist neighborhoods as are concealed spying devices.
  
• The British government has installed a massive network of security restrictions and permanent border check points which affect every aspect of civilian life.
  
• RUC and army road check points are another means to control the nationalist population and to keep records of the whereabouts and patterns of the civilian population.
  
• The RUC Special Branch targets and blackmails the nationalist community for informers and their Mobile Support Units are a heavily armed military force.
  
• The skies are dominated by the sight and roar of military helicopters going into and out of army bases or hovering over nationalist districts.
  
• The operation of interrogation/torture centers in Gough Barracks, Derry's Strand Road, and Castlereagh near Belfast, adds to the militarism and police state status of the Six Counties.
  
• Thousands of military house raids collect data as well as terrorize and families. Designed for "the creation and maintenance of as complete a dossier as was practical on all the inhabitants of suspect areas... The principle mechanisms were regular house searches and head counts, frequent arrests and 'screening' of those who might be likely to become involved and the interrogation in depth of selected suspects." [Ten Years On In N. Ireland]
  
• Statistically, every house in the North of Ireland has been raided more than twice by British military personnel. These raids are always violent to people and property, The ratio is 10 to 1 Catholic to Protestant. Many Catholic families have been subjected to scores of early morning military operations as a part of "normal" life in British Occupied Ireland.