Summer 2006: Treason Season in N. Ireland?

First the former British spook "Martin Ingram" accuses Martin McGuinness of being a spy, then UVF leader Mark Haddock gets the 50 Cent treatment after his side job as an informer is revealed. Now the INLA claims to have outed a Special Branch agent in its midst, and, in a gesture of surprising generosity considering the group's colourful history, has offered a one-week amnesty to any other spies within the organization.

This latest bit of news isn't that interesting in itself, and hardly falls outside the day-to-day skullduggery that makes Northern Ireland such an, err, eventful place. However, there is a fascinating revelation to be found in the Daily Ireland article, as the INLA claims that this alleged informer is the man behind the recent sectarian attacks on Orange halls in county Derry. The "sources close to the INLA leadership" maintain that this man has been organizing these attacks at the behest of the PSNI Special Branch.

To me, this presents two real possibilities. The first is that the INLA has expelled this man for other reasons, and has tacked on accusations of touting to discredit him among other republicans. The second is that this individual really is a spy, and that the PSNI have either been allowing sectarian tensions to escalate by not arresting him, or even encouraging such communal conflict, as the INLA claims. 

If the latter case is true, this should give serious misgivings to anyone who still believes the British security forces in N. Ireland simply want to prevent Protestant-Catholic violence. I wouldn't draw any sweeping single motivation out of this one incident, but, if these allegations are true, it lends credence to the theory that certain elements of the British state are primarily concerned with justifying their own continued existence.