An Insight into the Saville Inquiry June 13, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in History, media, Northern Ireland.trackback
Like everyone else, I’m very interested in seeing what the Saville report, which will be released during the week, will say about Bloody Sunday. I don’t have much to say about this article from the Sunday Times, but it’s well worth a read. In it, two journalists who formed part of the Sunday Times Insight team at the time, Peter Pringle and Philip Jacobson, discuss their experiences of the inquiry. It raises lots of issues about the evidence gathered both back then and by the inquiry, and the different tensions that the inquiry raised.
http://liammacuaid.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/british-army-unlawfully-killed-civilians/
Liam Mac Uaid on Saville
Cheers Jim.
One might suggest that the Sunday Times will never do reporting of that calibre again.
Doubtful we’ll see any paper commit those type of resources to any story again.
I see the official attack on it has started.
I see the official attack on it has started.
It’s clear that attacking the ’90s-era tribunals (and staying well away from the subject of them) is the preferred end-game strategy for those going to be caused trouble by results – as we’ve seen closer to home in the past year.
So, punt it out to a decade-long (through multiple legal challenges) process, then attack it before it finally reports on the basis of the length and legal costs to which you yourself contributed in no small way.
The problem is that Kenneth Clarke is right. It was a disaster in terms of expenses and 12 years is a long time.
What would be disturbing was if this represented an attempt to move the focus away from what happened that day and on to the cost.
Does anybody think there will be prosecutions?
I agree, the reason it took so long and was so expensive was that they ordered 2,500 witness statements, why did they need that many? it was clearly an attempt to delay the truth coming out. As for prosecutions, it could be very interesting, when they tried prosecuting Gerry Mcgeough for acts committed during the troubles (by no coincidence, after he left Sinn Fein) a few months ago his defense team revealed he had been given a royal prerogative of mercy and around the same time there were similar case involving a loyalist so I’m think there’s a lot of ambiguity here that goes back to the Good Friday Agreement.
Also if the rule is that no-one can be made liable for there role in any deaths caused during the troubles surely that makes this whole Gaddaffi compensation issue even more absurd.
A guy I knew years ago had been in the Royal Marines at the time of Bloody Sunday He said that there was a Battle Plan in existence to retake the Bogside and Creggan and that the Paratroops or Marines would have led the way He said his unit which I think was 42 Commando had been briefed on this when they were stationed in the North. He said the Bogside part of the plan had been put into effect on the day and explained that was why all those shot bar one were male. The troops orders were to fire on males of military age.I don’t know whether this story was true but I cant really see why he would lie about it. He was Greek and was returning home for good. If this plan existed it has of course been long since destroyed.
Maybe everyone has seen this, but there is an interesting article by Niall O’Dochartaigh on Bloody Sunday, published in “Contemporary British History” available online here:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13619460903565531
and here:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a919384724~db=all~jumptype=rss
I find his argument very plausible. Not just a few paras” gone mad”, not an “understandable” response to IRA snipers and nail bombers, not a government policy to get some taigs, but the result of, and part of, a struggle within the security forces over policy – softly, softly and hard and repressive. The hard types were in charge on the day.
I discussion over the precise events of the day is likely to miss out very pertinent points like this.
In the UK Observer on Sunday there was an article on Saville. The article concentrated on the alarm of the British Army top brass that soldiers may be prosecuted. They seem to be getting their retaliation in early. If paratroopers are prosecuted they say, then so should Martin McGuinness be. They also warn such prosecutions would spread alarm in the UK forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, which i thought was interesting. They must be expecting bad stuff to emerge from there eventually.
Song on Bloody Sunday. Wonder hwere the people mentioned including singer are?