‘Good’ UDA “will stand with their members if they are under threat”..
It may have been the prospect of the next IMC report containing a separate chapter entitled “South East Antrim UDA”.. or a misguided attempt to convince the actual political representatives that they are dealing with criminality.. if not decommissioning.. or just the latest outworkings of an internal power struggle.. but there have been more omnious rumblings from that ‘good’ UDA – who look at Jackie McDonald for its de facto leadership. Whatever the reasoning, via Brain Rowan in the Belfast Telegraph comes news that the ‘mainstream’ UDA have “[appointed] an interim leadership, including a brigadier and brigade staff [in South East Antrim].” And there’s another [not so] veiled threat..
The “interim leadership” is a kind of rallying call, and a move by the inner council to bring as many members in south east Antrim back into the mainstream organisation. A source close to the organisation’s leadership said the wish was to achieve this without violence, but warned the inner council “will stand with their members if they are under threat”.
According to the report
A statement from the mainstream UDA leadership read:
“After months of consultation with members of south east Antrim, a decision has been made to appoint an interim leadership, including a brigadier and brigade staff.
“As a result of this decision the south east Antrim brigade have asked the council to expel the commander in charge of Carrickfergus and Larne from the organisation.
“The UDA, in support of the interim brigade staff, call on all south east Antrim members to support this new brigade as we continue the fight to stop our communities being destroyed by crime, criminality and drug dealers.”
Hmm.. Perhaps the police could just talk to “those who have influence..”
The Governments learnt something from the troubles, namely do not create martyrs. Internment and Bloody Sunday gave the IRA enough members and recruiting material to last for years.
In the carefully planned peace process, dissidents are now isolated, or made to look incredibly stupid, and quite often they do that themselves (Holy Cross et al)
Dangerous dissidents, Wright, Adair, Fulton, Stone and such were all discredited, murdered, or jailed.The smarter ones were allowed to become gangster/community leaders.
The UDA have nowhere to go except into perfectly acceptable crime, as long as they are not into “politics”. By perfectly accep[table I mean as long as they keep to their own working class areas. Sure nobody cares what happens there.Well, I might, and you might, but nobody in power does.
patrique: “Dangerous dissidents, Wright, Adair, Fulton, Stone and such were all discredited, murdered, or jailed.The smarter ones were allowed to become gangster/community leaders. ”
Suggesting that the gov’t might not be all that bright as well.
patrique: “The UDA have nowhere to go except into perfectly acceptable crime, as long as they are not into “politicsâ€. By perfectly accep[table I mean as long as they keep to their own working class areas. Sure nobody cares what happens there.Well, I might, and you might, but nobody in power does. ”
Ah, but that is not what they’re doing, at least if one acknowledges the pretensions of UPRG. In one last irony, the UDA would like the state to pick up the tab for the damage cause by… well, the UDA.
The UDA, just like the IRA are scum and it`s a shame the SAS didn`t kill even more of them. If I had run the place during the troubles I would have authorized the RUC and UDR and the Briish Army to kill on sight any known members of these terrorist scumbag organisations
Posted by Otto on Jul 18, 2007 @ 05:14 AM
Well Otto the problem with that plan is that their barracks would have been knee deep in gore as they shot each other as recognized terrorists
Well said Sean!
I for one am getting fed up with the way the terrorist tag is bandied about willy-nilly specifying the IRA on slugger. We don’t just need to rely on the recent revelations of collusion, or the upcoming shoot-to-kill whitewash (not another fucking whitewash!) We know that in the terrorism stakes the IRA were amateurs compared to the various arms of the British establishment.