Sinn Fein: Can’t keep army out, can’t stop dissidents…
DESPITE going to Press before last night’s shooting, John Mooney’s article seems remarkably prescient, and on another day might have been decried as scaremongering. His story detailed security force fears that dissidents were “planning opportunistic gun attacks on individual police officers”.
“The RIRA and CIRA are no longer obsessed with the notion of mounting a ‘spectacular’ bomb attack on a high profile target,” said a security source. “It is just as likely that, sooner or later, a PSNI officer on the beat will be shot dead by a stranger who simply walks up to them and produces a gun.”
Mooney also reports that the dissident republican groups have become increasingly splintered, “making monitoring more difficult. The RIRA has divided into four groups and the CIRA has split”. If true, perhaps this need for more intelligence resources best explains the use of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment – an attack was rightly predicted as imminent, but the fact that it happened suggests a lack of specific knowledge by the police and army. Now go to iPlayer and listen to Inside Politics from yesterday afternoon. Martin McGuinness characterised the “damaging” decision to use the SRR against dissident “micro-groups” as “stupid” and “dangerous”, “like stepping back in time”, and sending out “a very negative message” to “deal with a threat that many people think is over-inflated”. But he did not answer Devenport’s question about whether the introduction of the SRR would be worth it if it saved a life. Caught like a deer in the headlights, Sinn Fein have been made to look weak and ineffectual by, ironically, both the Chief Constable and hardline militant republicanism. No wonder there’s still no response at time of writing from Sinn Fein on the shooting.
OK, Operation Banner is over but regarding this murderous attack, and with the constant talk from Hugh Orde over the last few months of a serious and imminent attack by “republican” renegades, it is somewhat odd that the security at the barracks appears to be rather slack. Surely security measures should have been tightend at police and army barracks within the last few months. I take it that there should be CCTV footage too of the incident at the gate.
After the constant talk-up of an attack, Hugh Orde is now playing it down by saying that it is only a ‘minority’ causing the grief.
These murders would be regarded as a ‘hit’ by the killers so it is kinda odd that those responsible haven’t declared or ‘boasted’ so yet…CIRA, RIRA …etc..
Odd that this occured only a day or so after it was announced that British special intelligence forces are to be re-introduced to NI, much to the disgruntlement of the Nationalist MLAs for not being informed.
The whole affair is awful. May those horrible dark days never come back of NI’s Troubles, where bombings, shootings, murder, mayhem, collusion, denial and cover ups prevailed and people lived in fear.
Given the likes of this awful and shameful incident I can see how Unionists are wary of the Irish Nationalist community, and the ‘hardmen’ who advocate their version of a ‘United Ireland’, when such psychotic murderers do something like this in the name of Ireland or whatever, especially when peace seems to be established. No wonder ordinary Unionists want no part of it, and one can’t blame them…. especially with such sociopaths amongst the midst of those who call themselves republicans.
This investigation is a major challenge for the PSNI. Let’s hope they’re up to it.
I think those criticising comment #17 havent understood it.
iluvni
Enlighten me…
I find no fault with POST 17:
This is NOT my opinion, I am simply explaining / clarifying some previous issues…
from a “true” Republican point of view, the soldiers represented the British Establishment, therefore were deemed to be “legitimate targets.”
As Gregory mentioned in another post, “there would not be many tears shed in the Nationalist community over the death of British soldiers…” TRUE
iluvni…
I understand what you mean now…apologies!
R’G Cuan
You seem puzzled by the way the soldiers were shot and think it might be unusual. F.F.S, get a grip, never mind soldiers or police , look at the dozens of people the ‘good’ IRA executed while bound, gagged and blindfold.Look at the UDR men going about in their daily jobs as milkmen or postmen until someone came up beside them and shot them and finished them off after they fell. Is is so difficult for you to accept that ‘dissidents’ might have the capacity to do this? does the possibility upset your worldview?
R.G. Cuan
there once was a ‘char wallah’, an Indian who went around British Army bases making tea for the soldiers as his father had done before him. He came to Sth Armagh where the ‘good’ IRA stopped his car and shot him dead for his tea making. Soldiers nor police were not served in republican sth Armagh by shopkeepers or publicans.They are still not served. These new IRA are not half as ruthless as the ‘good’ Ira were.
“This investigation is a major challenge for the PSNI. Let’s hope they’re up to it. ”
Let them go knock on the door of the branch at Hollywood, the answers to these murders lie there !
May those who died RIP and those injured make a full recovery.
It’s very sad to see on this thread that there are some people for whom it is useful to have a couple of dead soldiers around to enable them to make a political point.
Comrade Stalin
Sad but nevertheless predictable.
Bemused
‘cunt’ and ‘twat’ within two posts separated by less than hours. My we are a bitter wee man, aren’t we?
Oh, and somehow I’d be willing to place a considerable wager that Sinn Fein won’t be given a kicking in the next election after this.
still waiting for sunny jim [allister] to get his hapennyworth in. this attack, which looks more opportunistic than planned, won’t do him any harm at the euro elections, especially if they [real ira] are able to follow it up with other strikes in the next two months or so. no prizes for guessing which candidate will get the most abuse from jim, of course, diane dodds is a gift to him anyway. JA knows as a former dup man, that the base dup voters don’t make any distinction between republican groups.
RG Cuan,
“After reading the reports about the execution
style manner in which the soldiers were killed, I’m just wondering if there have been any similar killings by Republicans over the last 30 years?”
No, the provos tickled people to death.
“If not, something is certainly out of place… ”
Let’s blame the Brits.
kellbeag msg 5…. have to agree with you on that, unfortunately. even though i thought over the maze business, the shinners managed well to lead the dup in a direction, not in the unionist interests, they’ve probably lost a lot of nationalist votes [not to the sdlp, though, those ones won't bother voting any more]
in fact on the day in 2007 the shinners put the dup into office in the first place, they lost some support.