This just doesn’t pass the smell test for me.’

E X A C T L Y

stinks. period.

The families expressed, freely, their belief that there should be no further inquiry, not SF, that party only brought them together.

You’d need to take that issue up with the families, although, “How do feel about being blackmailed, emotionally, by Sinn Fein and why are you so craven as to endorse their position on this?” would not be the best advised opening gambit.

Say you just detest Sinn Fein and would like it to be true. This would be the first step on the road to the honesty you seem to require of your opponents and which some might say seems lacking in your own posts.

If you unwrapped the tinfoil around your cranium that just might allow you to appreciate this FACT – or rather a spell on the couch in a counsellors office might lift, over time, the fog of anger and hate which leads your feverish mind to conjure these totally detached from reality scenarios.

“Wednesday evening’s meeting was a very emotional and difficult occasion for all of us, particularly in light of the allegations coming from Richard O’Rawe and the IRSP.

All of the family members, who spoke, with the exception of Tony O’Hara, expressed deep anger and frustration at the ongoing allegations created by O’Rawe.

“Tony O’Hara’s suggestion that we should meet with Richard O’Rawe and Willie Gallagher got no support and we asked Tony to express to Richard O’Rawe and Willie Gallagher [b]our wish for them to stop what they are doing and to give us peace of mind.[/b]”

That is the emotional blackmail that the Shinners were seeking from the meeting and which they duly secured. It is an appeal for no further inquiry.

Slugger be careful of allowing others to use your good office to further their own aims.

So they put a gun to their heads and told them that either their brains or their signature would be on the statement? Is that it?

Or maybe the families are just sheep and cannot think for themselves – and have been totally led by the nose on this by Sinn Fein?

Not a very respectful view of the families, pal.

But then, it’s what I’ve come ot expect on threads spun out from these type of posts.

Justice isn’t blind except in the eyes of the short-sighted.

o rawe doesn’t cause the pain by reporting what he knows and what his experiences were: t is painful stuff to have to listen to but the pain can in no way be attributed to richard o rawe for saying what he did.

what he did say was subsequently verified by documents released under the freedom of information and accounts from brendan duddy at the derry meeting last month.

i still don’t understand why gerry adams won’t engage in a public discussion of this with his accusers. if he is convinced of the accuracy of his position he should surely have no problem in exposing richard o rawe amongst his peers. the fact that gerry adams won’t engage in public with his detractors tends to weigh the evidence in favour of o’ rawe telling the truth. and truth can be painful

When do you know a Provo is lying? When their lips are mov

Pain being caused by O’Rawe and co. despite the express wishes of the families. The families know that there is no case to answer but idiots like O’Rawe will ignore the suffering that they are causing to further their own selfish and egotistical ends.

This just doesn’t pass the smell test for me.

adams being an astute politician knows he can’t agree to a public examination of the issues so he has manoeuvered the families into creating another wall for him to hide behind: only it won’t work.

not too long ago adams et al were talking about truth commissions as a way of healing the past. until a truth commission of sorts examines all the issues and contradictions of 1981 this issue will not go away.

neither emotional manipulation nor the thuggery of storey will silence the demand for truth, as somebody once said: the genie is out of the bottle!

Really? Let me see now. Liam Clarke, Suzanne Breen, Henry McDonald, Eamon McCann, Eoghan Harris. There’s five and I didn’t even have to think about it. I’m sure I could come up with at least another six if I put my mind to it.

The reason we are not hearing much of it in the print media is that despite all of her links, Rusty Nail has not been able to prove anything, beyond her belief that O’Rawe’s version is the truth and anyone with the remotest connection to SF are complicit in a massive conspiracy to cover it all up. At the end of the day the only people that know what happened here are Bic, O’Rawe and the dead men and in reality the ‘truth’ is probably somewhere in between the recollections of Bic and O’Rawe. Anyone with half a brain can see this, including the local media, so all we are getting on these threads are extremely subjective views on another persons memory and motivations – not exactly the stuff of historical rigour.

So much for the families of ‘dead martyrs’ then.

What were all those murals for then? But I understand that it comes as a deep shock to realise that some of those you have supported and followed the Republican Movement for all those years haven’t been told the truth. To realise that, if you were radicalised by the Hunger Strikes, that the evil Thatcher was working behind the scenes to try and broker a deal but it was rejected for electoral reasons leading to the deaths of so many of the Hunger Strikers when an acceptable offer was on the table. That those who died and their families weren’t even allowed to know what was on offer. But of course, it was done with good intentions. Why bother them with details and the burden of decisions like that in their final days.

And now we have the protests that, even when those who were at the core of the movement dare say or question these things, they are threatened and abused, called liars, splitters, anti-Shinners and told that they are just out to ’cause trouble’ and ‘do down the leadership’.

We are told that they (perhaps even the families) are just “people with long running gripes”. Well, you know, learning that your child might have been saved, that there was an offer on the table that was never revealed, that he died for NOTHING and that you have been lied to for over 20 years, might just give you a gripe.

Now to be a supporter of an organisation that murdered many hundreds of people over such a long period does require a certain outlook on life and an ability to divorce oneself from the crude reality of the dead and the ways they met their ends. But this is very close to home….it goes top the very core of the myths that SF have perpetrated over the years and they will fight long and hard to bury it.

Why would the govt. not put their offer in writting, why wouldn’t they meet the prisoners, why not advertise the IRA’s rejection of such a good offer.

They implemented the offer quietly after the strike ended, why?, why not implement it beforehand.

I had an interest in Rustys narrative until now, however, this blog reads more like a Jeffrey Archer novel and I’m concerned that although the prose is ripping stuff, suddenly, the facts disappear, what was the split among the families on the proposals put forward by SF, what exactly was said?

I reject the claim that the MSM won’t pick up on this because of the peace process, rubbish, the MSM have jumped at every opportunity to batter SF with damn all evidence and damn all questioning of why there is no evidence. For example

Someone mentioned Gareth O Connor here a few days ago, what happened to that story after his car was pulled from the canel?

Why no identikit or descriptions of the people and vans used in the Bank Robbery?

Why is there no evidence from the people held hostage when Quinn was murdered.

Why has McCartneys drinking buddy not identified his attackers.

Why hasn’t the chef been charged for the Castlereagh breakin

What was Donaldson doing

even minor stuff, what happened to Fraser been attacked by republicans in South Armagh (with a photographer in tow)

Rest assured if the MSM could concoct a story out of this issue they would, if either govt. could dive in they would. I can’t understand why they won’t use an opportunity to really harm SF in the eyes of their support base.

The truth is that in the Republican heartlands people have little or any time for the groups involved and when this conspiracy finishes no doubt another one will be found in a few weeks.

Their meetings are attended by small groups and individuals who have either gripes or long running disputes within Republican communities , every area has them,the media love them cause they give good headline stories .

They feed on a diet of attacking SF at every opportunity , not the brits or anyone else.

“dla and every other welfare benefit that can be begged from good old maggies brethren.”

Good luck with that. My two surviving brothers would show you the door toot suite. You may have better luck shay Robinson.