Saturday, March 01, 2008
McCord and the sash his father wore…
JUSTICE campaiger Raymond McCord - who son was murdered by a UVF gang that included police informers - last night became the first unionist to address a Sinn Fein ard fheis. Wearing his father’s Orange Order sash, McCord told republicans that whereas Gerry Adams had kept to his promise to raise the case of McCord’s son in Downing Street, unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson failed to name the killers in Parliament. The News Letter reported that Mr Donaldson said he pledged to name the killers if Mr MrCord, who received a loyalist death threat a few days ago, brought inconclusive evidence - but that it never came. That’s certainly never stopped members of Mr Donaldson’s former or current parties before. Mr Donaldson said Mr McCord should “reflect on his new bedfellows and look at the record of the IRA for murder and destruction and ask himself: ‘Are these the people best able to deal with the circumstances surrounding the murder of his son?’” The answer could well be ‘yes’, because there is an almost complete lack of interest amongst unionist politicians about loyalist violence against Protestants. In fact, since the IRA ceasefire, by far the biggest terrorist threat to Protestants has been loyalist paramilitary groups.
Belfast Gonzo @ 02:05 PM
Do you no mean conclusive evidence?
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 03:40 PMI did.
That’s what I get for being lazy and cutting and pasting from the News Letter!
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 03:56 PM‘The answer could well be ‘yes’, because there is an almost complete lack of interest amongst unionist politicians about loyalist violence against Protestants.’
What else would you expect from the ‘men of principle and biblical truth’ ?
Brave man McCord and I hope he does find out the truth about his son’s murder . Hundreds of people in NI will of course never find out the truth.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 04:37 PMWhy did Mr Mc Cord feel the need to wear an orange order sash,when hes not even a brother in the order? I hope he dooes find out the truth about his sons killing at the hands of uvf scum,but why the need to don a sash..
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 04:54 PMequally, sinn fein are not the best people to deal with the circumstances of people murdered by the IRA.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 04:54 PMBesashed (jpg image).
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 05:04 PMWhy did Mr Mc Cord feel the need to wear an orange order sash,when hes not even a brother in the order?
My guess is that he probably wore the sash as an over-the-top indicator to his own community that he hasn’t suddenly turned Republican.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 05:40 PMI sympathise with Raymond McCord and hope he gets justice. But unfortunately he is being used by the Sinn Fein PIRA terrorists. These are the people that have murdered many innocents - just like Raymond McCord’s son. So far there has been no justice for the victims of Sinn Fein PIRA violence. So the only reason Sinn Fein PIRA are interested is to push their political agenda.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 05:50 PMAs an actual Orangeman, I resent Mr McCord wearing colours he has no right to put on. I also think he has damaged himself and his cause by going along to the Chuckies to denounce the UK state. That’s a pity as the links between the UK state and the loyalist paramilitaries are well worth exploring. Some of us have long suspected that elements within the UK state encouraged loyalist violence for their own ends. But Mr McCord has helped to ensure that few unionists will be keen to be associated with him.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 06:18 PMWatchman,
I’d say he ended up there precisely because too few unionist politicians were keen to be associated with him.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 06:26 PMThe Watchman,
Clearly in your world, McCord has committed a much bigger crime by adressing the SF conference than those who murdered his son in cold blood.
Says a lot about your morals or indeed the lack of them.Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 06:26 PMThe Watchman - “Mr McCord has helped to ensure that few unionists will be keen to be associated with him.”
Agreed. On your point about the state and various paramilitaries, the role of the Republic of Ireland also needs to be examined i.e. how Sinn Fein PIRA was setup, armed and then sheltered while they carried out their murder campaign.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 06:30 PM>>I’d say he ended up there precisely because too few unionist politicians were keen to be associated with him.<<
Spot on! The OO sash wearing was quite ill mannered I thought, seems SF are determined to bend over backwards(and probably forwards to prove that Prods are welcome). Why won’t they just accept the telling, or is some kind of insertion really needed.
Ok P&J;!
Here is a challenge. Try and debate without using whataboutery, let’s see how you get on.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 06:47 PMAs Gonzo and Garibaldy noted above, Unionism wasn’t interested in helping him or exploring the issue before so claims this has reduced his chances of support ring very hollow.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 06:49 PMCan`t help thinking would Mr Mc Cord still have appeared as another spinn fein annual token stunt if he`d spoken to the Mc Cartney sisters first?
Look where it got them.Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 07:17 PMWatchman:
That’s a pity as the links between the UK state and the loyalist paramilitaries are well worth exploring.
They have been explored in detail and no doubt will continue to be explored. Unionist politicians, generally speaking, ignore such exploration, citing the policy of running informers as being necessary; they systematically oppose proposals to investigate collusion or the other, more shady, activities of Special Branch.
Far more interesting to explore, though, would be the links between unionist politicians and loyalist paramilitaries. And the Orange sash has been used in other unfortunate occasions as well, such as when the Whiterock parade was rerouted and besashed individuals chose the moment to riot and attack police lines. I don’t particularly remember people standing up to complain about their resentment of the way the sash was used then.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 07:18 PMThis event would seem to be a case of ‘my enemy`s enemy is my friend’. As Mr McCord has vowed to leave no stone unturned to bring his son`s killers to justice and expose the authorities` part in protecting those killers, this appearance keeps the case in the news. Good strategy.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 08:05 PMWhy are the comments from ‘Screwball’ about Willie McCrea allowed on this site? When people post the truth about Sinn Fein PIRA individuals, the posts get removed. Complete double standards on Slugger.
To Prince Eoghan - some things need to be put in context. Of course it doesn’t suit your agenda to hear the other side of the story.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 09:03 PMEvidently McCord has upset Realist by besmirching the reputation of the beloved sash at an away fixture down south.
Presumably Realist has no such objections when thousands of orangemen borrow the neutral and non-sectarian environs of Windsor Park of a summer month to display their sashes at an aul’ orange sectarian-fest….
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 09:28 PMPeaceandjustice,
the reason comments about McCrea are not removed is because Good Ole’ Willie went on a public platform (and therefore public record) to defend the rights of terrorist mass murderer Billy Wright.
Let me educate you further, Billy boy then went and set up drug dealing murder gang the LVF.
So go you and put two and two together, oh moral one.
It’s all on record, pal, if you care to look.
But maybe you won’t. And in doing so confirm the points made by others about unionist ambivalence toward loyalist terrorism.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 09:45 PMTo Screwball & northsider - So William McCrea was on a platform once with Billy Wright. Compare this with the Butcher of the Bogside who says he is very very proud of his association with the terrorist wing of Sinn Fein PIRA. What do you think of Martin McG? Also, we’ve had Adams and McG carrying the coffins of SF PIRA terrorists who murdered Protestants. And of course the majority of Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland have given Sinn Fein PIRA a platform through their votes - thereby associating themselves with these murderers. Any opinion on that? You appear to be clutching at straws in relation to Unionist politicians while ignoring real examples of Sinn Fein PIRA terrorists. But better not let the truth get in the way of your propaganda.
Which is why I think Raymond McCord made a mistake attending the Sinn Fein PIRA terrorist conference. Asking terrorists who murdered many people to help him get justice seems rather strange.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 10:10 PMnorthsider
Well said, but you are wasting your time with the laughably named “PeaceandJustice”.
I would have thought that any regular reader here would be familiar with his one-sided and hypocritical views on “loyalist” terrorists.
I don’t know any Catholic who was surprised at McCrea’s public backing for “loyalist” sectarian murderer and drug dealer Wright. For decades McCrea would come on TV to condemn any republican violence but very rarely had anything to say about the scores of innocent Catholics murdered by “loyalist” terrorists in his constituency. Even when pressed, his condemnation of “loyalist” violence was tepid and half-hearted in comparison to his fierce condemnation of Republicans.
He was frequently claiming that there must be Catholics providing information to the IRA about their work colleagues who were in the RUC reserve, UDR etc.
A friend of mine was murdered by the UVF. The killers walked in to his place of work - picked him out as the only Catholic and murdered him - they already knew who he was and his religion.
Oddly enough, McCrea never came out and asked how his killers knew his religion and where to find him. In fact, I don’t ever recall McCrea making accusations about Protestants identifying Catholic collegues to “loyalist” terrorists although this was clearly happening in a number of cases.
As I said, he never had any hesitation in claiming that there were Catholics who were identifying colleagues as “targets” for the IRA/INLA.
I have no time for him and his hypocritical views - his alliance with Billy Wright merely confirmed what I had always thought about his blatent double standards.
I agree with anyone who, like myself, clearly and unequivocably condemns ANY and ALL terrorism equally and who doesn’t differentiate between Republican and “loyalist” terrorists or between Catholic and Protestant victims.
I certainly don’t think that scrutiny of McCrea’s record would show anything like an equal balance of condemnation.
I’m not surprised that ‘PeaceandJustice’ defends fim - they have a lot in common!
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 10:20 PMpeaceandjustice: you are perfectly correct - several of my posts reminding people of sinn fein and ira misdeeds committed by or condoned by their current elected leadership were immediately removed by mr fealty and his cronies with acid remarks from them about commenting policy - it seems that you can just about say anything about anyone except people in the leadership of sinn fein - it is why i have accused fealty of hypocrisy and why i believe that this site is up the provos’ hole - if fealty & co were honest about it, it wouldn’t be so bad but they are not, they pretend to be are even-handed when they’re not.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 10:24 PMPeace and Justice stop condoning murder. The man is obviously desperate for justice for his murdered son. It says something that he has to turn to Sinn Féin to get justice, namely that as long as it suits their narrow sectarian views the main unionist parties are prepared to condone state collusion in murder . Your ideas on peace and justice are narrow sectarian ones. Grow up and quit condoning the actions of terrorists and their state sponsorors
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 10:57 PMAs an aside on a point of information, it is a collarette not a sash.
Posted by on Mar 01, 2008 @ 11:14 PM
