Stakeknife saga

It will likely take a few days for this story to resolve into any reliable shape. Even seasoned journalists like the Today programme’s James Naughtie was struggling this morning with which organisations were involved in the murder of Francisco Notarantonio back in 1987.

Most speculation focuses on whether Stakeknife is actually Freddie Scappaticci named by the Sunday Herald. Some say he’s under guard in southern England, others report that the man mentioned is still at his home, and the naming was a ruse by British security forces to have the IRA kill him.

Regardless of how things pan out in the long run Suzanne Breen says that the controversy has been causing some embarassment to the IRA. According to one activist she interviewed:

I’ve always been loyal to the leadership but my faith has been shaken to the core. The fact ‘Scap’ was a tout means from the moment anyone joined the IRA, they were compromised. It didn’t matter what personal security precautions they took. Everything must now be re-examined. We have to look at who was shot as an informer and who wasn’t; who was jailed and who remained free; who rose through the ranks without a hiccup.

Malachi O’Doherty highlights what may be a particularly unnerving possibility for members of the Republican movement:

Wouldn’t it be a horrible irony to find, after decades of fear and sacrifice that you are the only real Provo there is, that all along you were working to the agenda of manipulators and spies; that you were the one sap who didn’t get a cut from the Brits?

For more detailed weblog comment Ma Bear and Shamrockshire Eagle are keeping an informed eye on this and other issues around collusion.

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty