Bloody Sunday – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

FitzGerald: How a single Dail debate lanced a bloody boil of war…

Mick Fealty on June 21, 2010, 1:52 pm

| Readers 21

I’ve no doubt we will hear more about the way we need to handle the past in the wake of the publication of last week’s publication of the Saville report. But I was struck by Garrett FitzGerald’s piece in Saturday’s Irish Times which subtly highlights the difference – at the time of the shootings – between having a functional democratic parliamentary assembly (ie the Oireachtas), and having a supremely dysfunctional one (ie, contemporary Stormont) in this personal anecdote, first on …

“when trying to reconstruct history, dip your bucket as close to the source as possible”

Pete Baker on June 18, 2010, 4:41 pm

| Readers 13

Former Sunday Times Insight journalist, Peter Pringle, savoured the publication of the Saville Inquiry report. And he had some interesting thoughts on Saville’s methodology But questions about Saville’s report on Bloody Sunday remain to be addressed: how did they sift the evidence? What evidence did they leave in, or out? What did the secret services redact? Why did he take so long? Here’s a suggestion of how to start reading beyond the headlines: look at Saville’s methods for reconstructing history. Mark …

Time to admit the limits of dealing with the past

Brian Walker on June 18, 2010, 8:07 am

| Readers 5

It is pretty clear that the State – or a part of it at any rate – is moving towards closing legal process in three years for dealing with the past and that anything further will be dealt with and funded privately. In the wake of the Saville report, nothing is to be gained by Westminster and Stormont prevaricating about this any longer. On Monday David Cameron referred all further cases to the Historical Enquiries Team which in March the …

The jury is out (for some)

Blank on June 17, 2010, 2:28 pm

| Readers 5

With the publication of the Saville Report focus is now shifting to the possibility of prosecutions, some paratroopers are already under investigation by the Public Prosecutions Service over perjury at the inquiry but it is unknown if any criminal investigations and/or prosecutions will take place over events on the day. The DUP’s Peter Robinson has called for no prosecutions I think from a political point of view I have to say that I do not believe that there is anything …

Aftermath of Bloody Sunday: The fracture with the British state…

Mick Fealty on June 17, 2010, 2:10 pm

| Readers 19

Brian has a post over at Listenderry… it’s a great piece of recollection of some of the emotional events at the funeral… Emerging from the church to the crowd outside, I exchange nods with Brian Friel. Our local Church of Ireland curate has bravely turned up, knowing that some of his congregation will shun him. I spot two Protestant funeral directors well known to me. They have been called in to supplement the burial effort. At least Derry’s undertakers recognise …

Derry now in final stages of UK City of Culture bid

Brian Walker on June 17, 2010, 12:59 pm

| Readers 1

Martin McGuinnness’s next engagement after his modest role before the Guildhall on Monday is a wonderful irony and needs little further comment. He will have noticed it himself. So well done, Martin. Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London

Do we need a ‘statute of limitation’ for past injustices?

Mick Fealty on June 17, 2010, 9:04 am

| Readers 12

There’s an interesting argument from Matt over at the Wardman Wire… In effect he argues that a statute of limitations should apply to the killings of Bloody Sunday (and, by implication, if I read him correctly, in the words of Col Wilford, Bloody everything the IRA have ever touched?). Not for political expediency. In fact for the very opposite reason: testimony, and in particular eyewitness testimony is likely to be highly unreliable at this remove from the events involved. So, he …

Some families ask Cowen to help with prosecutions

Mick Fealty on June 17, 2010, 12:52 am

| Readers 2

Interesting snippet from Breaking News which states: Members of the McKinney, Duddy, Nash and Young families held talks with Brian Cowen in Dublin this evening – when they presented him with an original copy of the Saville report, which was published yesterday. Mick FealtyMick 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: …

The unionist reaction to Saville is predictable understandable and incorrect

Turgon on June 16, 2010, 11:09 pm

| Readers 342

The unionist response to Saville has tended to be in one of two fashions. Cushy Glenn made a very valid point on another thread when he suggested that the majority of unionists agreed with Gregory Campbell. Campbell has been unafraid to say what many and probably most unionists think. One reaction is to regard the Saville Enquiry as a “Blackwash” as opposed to the whitewash allegation levelled at Widgery by nationalists and republicans. Gregory Campbell has put this forward (from …

Robinson on Saville: “We should close the book and move on as a society “

Eamonn Mallie on June 16, 2010, 8:48 pm

| Readers 8

First Minister Peter Robinson says he accepts the findings of the Saville report into Bloody Sunday. He said ” I sincerely hope that the result of that inquiry will give closure and a sense of justice to the families of those that were bereaved as a result of that day and I know waiting for 38 years as they have and no one knows better than they the feeling of those many people who are still waiting for closure. “Closure …

“Martin McGuinness was more likely than not to have been in possession of a Thompson sub-machine gun”

Pete Baker on June 15, 2010, 11:35 pm

| Readers 152

Saville made no finding on whether Martin McGuinness had “fired a Thompson sub-machine gun from the Rossville Flats”. But, despite Eamonn’s ‘not proven’ claim, it’s more a case of ‘not [fully] tested’. From the Saville Inquiry’s Consideration of the evidence relating to Martin McGuinness [scroll down] 147.349 We were unable to obtain a written statement from Infliction, or call him to give oral evidence. Nor was Martin McGuinness able to question him or even be told who he was. The same applies to the …

Saville: A good day for reconcilation

Brian Walker on June 15, 2010, 10:41 pm

| Readers 60

For those who don’t remember or haven’t studied the history, the only false note was struck when the claim was repeated several times on news channels, that Bloody Sunday marked the end of the civil rights era and Derry’s association with the northern State. Culled from some news cutting, no doubt. In fact, whatever the banners said on the day, the original civil rights campaign had long ago been superseded by a war of attrition and armed insurgency. The SDLP had …

“None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury.”

Pete Baker on June 15, 2010, 10:03 pm

| Readers 4

The Guardian identifies the key findings of the Saville Inquiry report. The significant one for the families “None of the casualties shot by soldiers of Support Company was armed with a firearm or (with the probable exception of Gerald Donaghey) a bomb of any description. None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury. In no case was any warning given before soldiers opened fire,” the report said. The Guardian also points out Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford did not comply …

Has Saville laid the ghosts of Bloody Sunday to rest?

Mick Fealty on June 15, 2010, 10:01 pm

| Readers 6

Something about this day reminded me of the Victorian journalist, Charles Mackay who noted in 1841: Men, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. My own take on it is over at Comment is Free… In short, if it is to assert it’s legitimate authority over its people the democratic state must hold to a higher standard of …

Bloody Sunday Live blog…

Mick Fealty on June 15, 2010, 3:23 pm

| Readers 15

Bloody Sunday report The Saville Inquiry report has been published on the inquiry website. You can catch summary details about the report, family reactions and political commentary through the many, many media outlets camped out in Guildhall Square. Mick FealtyMick 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

Bloody Sunday: A calculated confrontation?

Niall Ó Dochartaigh on June 15, 2010, 9:49 am

| Readers 73

The Saville Inquiry has uncovered strong evidence that Bloody Sunday was the outcome of a determined military plan to stage a major and unprecedented confrontation in Derry, but will the final report reflect this evidence? The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has not found proof of a British Government plan to carry out a massacre of civilians in Derry in January 1972. Instead it has revealed the contours of a much more complex story, of a major confrontational initiative planned at the …

The Bloody Sunday report is no cue for whataboutery

Brian Walker on June 14, 2010, 12:06 pm

| Readers 14

In advance of the Saville report, old soldiers and others seem to be forming ranks as a pressure group, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, against prosecuting any of the former paratroops. This is a tactical error and premature, to say the least. While self-incrimination is ruled out, it may be argued that the publication of the evidence against them in such copious detail of itself makes a fair trial unfeasible. Paul Bew may be right, that the very detail of Saville’s report …