You are currently browsing the daily archive for 12 September 2004.
**viewpoint #1
No movement on weapons
12 September 2004
Republican activists haven’t been told to prepare to dump arms by IRA chiefs, in advance of this week’s political negotiations at Leeds Castle.
Informed republican sources in south Armagh, say there has been no serious discussions between the IRA leadership and hardline activists in recent weeks about dumping weapons to facilitate a deal with the DUP.
“There has been no serious talk of it, and indeed the buzz around here is that Adams and McGuinness have told everyone to sit tight, because there’s a lot more talking to do with the government and the DUP before they reach that stage,” one South Armagh-based republican said.
“I haven’t heard any serious suggestion, or picked up any anticipation, that the weapons issue will be resolved, in the Castle.
“It’s expected to be discussed, but nobody’s anticipating any hard and fast agreement.
“Adams and McGuinness would have to have the ingredients of a deal to sell to the IRA, and it might take the DUP some time to digest what republicans want and sell it to their supporters.
“There’s certainly no serious suggestion that the boys will be getting their P45s before Christmas anyway”, the source said.
The DUP’s Lagan Valley MP, Jeffrey Donaldson, has played down suggestions that he could be one of two party representatives nominated to witness a major IRA act of weapons decommissioning.
“I certainly haven’t been approached about such a proposition, and I haven’t been told that any such proposal has been made.
“We do need to see the decommissioning of the rest of the IRA’s weaponry, through proper verification procedures. “While there is a role for General de Chastelain, there has to be a greater transparency surrounding any further decommissioning exercise and less secrecy.
“The public must have total confidence in whatever procedure is proposed to verify the destruction of IRA weapons,” he said.
**viewpoint #2
IRA expected to hand over weapons this week
06:35 Sunday September 12th 2004
According to a report in today’s papers, the IRA will eventually be dismantled as part of a deal to restore the north’s power sharing government.
The British and Irish governments are said to be quietly confident that the paramilitary group will put arms out of use before or during next Thursday’s peace talks in Leeds Castle
The head of the Independent Commission on Decommissioning, General Jean Dechastelain, is expected to meet with the IRA over the next few days. The group will give a full itinerary of what weapons have been decommissioned to date
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and America’s envoy to Northern Ireland, Michell Reiss will attend the three-day peace talks.
Sinn Fein and the DUP will also be at the table.
It’s the cat’s whiskers and the organic milk won’t get your goat
EVEN as far back as 1982, there weren’t many 18-year-olds who regarded it as a cracking career move to enter holy orders. It was with some surprise therefore to my family and indeed myself, that I entered the priesthood in rural Ireland with seven other strange blokes.
I assumed on entering this semi-enclosed order that beatification could not be far off – at least no further than a week away.
I was proved entirely correct in this assertion when on day two, an old lady came up to me in the sacristy and bowing her head, kissed my hand.
For a chap who had secured one point in his Leaving Cert a week earlier and was now wearing a brown habit, this was something of a turnaround and surely a Bishopric could only be a novena away.
And better things got. Soon we learnt that the simple vows of chastity, poverty and obedience actually only really meant obedience. You only had to look at the state of the eight novices to realise that chastity was never going to be a serious problem for any of us.
The vow of poverty was luckily a broad church too. Securing material requests on demand, from cars to spanking new turbo priest sandals, did not apparently mean we were breaking our promise of poverty.
No, ours was a poverty of spirit which, as I commented to our mechanic when picking up the Saab up from its service, was handy enough.
Obedience was a different matter. Only those who have entered the priesthood will really get this. When you are in the priesthood, you will frequently be challenged by a series of desultory and entirely pointless commands.
For example, a seemingly uncomplicated matter like suggesting a hymn for Mass on a Sunday could well be met with such a look of righteous indignation from one of the paid-up friars as to make you wonder if you hadn’t actually just queried the resurrection .
Nor would I describe myself as a disobedient sort of a chap. Historically my mother would have begged to differ, and when in school, she would always threaten me with removal to boarding school for even my most minor explosive offences.
The particular school was in Westmeath and since those days I have driven through this county faster then the speed of light for fear a giant holy man will grab me and put me up the front of the class in some prison doubling up as a school.
Lately however my therapist says I am coming on a treat, and now I can saunter through the county
‘Some homes hide behind the curtains when they see you coming. Catstone Lodge and Farm however wraps its arms around you, gives you a great big kiss, and asks can it be your friend. ‘ without so much as breaking out in a small sweat. For the rest of the population, of course, Westmeath has and always will be a special place. Uisneach Hill is known as the centre of Ireland, and about five miles from this spot beside the village of Ballymore lies Catstone Lodge and Farm, now up for sale through that most blue blooded of auctioneers Ganly Walters. The renovation of this property has been superb. The main house has two extensions on either side with separate entrances, containing en suite apartments with living area, open fireplaces, luxurious bathrooms and kitchenettes. The reconstruction of the whole building is carried out in old style stone walls, patterned old slating, pitch pine and oak beams from architectural salvages. All the windows are teak and double glazed. The main house includes two bedrooms and a garden room, while the first apartment boasts a wooden floor, beamed ceiling, part exposed stone wall, brick fireplace with handcrafted copperhood and a hand painted fitted pine wardrobe. The second apartment is similar and while the cottage has the usual bedroom livingroom/kitchen features etc, it also has a mezzanine area with wooden floor, velux window and storage room which would be perfect for an office or small second bedroom. The draw of Catstone to many will be that it is a working organic farm specialising in goats milk. Amongst other things, there is a 12-bay shed and a hay barn, and also a modern 12-unit milking parlour specially for goats. On the farm there is a work shop with large windows to north, formally used as an artist’s studio. There is also an old restored stone outhouse beside Catstone lodge which houses a utility room and another storage room. Another small shed with two windows could be used for garden tools etc. There is also another old stone cottage can easily be restored into a two-storey house with two bedrooms. There is a patio area to the back of the property leading to a well kept lawn surrounded by shrubs and flower beds, original stone wall, and mature trees. This is an easy care garden with a small greenhouse. Some homes hide behind the curtains when they see you coming. Others extend a nervous hand, while still others will invite you in the parlour. Catstone Lodge & Farm however wraps its arms around you, gives you a great big kiss, and asks can it be your friend. After a viewing you will know that this particular hand of friendship can never be rejected. Now if you will excuse me, after my earlier comments I’m off to hear confession – my own that is. For further information, contact Harriet Grant of Ganly Walters on 01 662 3255
John O’Keeffe
**from yesterday
DUP must abandon ‘anti-Agreement position’: McLaughlin
11/09/2004 – 14:35:04
Sinn Féin Chairman Mitchell McLaughlin today said that the DUP must abandon what he labelled their “anti-Agreement” position, and make progress based on the principles of the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking at a meeting of the party’s Ard Chomhairle in Dublin today, he said that was the challenge facing those involved in the Northern talk process in the coming days.
The Sinn Féin leadership was briefed by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness on the on-going contact with the Irish and British governments in advance of next week’s talks at Leeds Castle.
THE BLANKET * Index: Current Articles
Articles From This Issue:
12 September 2004
Standing Down
Mick Hall
Life in the Party
Seaghán Ó Murchú
Is There a Peaceful Way to a Peoples Republic?
Liam O Comain
Rising to the Top of the Hate List
Fred A. Wilcox
Books Not Bombs
Mary La Rosa
Fighting for the Right to be a British Drug Dealer
Anthony McIntyre
Document Stamped ‘Secret’
submitted by Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh
The Final Insult
Starry Plough Editorial Collective
Tensions Escalate as Loyalists March Through the Ardoyne
Paul Mallon
Gray day for Sunny Jim
By Sunday Life Reporter
12 September 2004
Under pressure UDA crimelord Jim Gray’s business empire is starting to crumble.
For the paramilitary boss has been forced to call time on one of his best known ventures in his east Belfast stronghold.
The Avenue One bar, at Templemore Avenue, along with its upstairs nightclub and adjoining off-licence, is to close in a fortnight.
Shocked suppliers who called at the premises on Friday were told: “We’re taking no more orders… we’re closing down.”
It is not known if the jet-setting UDA brigadier has sold the pub, or is desperately trying to offload his assets as crime-fighting agencies close in.
The Assets Recovery Agency has spent months probing how Gray amassed his wealth.
And, Sunday Life revealed in June, how Gray told bemused investigators how he launched his bar business empire with a jackpot win in a Las Vegas casino.
Gray’s own colleagues have told him he dropped a major clanger by pursuing a High Court action against an insurance company, which refused to pay out following a fire at another of his pub outlets.
Gray and Gary Matthews, who ran the Bunch of Grapes, at Beersbridge Road, had sued Axa Insurance Company for over £60,000, after the fire in January, 2001.
But, the action was withdrawn last May, when it came before Mr Justice Coghlin, who entered judgment in favour of Axa.
Shortly before the fire, the mutilated body of George Legge (37), a former senior UDA man, was found at Carryduff, and murder squad detectives investigated a possible link with the pub fire.
Axa refused to pay out, because they did not accept that the pub was damaged in the circumstances claimed.
The insurers also stated that Gray “failed to disclose that he was connected with an unlawful organisation, the UDA, being at all material times a member of the UDA and/or the Officer Commanding the UDA in east Belfast.”
Axa’s court documents also claimed the fire was “an unlawful, wanton or malicious act, committed maliciously by a person or persons acting on behalf of or in connection with an unlawful association.”
One loyalist source revealed: “Gray was stupid to continue with the action… it only served to draw attention to him, and that’s the last thing he wanted with the cops breathing down his neck. It also left him with a hefty five-figure legal bill.”
Gray lives in a plush apartment, in the east of the city, and regularly jets off to exotic locations around the globe.
Omagh bomb security gaffe
Wanted man held in Wales but is released
By Alan Murray
12 September 2004
Mystery still surrounds why the PSNI was not told that a man, wanted for interview about the Omagh bombing, was detained for over three hours, at Cardiff airport, before being freed.
For local police are still to explain to victims’ families why they weren’t told that professional car thief, Paddy Dixon, was held and then freed by Customs officers in Wales, in July, after he was detected carrying a large quantity of cigarettes and cash.
The officer leading the Omagh inquiry, Superintendent Norman Baxter has been trying to interview Dixon for 18 months, about his possible knowledge of the planning of the Real IRA attack.
But, even though the car thief is protected within a Garda Witness Protection programme, Baxter’s detectives haven’t been allowed to speak to him.
Dixon’s Garda handler, Sgt John White, has confirmed that he was a registered informant, who stole several cars for the Real IRA for use in bombings, prior to August, 1998.
He says that prior to Omagh, Dixon was asked by the Real IRA to find a Vauxhall car for use in major bombing, but was then told one had already been stolen.
But, the information was never transmitted to the RUC by the Garda, and the Omagh bomb car was able to travel undetected from the Republic to Northern Ireland, with the devastating 300lbs device on board.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the bomb, asked Hugh Orde to explain why the PSNI wasn’t made aware by Customs and Excise, that Dixon had been detained in Cardiff.
Despite writing to the Chief Constable, a month ago, he still hasn’t got an explanation.
“I received a letter from the Chief Constable, dated August 9, merely saying he’d passed the correspondence to the Crime Operations Assistant Chief Constable, Sam Kinkaid. But, that’s as much as I’ve got in response so far,” he said on Friday.
Mr Gallagher, who is chairman of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, sent a copy of the letter to the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and the Secretary of State.
“Norman Baxter has made several requests to interview Dixon without success,” said Mr Gallagher.
“Then, when Dixon is stopped in the UK, he is allowed to go without the PSNI being told he was in Cardiff.
“I’ve asked the Chief Constable to advise me if the PSNI has made all UK law enforcement agencies aware that they have an interest in Dixon, but so far I haven’t received any response of substance”, Michael Gallagher said.
A PSNI spokesman refused to comment on why the force wasn’t advised by Customs that Dixon had been detained in Wales.
He said Michael Gallagher’s letter was “receiving attention”. And, a Customs & Excise spokesman, said they weren’t prepared to comment about the embarrassing gaffe.
Road smash link to death threat
Crime boss ‘slaps contract’ on coma victim’s brother
By Ciaran McGuigan
12 September 2004
A loyalist crime godfather has put a bounty on the head of a former associate, who he fears will reveal his role in a horrific car smash.
One man remains in a coma in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, following the smash, a month ago.
The man’s 14-year-old stepson was killed in the pile-up involving three vehicles, one towing a boat, in north Down.
A total of nine people were taken to hospital, including the man’s fiancee.
The couple were due to marry two weeks ago.
The man currently lying in a coma is hiding a grim secret.
Just weeks earlier, he suffered a vicious beating at the hands of a well-known loyalist thug, who lives in the Craigavon area.
The man was knocked unconscious, and then beaten about the head with a lump of wood, after being involved in a dispute over a paramilitary flag.
The man’s family believe the head injuries he suffered in the beating, may have been to blame for the road smash.
They also believe the injuries from the attack are part of the reason that the man remains on a ventilator in hospital.
Said the man’s brother: “That was only the second time he was able to get behind the wheel of a car, since this thug gave him a beating.
“He was having dizzy spells, and we believe it was the beating that caused the accident, and the head injuries he suffered then are destroying his hopes of regaining consciousness.
“The doctors and nurses were asking if he had suffered any head injuries that had gone untreated, before the accident.
“I think they believe that it is those injuries that have made his condition so bad, but they are not letting on.
“And that drug-dealing thug knows it. He is running scared and is worried that we are going to tell people exactly what he has done.
“He has paid loyalist paramilitaries to kill me, in order to shut me up, but that will never work.
“He has paid people to kill me before, and they failed too.”
The man who spoke to Sunday Life is currently in hiding, after fleeing his mid-Ulster home under a death threat from drug dealers.
Last week, cops tracked him to his bolt-hole ? it took them two days to find him ? to warn him that loyalists were planning to kill him.
He believes it is the mid-Ulster UVF that are planning to kill him, and that they have been offered cash by the man who beat his brother to a pulp.
UVF’s young thugs behind racist beatings
By Stephen Breen
12 September 2004
A feared loyalist terror gang was last night accused of a vicious racist attack on an Ulster teenager.
Senior security sources told Sunday Life that members of the UVF’s youth wing – the Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV) – were behind the evil beating of the 15-year-old in Dundonald, on the outskirts of east Belfast, last week.
The mixed-race teenager suffered serious injuries and was treated in the Ulster Hospital, after he was beaten by a gang, as he walked through the Ballybeen estate.
Terrified locals claimed the young thugs have been terrorising the area, and have also blamed them for a spate of robberies, burglaries and car thefts in the area.
They also claimed the tearaways have been given permission by the area’s UVF commander to commit their crimes.
The terror chief, who is believed to be a former burglar, only joined the organisation after the 1994 ceasefire.
Local people claim the paramilitary boss rules the area with an “iron hand”, and say there have been pleas for the UVF leadership to remove him.
They also claimed that the terror chief has turned a “blind eye” to drug dealing, in the loyalist stronghold.
Said one frightened local: “The attack on the young boy last week was just the tip of the iceberg – it was a despicable act.
“The local UVF commander gave the go-ahead for the attack, because he knows he can get away with anything in the area.
“He has all these young boys running after him and obeying his orders, and everyone is afraid to say anything about his bully-boy tactics.
“The UVF leadership in the Shankill don’t know what’s going on here because they don’t live here. It’s about time they sorted this problem, once and for all, before it gets worse.”
Last week’s attack was also condemned by local MLA Robin Newton, who said he did not know which paramilitary group was responsible.
Added the DUP man: “Responsible people cannot condone this dreadful act.
“To carry out the attack on this youth in such a brutal fashion is to sink to the very depths of depravity.
“I don’t know which paramilitary group was responsible for the attack, but only the PSNI can act to implement the law, and no other group has the right to take the law into their own hands.”
Blowing the lid off a can of worms
Trial of Ken Barrett for murder of solicitor Pat Finucane begins tomorrow, and is set to shed new light on murky world of intelligence and counter-terrorism
Stephen Breen
12 September 2004
One of the most eagerly awaited trials in Northern Ireland’s turbulent history is set to get under way in Belfast tomorrow.
West Belfast loyalist Ken Barrett (main picture) – an alleged Special Branch informer – is the second man to appear before a judge in relation to the 1989 killing of solicitor Pat Finucane.
UFF double agent, William Stobie, was charged and later acquitted of the killing. But, within days, in December 2001, he was gunned down by loyalist terrorists.
Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has spent nearly 15 years investigating Mr Finucane’s murder, along with other cases of alleged collusion between loyalists and the security forces.
The high-profile murder case beginning tomorrow, is expected to last well into 2005.
Barrett was arrested soon after he was secretly filmed by the BBC’s Panorama, claiming to have been involved in the murder, at the solicitor’s north Belfast home.
At a bail hearing, in September 2003, it was claimed that the Stevens team had also secretly bugged Barrett, after an undercover cop befriended him.
A Crown lawyer referred to lengthy conversations recorded in the covert operation while Barrett was living in England, after fleeing Belfast because of death threats.
He said an undercover officer – known to Barrett as ‘Steve’ – asked him about the Finucane murder, and he replied: “It wasn’t the first occasion I done it. It was just that he got so much publicity, because he was a republican solicitor.
“He hadn’t really got shot. He got ****ing massacred. He was hit 22 times. I have to be honest, I whacked a few people in the past. People say to me: ‘How do you sleep?’ I sleep fine.”
The lawyer said Barrett had claimed the go-ahead for the shooting was given after Army agent Brian Nelson had passed on a photograph of Mr Finucane.
A lawyer for Barrett described recordings made by undercover police as “intrusive surveillance”, and said the alleged admissions would be challenged at the trial.
He said it was a “sting” type operation, which Barrett had “only gone along with” in order to get money.
“The whole scenario is an extremely murky one, where these undercover officers were attempting to trap Barrett,” said the defence barrister.
Barrett’s trial gets under way as pressure mounts on the British Government to announce a date for a public inquiry into Mr Finucane’s killing.
Canadian judge, Peter Cory, recommended a date for a public inquiry into the killing, but the Government has said it intends to make an announcement on the inquiry after the criminal trial is over.
The court case comes at a crucial time in Ulster’s troubled peace process, with republicans set to raise the killing, and the subsequent trial, in their negotiations with the Government.
Although Mr Finucane’s family have repeatedly called for a public inquiry, many observers believe Barrett’s trial could also shed new light on the murky world of intelligence and counter-terrorism.
Make or break time for MLAs
By Alan Murray
12 September 2004
The Stormont Assembly will be wound up and MLAs will lose their salaries before the end of the year, if the Leeds Castle talks fail this week.
That’s the hint being dropped in private by Tony Blair, according to senior unionist sources.
The Prime Minister is looking for definite political progress during the three days of talks, in Kent.
But the sources say Mr Blair is conscious that for the last two years he has been saying that the process has to make progress, to restore credibility to the political institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement.
Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, hinted last week at a tougher government stance, when he warned that the Leeds Castle talks shouldn’t be seen as a ‘staging post’ and a prelude for further tortuous discussions.
But, there is little expectation that the DUP will conclude a deal with Sinn Fein – even if the IRA was to indicate that it will make significant moves on disarmament, in the coming months.
Informed sources say party leader, Ian Paisley’s description of journalists, who wrote articles on his health, as ‘Romanists’, has caused major concern within republican ranks.
And they believe it has weakened Gerry Adams’ argument for significant moves on weapons decommissioning.
“The Doc’s performance at Stormont was unfortunately vintage Paisley, and it spooked a lot of the Sinn Fein people.
“Activists are inclined to interpret it as the old ‘I wouldn’t have a Catholic about the place’ line.
“(Peter) Robinson can set the optimistic scene, but Ian Paisley can thunder in and wreck it,” one politician, familiar with Downing Street thinking, said.
He added: “The strong hint has been dropped in the last few days, via senior officials, that the Assembly can’t continue as it is, with MLAs being paid and expenses being paid, without the whole thing functioning properly again.
“How long they would keep it going would be the only real question. So, if there’s no sign of agreement next week on the major issues, then it could be mothballed very quickly, certainly before Christmas.”
Meanwhile, DUP negotiator, Nigel Dodds, has said his party’s demands on IRA decommissioning were unalterable.
“We have come to the end of the road with nods and winks, and we will hold firm on that. If decommissioning occurs it will have to be done in a credible way, and in a way that will boost public confidence”, he said yesterday.
Deputy leader, Peter Robinson, also warned yesterday: “An incremental approach from republicans won’t cut it this time. Either they divvy up, or there is no deal.”
Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, said it was imperative that the talks at Leeds Castle produced a successful outcome.
“We can’t allow events to continue to drift,” he said.
“While some participants are reluctant to engage in meaningful dialogue, the crisis and the breakdown was caused by the IRA failing to live up to the obligations placed upon it by the Belfast Agreement.
“It’s essential that they recognise those shortcomings and make the appropriate redress”, he said.
We’ll hit back: INLA
Stephen Breen
12 September 2004
Renegade republicans last night vowed to step up attacks in loyalist interface areas of a notorious Ulster troublespot.
In an interview with Sunday Life, a senior INLA man, in north Belfast, warned the terror group’s units in the area were “fully armed”.
And the terror spokesman said its members would extend their campaign across Belfast, if the UDA continues to target nationalist communities.
The INLA made the claims after the Red Hand Defenders – a cover name for the UDA and LVF – rammed a north Belfast pub last week with a digger.
We revealed how UDA sources claimed the attack on the 32 Degrees North pub, in Ardoyne, was a warning to republicans.
But the senior renegade republican said the INLA would ignore mainstream republicans’ pleas to remain calm, by launching fresh attacks in loyalist communities.
The terror spokesman also said the INLA had been boosted in recent weeks, by a recruitment drive in the Ardoyne area.
Said the spokesman: “We will not stand by, and allow loyalists to try and murder innocent nationalists without retaliation. If it happens again in Ardoyne, the INLA will hit back.
“This area is a powderkeg at the minute, and people are furious with the way they have been treated over the summer.
“The riot on the Twelfth was an example of the frustration in Ardoyne, and it could have been a lot worse if the Provos did not intervene.
“The Provos are still a very strong group in the area, but they also know that the INLA has members who are more than willing to ignore their pleas to remain calm.
“The IRA is trying to keep a lid on things because of the peace process, because they know just how volatile the situation in Ardoyne is. But if there is one more attack against nationalists, the INLA will have no other option but to attack loyalist communities.”
But a senior security force told us the IRA was still the “dominant” force in the nationalist enclave.
Added the source: “The INLA has the capacity to attack loyalist communities, but it is the Provos who, in reality, control Ardoyne.
“The INLA may disobey Provo orders, but they wouldn’t dare go against them. It was the INLA who orchestrated the riots on the Twelfth and we could have been dealing with a massacre.
“If the INLA has so much control in the area, why didn’t the young guys who stole the Army’s equipment go to them?”
Army spook flies the coop
FRU stool pigeon in flight from danger
12 September 2004
A whistle-blowing former British Army intelligence handler has fled his home in the Irish Republic.
The former agent, who uses the pseudonym ‘Martin Ingram’, has fled over fears his life could be at risk in the run up to a Tribunal of Inquiry into alleged Garda/IRA collusion, in the murders of two RUC detectives.
Ingram is the co-author of ‘Stakeknife’, the recent book on undercover agents in Ulster, which highlighted the role of IRA spy, Freddie Scappaticci.
Yesterday, an informed source told Sunday Life the ex-FRU operative had left his Irish home, for a location outside the British Isles.
They said that Ingram had become increasingly concerned for his safety, after he had been visited and questioned by two senior Special Branch officers from Garda HQ, in Dublin.
It is understood the officers asked Ingram about the infiltration of the Irish security forces by British intelligence agents and informants.
They asked him if he could set up a meeting with the former FRU agent, known as ‘Kevin Fulton’, a former IRA man.
Irish Special Branch also asked Ingram if he knew what evidence Fulton was likely to give to the inquiry into allegations of IRA/Garda collusion, in the 1989 border murders of RUC men Bob Buchanan and Harry Breen.
Recently, Ingram and Fulton’s credibility and motivation have been questioned by certain sections of the Irish media.
“It’s obvious certain elements within the Irish government, the security forces and the IRA don’t want this inquiry to get off the ground,” claimed the source.
“They are now briefing against the Breen and Buchanan inquiry, and attempting to stymie it.
“Ingram and Fulton are potential witnesses whose evidence could open a can of worms for the Irish. ”
Unionist politicians are expected to raise the lack of progress on the Breen and Buchanan inquiry, when they meet Irish officials at the all party talks at Leeds Castle, this week.
Irish American Information Service
SINN FEIN DEMANDS IRISH VIEW ON DIRECT RULE THREAT
09/11/04 14:10 EST
The core issue of the move towards restoring devolved government in Northern Ireland was whether the Democratic Unionist Party is capable of striking a deal, Sinn Fein said today.
Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, the party chairman, said Sinn Fein was dedicated to seeing the Stormont assembly and power sharing executive resume but the party had genuine grounds for concern on whether the DUP was ready to do the work required.
The British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair has warned that a return to direct rule for Northern Ireland was not possible unless the three- days of high-level talks in Leeds Castle next week were successful.
Mr McLaughlin said: “Essentially Sinn Fein is not preparing for failure, other parties and indeed governments can speak for themselves, we are in to do the business. I think giving people opt out clauses is perhaps a mistake. Our party will be going in with a can do attitude rather than legislating for failure.”
Mr McLaughlin was speaking as a meeting of the party’s Ard Chomhairle (governing Executive) in Dublin.
Party leader Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness were discussing the party’s strategy ahead of next week’s talks chaired by Mr Blair and the Taoiseach Mr Ahern.
The Sinn Fein leadership will be in meetings with representatives of the British and Irish governments over the weekend.
The British Government is demanding closure at next week’s Leeds Castle talks and threatening a return to direct rule if the DUP and Sinn F?n cannot agree the basis for a resumption of power- sharing devolution.
Mr McLaughlin said: “We rule nothing out and we certainly are not threatening to walk away.”
The chairman said the party would be asking the Irish government this weekend what their view was on Mr Blair`s comments of direct rule.
He added: “I would expect the Irish government to defend the good Friday agreement and direct rule is not any part whatsoever of the Good Friday Agreement.”
The party said they were looking for a deal this week to return devolved government to Northern Ireland.
After almost two hours of talks with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in his Sedgefield constituency yesterday, Mr Tony Blair, said: “There comes a point when the final decisions have got to be made, and they’ve got to be made in a way that brings closure. That’s where we are at now.”
Mr Blair’s warning was underlined by Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphyin which he defines the British “Plan B” as provision for political failure and “an alternative based on direct rule” which neither side will like.
While Dublin could hardly be sanguine about a return to protracted direct rule, Irish sources last night confirmed the Taoiseach’s agreement with Mr Blair that “this is it” and that next week’s talks must reach “the point of decision”.
While some senior Irish sources are known to doubt the Rev Ian Paisley’s readiness to cut a deal, Mr Ahern spoke warmly of his dealings with the DUP leader since last January, which were “fruitful, open and very businesslike”.
He said: “We sincerely believe we can make an arrangement around the issues that are on the table with the DUP, and we will do all we can to do so.”
Mr Blair said: “Two years on the elements are still the same. It’s apparent what has to happen. There has to be a complete and unequivocal end to violence. There has to be a willingness on that basis [by unionists] to share power. The elements are clear. The question is – is the will clear? Do people really want to do it? And this is the chance. There’s no point in us carrying on continually having these meetings unless that will exists. And we’ll find out next week whether it really does.”
Asked if an agreement next week might be played out over several months, possibly to the far side of Christmas, Mr Blair replied: “I hope we can get everything going as swiftly as possible if we can get the basic agreement, and it’s the basic agreement that matters. Everybody now believes the only basis on which power can be shared in a way that is fair is if violence is given up completely, and there’s no ambiguity about it, no ambivalence, no thinking ‘well, a little bit doesn’t matter’. It’s got to stop.”
Senior Whitehall sources stressed later that Mr Blair’s demand that there be “no ambiguity, no ambivalence and so on” applied equally to the DUP.
Muslim held in terror raid ‘suffered 50 injuries’
CPS declines to prosecute despite medical report on alleged assault
Vikram Dodd
Saturday September 11, 2004
The Guardian
A British Muslim man arrested during a terrorism raid suffered 50 separate injuries after being repeatedly kicked, punched and stamped upon, according to a medical report seen by the Guardian.
The Crown Prosecution Service yesterday announced that no officer would be charged for allegedly assaulting Babar Ahmad, who was arrested in December 2003 at his south London home.
Mr Ahmad was released after six days without charge and made an official complaint about the alleged assault. He claims that as kicks and punches rained down on him he was taunted by an officer saying: “Where is your God now?”
But last month he was arrested again, after the US requested his extradition, alleging he ran a support network for terrorists in Chechnya and Afghanistan.
Friends and supporters condemned the CPS decision and officers involved in the raid could still face disciplinary charges.
Mr Ahmad was yesterday remanded in custody by Bow Street magistrates pending a full extradition hearing.
After Mr Ahmad’s first arrest he was examined by a consultant in accident and emergency medicine, Manolis Gavalas, from University College London hospital.
The report found that Mr Ahmad, 30, had been left with blood coming from his ear and in his urine after being arrested, and with injuries to his face, torso, arms and legs.
Mr Gavalas said “excessive force” was used on Mr Ahmad, who claims he did not resist arrest. The consultant also said the beating had been “controlled” and designed to cause pain rather than life-threatening injuries.
The medical report says: “He was punched and kicked all over his head, torso and extremities … and had his extremity and torso forcefully stamped on.
“He could not keep count of the number of punches and kicks he received, though he recalls that the police officers were wearing gloves.
“Police officers grabbed him by his genitals and pulled him all over like a dog on a lead.”
Mr Ahmad says his wife witnessed the alleged assaults and that he was punched in a police van while the handcuffs were pulled tighter and tighter.
After six days he was released without charge.
Mr Gavalas wrote: “There is clearly unequivocal evidence that he was subjected to a harrowing physical and psychological assault by police officers. He was clearly badly beaten up although in a reasonably controlled manner … aimed at inflicting significant soft tissue trauma with pain, but not to cause any life-threatening injuries.”
The CPS said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any officers, following an investigation by the Met itself.
That inquiry was supervised by the Police Complaints Authority and, after it was abolished, by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
A source with knowledge of the process that led to the CPS decision said the Met investigation had not uncovered any forensic evidence substantiating Mr Ahmad’s claims.
The source added: “If it came to trial it would be one person’s word against that of three police officers and it would be very unlikely that a jury would think a case proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Yesterday, in a letter from Woodhill prison, Mr Ahmad told Eastern Eye newspaper he was in jail because he had complained against the police.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said its directorate of professional standards would consider disciplinary charges.
**Posted to the group by Irish_colleen7
God’s story–
And God created Ireland
Once upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven God went missing for seven days. Eventually, Michael the Archangel found him. He enquired of God, “Where were you?” God breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds. “Look son, look what I’m after making”. Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, “What is it?” God replied, “It’s another planet, but I’m after putting Life on it. I’ve named it Earth and there’s going to be a balance between everything on it. For example, there’s North America and South America. North America is going to be rich and South America will be poor, and the narrow bit joining them will be a hot spot. Now look over here I’ve put a continent of whites in the North and another one of blacks in the South.” Then the Archangel said, “What’s that green dot there?” “Ahhh, that’s the Emerald Isle,” God said. “That’s a very special place. That’s going to be the most glorious spot on Earth, beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers, streams and exquisite coastline. These people here are going to be great craic and they’re going to be found travelling the world. They’ll be playwrights and poets, singers and songwriters. And I’m going to give them this black liquid, which they’re going to go mad on, and for which people will come from the far corners of the Earth to drink.” Michael the Archangel gasped in wonder and admiration, then seemingly startled, he said, “Hold on a second, what about BALANCE, you said there was going to be balance..?” God replied wisely, “Wait until you see the wankers I’m putting next door to them!”
Robert Krick
SAOIRSE32 
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