No shit.
12 years after commencing work, and 38 years after the event, the Saville Inquiry finds that those killed murdered or injured in the “Bloody Sunday” massacre in Derry were innocent civil rights marchers / protesters, and the shootings by soldiers of the Parachute Regiment of the British Army were unprovoked and unjustified.
Unsurprisingly, Bloody Sunday enflamed the Troubles and led to a boon in recruitment for the provisional IRA, in effect legitimizing it in the eyes of many in the Republican and Nationalist communities, while simultaneously delegtimizing the British Army in the eyes of the same; ironic considering the army was originally brought in to protect the civil rights marchers and the Nationalist community from attacks by Loyalists . . .
38 years.
Duh. Thanks.
I thought the shootings were in Londonderry.
Don’t start.
Yea, I should have put a smiley face after but I can’t help it. My family is protestant N. Irish.
I guess I just wanted to see if people would start shouting.
Sorry for being a shit disturber.
Not to worry. Many of my best friends are shit disturbers. As long as you don’t start singing Croppies Lie Down.
I believe the Paras were in Londonderry, the marchers were in Derry. I’m not sure where the dead fell, but the terrorists would have been in Londonderry and the martyrs were definitely in Derry. The whitewash was in London.
This is clearly nothing more than a hit by a group of self-hating Britons who have internalized the propaganda of the carbombing, murderous Irish terrorists who just hate Britain for the centuries of British freedoms that the Irish are simply not culturally ready to allow the noble British soldier to bring to their benighted, backward, fundamentalist land. I mean, some civilian casualties are unavoidable when the Irish terrorists just melt away into the other Irish. And moreover, sometimes you just have to teach the bog-wogs a lesson. All they really understand is violence. I’m sure that collective punishment of the Irish people will force even the Irish to stop supporting (even by acquiescence) the heavily armed terrorist maniacs in their midst.
Oh give over, it’s not funny any more. Accusing people of having those kinds of attitudes is a good way to revive them. Sinn Fein is in govt in NI now. A shithole full of lunatics is steadily turning back into a semi-normal country; acknowledging all the crap that went on is part of that. Maybe one day the IRA [And the INLA, and the UDA, and the LVF....] will admit that some/many/all of its acts were unprovoked and unjustified, and then we really will have got somewhere.
uh, Dave,
I think he was riffing on what Britons would say if they were Israelis and the Cath. Irish were Palestinians.
I maybe wrong but I think that was the equivalence he was drawing.
Just goes to show you when it is your ox getting gored it isn’t so funny.
I think it is all kind of a joke, myself.
This. Except the “it’s all kind of a joke” part. People die, and other people generate horrid, bigoted justifications for why it was the fault of the dead people for getting killed.
I’ve seen enough people die and if I don’t see war as a form of a communication and each ambush as a surprise party and each IED as a practical joke, I would be an insufferable self-righteous prig hectoring people.
I’ve always said to myself that the people who were shooting at me weren’t trying to kill me but just trying to get my attention and telling me to duck.
If this makes me a bad bad person, I am guilty. I’ve been called worse by better.
ironic considering the army was originally brought in to protect the civil rights marchers and the Nationalist community from attacks by Loyalists . . .
It could have been predicted that the army would have difficulty maintaining its admittedly unnatural position as protectors of Catholics. In future it would be arming loyalist paramilitaries.
I was impressed by Cameron’s response. I suppose you could say he was only acknowledging the obvious, and probably he will do his best to ensure no prosecutions result from the inquiry, but still, an impressive showing from him – better than some of his Unionist allies could muster.
The barley shook enough that day.
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/portfolio/2010/06/15/l-irlande-du-nord-se-souvient-du-bloody-sunday-38-ans-apres_1373327_3214.html