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Cameron still acts all surprised about state collusion in 80s murders

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  • Cameron still acts all surprised about state collusion in 80s murders

    The level of state collusion uncovered by a report into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane is "shocking", Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

    However, it concluded that there was "no overarching state conspiracy".

    Sir Desmond de Silva's review confirmed that agents of the state were involved in the 1989 killing and that it should have been prevented.

    Mr Finucane's widow, Geraldine, has dismissed the report as a "sham" and a "whitewash".

    Mr Finucane was shot dead by loyalists in front of his wife and children at his north Belfast home.

    The review, published on Wednesday, found RUC officers proposed Mr Finucane, 39, be killed, said they passed information to his killers and failed to stop the attack and then obstructed the murder investigation.

    It also found that an Army intelligence unit, the FRU, "bears a degree" of responsibility because one of their agents, Brian Nelson, was involved in selecting targets.

    The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Matt Baggott, said the police fully accepted the findings of the report.

    He offered a "complete, absolute and unconditional" apology to the Finucane family, saying they had been "abjectly failed".

    He said that in the coming days the PSNI would discuss the report with the Police Ombudsman and the Public Prosecution Service.

    "Pat Finucane's murder should never have happened and it is a catalogue of failing which now needs to be assessed to see whether there are people who can be held accountable," he said.

    Mrs Finucane said the government had "engineered a suppression of the truth" behind her husband's murder.

    His family have led a high-profile campaign for a full public inquiry into the murder but Mr Cameron has ruled that out.

    Mrs Finucane said: "At every turn, it is clear that this report has done exactly what was required - to give the benefit of the doubt to the state, its cabinet and ministers, to the Army, the intelligence services, to itself.

    "At every turn, dead witnesses have been blamed, and defunct agencies found wanting. Serving personnel and active state departments appear to have been excused.

    "The dirt has been swept under the carpet without any serious attempt to lift the lid on what really happened to Pat and so many others."

    The Finucanes did not cooperate with the review and the solicitor's widow said the de Silva report did not tell her much more than she previously knew about the case.

    Her son, Michael, claimed the government had refused their demand for a full inquiry because it did not want people to be questioned in public.

    However, it concluded that Nelson did not provide his handlers with details of the plot against Mr Finucane.

    It found that MI5 received intelligence two months before the killing that Mr Finucane was under threat but that no steps were taken to protect him.

    It also found that MI5 helped spread propaganda against Mr Finucane in the years before he was killed.

    Sir Desmond found that "in 1985 the security service assessed that 85% of the UDA's 'intelligence' originated from sources within the security forces".

    And he was "satisfied that this proportion would have remained largely unchanged" by the time of Mr Finucane's murder."

    Sir Desmond de Silva QC carried out the review at the government's request. The Finucanes want a public inquiry as they feared the full truth would not emerge.

    In his report Sir Desmond said: "A series of positive actions by employees of the state actively furthered and facilitated his murder and that, in the aftermath of the murder, there was a relentless attempt to defeat the ends of justice.

    "My review of the evidence relating to Patrick Finucane's case has left me in no doubt that agents of the state were involved in carrying out serious violations of human rights up to and including murder.

    "However, despite the different strands of involvement by elements of the state, I am satisfied that they were not linked to an over-arching state conspiracy to murder Patrick Finucane."

    Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Cameron was strongly critical of the RUC and Army for their conduct in relation to the killing.

    He said Sir Desmond concluded that there was "no political conspiracy" over the murder but that "ministers were misled".

    Mr Cameron added that the report found "no evidence whatsoever that any government minister had fore-knowledge of Mr Finucane's murder".

    He said that on behalf of the government and the whole country he wanted to say to the Finucane family that he was "deeply sorry".

    Last year, Mr Cameron acknowledged there was state collusion in Mr Finucane's murder and apologised to his family.

    In the report, Sir Desmond found that an account one of the murderers, Ken Barrett, gave to the BBC Panorama programme about receiving intelligence from the RUC was "essentially accurate".

    However, he added that some specific allegations made by Barrett against individual officers were not reliable.
    'Shocking state collusion' is uncovered in the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, but a report says there was 'no overarching conspiracy'.
    The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

  • #2
    I can understand Mr Cameron's reluctance to open a damning inquiry into monstrous human rights abuses by the last Tory government. They're struggling in the polls and he's only human, after all.
    The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

    Comment


    • #3
      You mean spend hundreds of millions of pounds in the middle of a recession meticulously describing the details of lots of horrible **** that everyone already knows happened?

      Comment


      • #4
        Call me an old-fashioned romantic, but I'd like to see those involved in this, and other conspiracies to murder innocent civilians, go to prison before they get away with it by dying of old age.
        The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

        Comment


        • #5
          I'd normally agree, but given that we let a lot of Republicans walk away from some horrifically terrible acts, it doesn't feel like the best place to start looking for justice. It's neither fair nor just, but if we want reconciliation to work we're going to have to swallow some pretty vile past acts on all sides. Either that or start looking for justice for everyone, but if we do that then the conflict will reignite.

          Comment


          • #6
            Are the Irish really so pissed off still that they'd be willing to go back to war over **** that happened 30+ years ago? I'm not saying they shouldn't be pissed off. But war really sucks, man.
            If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
            ){ :|:& };:

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            • #7
              It's not really the Irish, just extremists in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Both Republicans and Loyalists could be pushed back into it though yes. There were riots in N.Ireland in the last week over a council decision to only fly the Union Jack on certain days of the year not every day. That was enough to cause 300 Loyalists to attack the building, six nights of riots and numerous death threats to the people involved.

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              • #8
                Oh my god. It's a ****ing flag. A piece of cloth. Jesus christ.

                That said, there have been some shit fits about state flags in the US, I guess. But I can't think of any 300 person riots.

                What advantage would be conferred by being governed by the Republic of Ireland as opposed to the United Kingdom? Don't y'all basically have open borders? This is like arguing that West Virginia still belongs to Virginia.
                If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                ){ :|:& };:

                Comment


                • #9
                  Indeed. Bear in mind that riots there get triggered by extreme sins such as the marching bands playing the wrong songs in the wrong areas of Belfast. Seriously people get killed over that kind of ****. It's a place where you walk on political eggshells or people die.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                    Oh my god. It's a ****ing flag. A piece of cloth. Jesus christ.

                    That said, there have been some shit fits about state flags in the US, I guess. But I can't think of any 300 person riots.

                    What advantage would be conferred by being governed by the Republic of Ireland as opposed to the United Kingdom? Don't y'all basically have open borders? This is like arguing that West Virginia still belongs to Virginia.
                    Flags have social significance and aren't just pieces of cloth that flutter in the wind.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by kentonio View Post
                      Indeed. Bear in mind that riots there get triggered by extreme sins such as the marching bands playing the wrong songs in the wrong areas of Belfast. Seriously people get killed over that kind of ****. It's a place where you walk on political eggshells or people die.
                      I actually have a cousin who lives in Belfast; she is Catholic and a protestant in her neighborhood once got a death threat demanding he move (it is a catholic neighborhood, she isn't stupid). So why do I still expect people to be reasonable? I guess it's the optimist in me.
                      If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                      ){ :|:& };:

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                        I actually have a cousin who lives in Belfast; she is Catholic and a protestant in her neighborhood once got a death threat demanding he move (it is a catholic neighborhood, she isn't stupid). So why do I still expect people to be reasonable? I guess it's the optimist in me.
                        It's not a place that invites much optimism unfortunately. I remember being disgusted by the Good Friday agreement, but in hindsight it's achieved some pretty incredible results. That's why stirring up dangerous waters seems unwise to me I think.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          What was so bad about the Good Friday agreement? Didn't it give N.I. a local legislature? I don't see the problem with that. We've been doing things that way here for 200+ years.
                          If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                          ){ :|:& };:

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Bugs ****ing Bunny View Post
                            Call me an old-fashioned romantic, but I'd like to see those involved in this, and other conspiracies to murder innocent civilians, go to prison before they get away with it by dying of old age.
                            Gerry Adams?
                            I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                            For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                              What was so bad about the Good Friday agreement? Didn't it give N.I. a local legislature? I don't see the problem with that. We've been doing things that way here for 200+ years.
                              The part where a load of terrorists were released early from prison.

                              IRA men walked out smiling as they were greeted by jubilant wives, mothers, children and supporters. Champagne corks popped, party streamers were thrown and confetti sprinkled on the men as they emerged through the turnstiles of the grey corrugated iron fences. It was more akin to a wedding than a prison release. The IRA's commanding officer in the prison, Jim McVeigh, was the only prisoner to speak during the releases. He said his men left the Maze "proud republicans, unbowed and unbroken".
                              Imagine how that must have felt to people who had their children indiscriminately killed by these people only a few years earlier.

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