Prison officer killed in suspect dissident ambush

pablomakaveli wrote: »

Im more than certain they would have killed him whether he was protestant or catholic. As i said if they wanted to kill a protestant they could have found a much easier target.

The amount of intelligence required to murder somebody is alot so yer there are easier targets, most of them living in their own community's as they have already demonstrated in the past, but if you want to up the aunty target somebody from the other community

pablomakaveli wrote: »

Why would they even need to up the ante? Killing a prison officer sends the message they want to send.

Because they are failing in their desire to being the army back onto the streets, why are you finding that so hard to understand, if they don't up the ante, if they don't get the army back onto the streets they will stall in their campaign, it's really not rocket science

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

As I said why not shoot up a pub full of protestants if this is what they want so bad.your point is flawed,you're trying to make it sectarian,give it a rest we have enough bad things happening without people like you stirring it more.

Spare me the moral high ground rubbish, It wasn't me that went out and killed this police officer, and This man was a member of my community not yours. If dissidents did shoot up a bar the ILLUSION of being non sectarian. (The same illusion that the previous incarnations if republicans have tried to paint,) is destroyed, shooting this prison officer allows them to try and maintain this illusion, but at the same time it sends a direct message of provocation into the loyalist / unionist community, as he was as already mentioned, a member of our community. I would not be surprised in the least to find that there are some republicans, some maybe even on this site, who believe this prison officer got what he deserved merely because he was a member of the orange order.

RMD wrote: »

You've just repeated my exact point. Why go to the trouble of determining who this man is, what his religion is and what his political background is. Why add a greater level of hassle to their action when they could drag a person of the street in the middle of the night or rig explosives to someone's car. When you risk detention for life to carry out an action, you don't overcomplicate it.

You're taking a far too simplistic view of Northern Ireland. The tensions there are just as much political as they are religious, if not more political these days. It's not Catholic V Protestant, it's Republican Vs Unionist.

They would have gone to a lot of trouble to single this man out, they did not just randomly shoot a prison officer. They would have watched him for weeks / months, followed him, took note if his habits, which roots he may or may not takern to work, his hobbies, the bars he drinks in, the church he went to even what lodge he was a member of. When they went out to
Kill that day they knew they were going to kill a Protestant. Read eamon Collins books 'killing rage' former intelligence officer for the Tyrone brigade of the IRA ( now dead at the hands of his former colleagues) gives a good account of how targets where selected and how intelligence was gathered before the kill was made

pablomakaveli wrote: »

Their surveillance methods are more complicated then you think. Trust me. I've heard of some examples that surprised me coming from people who had been under surveillance by dissidents.

I get briefed on thier capability as part of my jobs, so I know full well thier capablitys and security measures we have to put in place in our daily lives so we don't end up like mr black

GRMA wrote: »

It really is disappointing how loyalists make everything out to be about religion - talk about paranoia - and this is from people who largely don't even bother practicing their religion.

They shot a prison officer because he was a prison officer working in the republican wing. I doubt there are many catholics working that job. He wasn't shot because he was a protestant, he just happened to be.

That of course doesn't make the murder any less reprehensible but there shouldn't be this sectarian spin put on things to preemptively justify any possible action by loyalist paramilitaries. Just the other day a loyalist was caught video recording taxi depots in nationalist areas.

I'm not saying junder is doing this but he seems to have swallowed that spin. Its not an attack on the protestant community, if killing a PO is sectarian then were the POs killed by the UVF killed for sectarian reasons, or was it something to do with what went on in the jail?

Actually I have long said within my own community that at somepoint the dissidents will start targeting Protestants involved in the security services, for the reasons I have stated many times in this thread. They will specifically target these people not only because it will provoke loyalists but also because they know that people like you will continue to bieve the lie that these people are not sectarian. As for the loyalist paramiltarys as thing stand, I don't believe they are going to react this time. But I will let ken wilkinson speak for them

Progressive Unionist Party Antrim spokesman Ken Wilkinson



THE man who represents many of Ulster’s loyalist prisoners has called for no retaliation over the killing of one of their prison guards.
Ken Wilkinson, south Antrim representative for the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), called for calm in the wake of the murder, but said that some loyalists had already been feeling unhappy before the incident took place.
Mr Wilkinson, who is also the spokesman for loyalist inmates in the Bush 1 and Bush 2 wings of Maghaberry Prison, said many of the prisoners knew David Black and had a high regard for him.
Mr Wilkinson said: “I have to offer my condolences to the Black family.
“They [prisoners] knew him. He was a human being, and treated people as human beings. His job was that he was there to look after people – people who broke the law.
“I’ve spoken to several prisoners and he just had that sort of charisma about him. Some people do their job, and do it right.
“If you speak to a person in a proper manner you gain a bit of respect, and David Black seemed to have gained the respect of a lot of people he spoke to.”
He also said that he regards the attack on the prison officer not as an attack against unionists – but against nationalists, too.
He said: “There’s a lot of frustration, a lot of anger, not only from the loyalist community but from the whole community in Northern Ireland about what took place... I believe it was also an attack on the nationalist community and the young men and women thinking about going into that job.”
There are around two dozen prisoners in the two loyalist Maghaberry wings, from different paramilitary factions. Mr Wilkinson said republican frustrations over strip searches and treatment by guards at the prison were ill-founded, because loyalists and republicans were subject to the same measures.
He said much work had been done to steer loyalists away from violence, and the PUP’s position is to stick by the peace process, although there are “frustrations” which some loyalists feel over perceived attacks against traditional Protestant culture.
But he said: “I’d appeal to all loyalists for cool and calm heads.
“In the past, we had attack after attack on our communities.
“It didn’t change the constitution of Northern Ireland.
“Let the powers that be deal with this – the PSNI.
“I appeal to all factions of loyalism not to retaliate, because that would be playing to their agenda – and we shouldn’t be playing to their agenda.”
The death of Mr Black came not long after the News Letter was contacted by someone claiming to be from a dissident loyalist group.
Referring to themselves as “Grugg”, the caller claimed that the group was an alliance between UVF, UFF and LVF members based in the Portadown area.
He added that they had up to 120 members, had trained with weapons outside Bangor recently, and were led by a former UVF commander.
Refusing to give a name or contact details, the caller said that “there’s nothing being done here about dissident republicans”.
“They’re murdering soldiers, murdering police, and getting away with it... Orange halls are being targeted here,” he said.
The caller said he would be back in touch and would send material to the newspaper, but nothing has been received.
Mr Wilkinson said he doesn’t attach weight to such talk.

“It does make our job harder,” he said. “I know there are people out there frustrated and angry.
“When one looks at what loyalism has had to accept, the people now sitting in power, the likes of McGuinness, I appeal to young loyalists to look at the constitution of Northern Ireland. It is standing fast.”