Collusion issues need a public enquiry

Ever notice a thread about Loyalist terrorist attacks or Loyalists rioting or protesting & then Fratton Fred & the rest of the Kevin Myers gang make a cheap comment about Republican bombings or shootings even tho the thread has nothing with Republicans?

Imo only I think Fred is a UVF/UFF/LVF supporter, he can't seem to stand them be savaged without making a comment about the IRA/INLA/IPLO to try & make the thread about Republican bombs that killed civilians by mistake. Again just imo.

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Clutching at straws? Bombing London ok, bombing Dublin bad?

Have you found a source for your claim that soldiers were decorated for their actions on bloody Sunday yet?

The ways the were bombings were carried out yes. If the people of Dublin had half an hour to evacuate the bomb sites Talbot Street, Leinster Street & Parnell Street there's a very real possibility nobody would have been killed. Take the Manchester bombing of 1996 as an example of how a warning can save lives, the largest bomb detonated on GB & nobody was killed in it.

The way the Free State media treat the PIRA compared to the "Old Heroic IRA" just stinks of hypocrisy. The PIRA did not start the conflict in the North like the Old IRA. The UVF started bombing Dublin twice in 1969, four years before the PIRA bombed the Old Bailey in London, yet all these facts are conveniently forgotten. So the whole theory that Loyalists got the idea to bomb Dublin because the IRA bombed London first is thrown out the window.

Imo the PIRA were much more justified to take up armed action against the British. The Free State commemorate the killing of two RIC officers at Soloheadbeg by Dan Breen & his mates in Jan 1919. For no reason what so ever, the two RIC men were local members of the community & well liked. I can understand something like Crossbarry being commemorated as that was an actual military battle with the British being lead by Arthur Percival that lasted several hours, not just shooting two RIC men in the back which I just think is sheer depraved hypocrisy to celebrate the deaths of these two men, who weren't even given a warning or a chance to surrender. I agreed with Breen's political goals & aims - the establishment of a 32 county Democratic Republic. I believe it was a noble cause & so did the majority of the electorate in 1918 seem to think so as well, but what a horrible way to go about by shooting 2 police men in cold blood.

I think we could have easily got Free State status without 3,000 people having to die. If Free State status was the goal then not a bullet should have been fired. The Nationalists/Republicans in the North got the worst case scenario by far from the 1922 treaty, it was an absolute disgrace how they were treated by the Northern State & abounded by the Free State whose TD's many voted for & having to face a sectarian police who discriminated against them & were treated like 2nd class citizens by the Unionist government, I'm just surprised it took them so long to revolt against the state but by 1969 they had enough of RUC going into people's houses & beating them (some to death) & the UVF established in 1966 raking Nationalists areas with gunfire. And this wasn't a IRA revolt against the state it was mainly just normal people (a handful might have been Republicans), the IRA didn't get involved until a year later at the Battle of Short Strand in June 1970 when a large Loyalist mob of 1000's tried to attack the Short Strand & burn it just like they did the year before in Bombay Street. And when the IRA successfully defended the area they were hailed as heroes.
The Unionist government ordered the British Army to search for the weapons used in the battle the week before which resulted in the Falls Curfew Massacre were 5 civilians were killed & dozens injured - that was the turning point, after that significant portions of Nationalist started to give active support to the IRA.

Now a lot of things during the IRA campaign at times fell well short of how a Liberation army should have acted. But in my imo they didn't act any worse than the British Army. And yes, I believe the Loyalists acted the worst of the lot, they killed almost 1000 civilians (compared to the 720 civilians killed jointly by the OIRA, PIRA, INLA & IPLO) about 90% of their attacks being sectarian motivated instead of being politically motivated. I mean there was nothing like UDA romper rooms or UVF Shankill Butchers who got of on torturing & decapitating their victims & then their was nutters like William Craig who said " it may be our job to liquidate the enemy" not stating who the enemy was I'm guessing he just meant Nationalists in general. Then there was George Seawright of the DUP a far right wack job who said that Irish Catholics who refuse to sing the British National Anthem "are just fenian scum who have been indoctrinated by the Catholic Church. Taxpayers' money would be better spent on an incinerator and burning the lot of them. Their priests should be thrown in and burnt as well." Seawright was shot for these comments by the Irish People's Liberation Organization.

I can't remember Republicans leaders saying such inflammatory things about Protestants. In fact Republicans groups had a good few Protestabts in their groups, especially the INLA who had a Protestant - Ronnie Bunting become that paramilitaries second COS after the great Seamus Costello was killed by the OIRA.

There's lots of other examples of hypocrisy I could give but just one last of the top of my Tariq Ali & Charlie Bird (who was one of RTE's most respectable journalists mainly because he stuck to the government line) giving rebellion fist salute at the grave of one of the top Saor Eire Volunteers in October 1971 which by that time Saor Eire were nothing more but gangsters not interested in any Liberation struggle just interested in making (stealing) money.

Fratton Fred wrote: »

But it was in the case of Warrington, Birmingham, La Mon, Enniskillen etc etc etc

Maybe you missed the UVF statement in 1993 when they said the operation was successful in it's entirety. They didn't mention anything about warnings & with a statement like that I can only come to the conclusion that your a UVF supporter trying to cover for them. The UVF & It's SAS & Brit military allies wanted to sap to political will out of the Free State from the Sunningdale agreement & did just that.

And the difference between Warrington & Birmingham was a warning was given, in the case of Warrington at the wrong place & Birmingham was given a warning with about 5 minutes to evacuate 250 people because the original phone was broke. It does'nt take away from the tragedy of those events but I get the feeling you think there worse than Dublin for some unknown reason.

The Free State & British have time & time again given in to Loyalist terrorism or the threat of it since the moment Bonar Law declared "There are things more powerful than parliamentary majorities."