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August 19, 2005

Damage of Loyalist Violence Widely Felt

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News about Ireland & the Irish

BB 08/19/05 Damage Of Loyalist Violence Widely Felt
BB 08/19/05 Blair Leads Tributes To Mo Mowlam
IT 08/19/05 File Sent To DPP After Release Of Connolly
BB 08/19/05 Irish Government Pledge Over Trio
BB 08/19/05 Heavy Security At Loyalist Parade
RT 08/19/05 Irishman To Fight Extradition From Spain
RH 08/19/05 ESSAY- Irish Sting: Learn Lessons From I.R.A.
BB 08/19/05 NI Cocaine Use Is A 'Big Problem'
SO 08/19/05 Self-Loathing Over Stockwell
IO 08/19/05 Shell 'Committed To Ending Pipeline Dispute'
RT 08/19/05 Ireland Into Fifth-Place Play-Off

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4167492.stm

Damage Of Loyalist Violence Widely Felt

By Gareth Gordon
BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent

In January 1998, Mo Mowlam took the greatest risk of her
political life and went inside the Maze Prison to persuade
loyalist prisoners to make peace not war.

Last Tuesday, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) shot dead
Michael Green as he arrived to open a shop on Belfast's
Sandy Row.

It is certainly not the first loyalist murder in the years
since Mo's risky Maze venture - and it will probably not be
the last.

So, after watching those pictures again and again in the
countless obituaries following her tragic death, it is
worth asking the uncomfortable question: Was Mo Mowlam
wrong to invest so much in people who have thrown all the
concessions they got back in the government's teeth?

It is not the government which is suffering of course.

No, all the suffering is being done by the people in the
areas where the UVF, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF),
the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) still obviously rule
the roost.

But the damage being done is felt more widely - with the
PSNI's credibility currently in greatest danger of
imploding.

First, they stand back and watch while hooded UVF and UDA
men take over a housing estate on the outskirts of east
Belfast.

Okay, the residents are said to have invited the UVF in -
but only because the police had failed to deal with the
hated LVF faction in their midst.

One of the more entertaining side shows of this political
week was an angry spat between Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly and
a prominent journalist

Then there is the loyalist feud, which has so far claimed
four lives with no-one made accountable to date.

There is the murder of 15-year-old Thomas Devlin in north
Belfast, which officers now say may have been sectarian.

And there is Ahoghill in County Antrim, where another
Catholic family was attacked this week after the police
responded to the threats by issuing fire blankets.

In his tribute to Mo Mowlam, current Secretary of State
Peter Hain recalled that Maze visit.

"She cut through conventions and made difficult decisions
that gave momentum to political progress," he said.

"I remember particularly her courageous decision to meet
with loyalist prisoners in the Maze in January 1998 who had
threatened to walk away from the peace process - it was
personal interventions such as this that made the
difference and kept politics moving in what was a very
difficult environment."

'Cleaning up operation'

Which is all well and good, except that seven years later,
peace - or politics - seems to be the last thing on
loyalist minds.

And what worries those politicians like SDLP leader Mark
Durkan - who still believes Mo Mowlam was correct - is that
Mr Hain may be quite content to let the current situation
continue.

Mr Durkan said on Radio Ulster's Inside Politics programme:
"What worries me is that we have the British government
evading the issue of the UVF's ceasefire. The secretary of
state almost shrugging his shoulders and saying we'll wait
and see what the IMC (Independent Monitoring Commission)
say in October.

"The fact is, it is the secretary of state and the
secretary of state alone who has the responsibility in
terms of specifying organisations and declaring on the
status of ceasefires and appearing to treat murders and
other criminal activities from the UVF as though it was par
for the course in the peace process is very dangerous.

"In particular, I would be concerned that there's an
attitude in the NIO that this is maybe a cleaning up
operation that's going on between loyalist paramilitaries
and it might be a prelude to something more positive
advancing.

"Now that is a very dangerous bit of cynicism and I would
hope that is not the motive behind what appears to be
indifference on the part of the secretary of state to the
UVF ceasefire status."

One of the more entertaining side shows of this political
week was an angry spat between Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly and
a prominent journalist.

At issue was a Sinn Fein "dossier" detailing 85 attacks
since the beginning of June by groups like the UVF and UDA
- or "unionist paramilitaries" - as Sinn Fein called them.

More pain is coming for unionists in the form of
legislation to allow IRA prisoners on-the-run to return
home

The journalist claimed that to blanket all unionists in
that way was "offensive" to that community - especially at
a time when Sinn Fein wanted to go into government with
them.

Of course he had a point. It is Sinn Fein's repost to the
old tag Sinn Fein/IRA - so we can assume it was meant to be
offensive.

In the wake of last month's IRA statement, unionists would
love to spend their days talking about IRA "criminality",
decommissioning (lack of) and government "concessions" like
the impending disbandment of the home battalions of the
Royal Irish Regiment and plans to abolish the no jury
Diplock Courts.

Instead, they find themselves on the back foot.

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, who, along with Mr
Durkan and Mo Mowlam is so enmeshed in the Good Friday
Agreement, says its inevitable the government will soon
declare the UVF ceasefire over - but that the organisation
just does not care.

He told Inside Politics: "This is not very high on their
(the UVF's) priority list, and unfortunately we have a
situation now where loyalism is seen to be the bad boys on
the block and the IRA are able to sit back with a halo
around and their arms folded.

"The reason these things are happening is that this vacuum
has been created.

"Politics is not seen to be moving forward and these
organisations are given a precedence in their own community
that they don't deserve and we're all partly to blame for
that.

"The government's partly to blame for that - policing alone
is not going to solve this.

"In these areas people are not going to come forward to
give information because they're afraid for their lives and
at the same time we're talking about getting back to normal
jury trials as if we were in Somerset."

More pain is coming for unionists in the form of
legislation to allow IRA prisoners on-the-run to return
home.

Unionist politicians will cry long and hard - but how many
more will have died in the loyalist feud by then?

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2005/08/19 17:19:10 GMT

© BBC MMV

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4165220.stm

Blair Leads Tributes To Mo Mowlam

Tony Blair has paid tribute to Mo Mowlam, saying she was
"one of the most remarkable and colourful personalities" in
the history of British politics.

Politicians across the spectrum have also praised her
achievements.

The ex-Northern Ireland minister died on Friday at the age
of 55, at Pilgrim House Hospice in Canterbury, Kent.

She was moved there from King's College Hospital, London, a
week ago, having failed to regain consciousness after
falling and hitting her head at home.

Ms Mowlam is understood to have suffered balance problems
as a result of treatment for a brain tumour she had
originally been diagnosed with in 1997.

Food and water were withdrawn earlier this week, in
accordance with her wishes, to allow a natural death. She
had asked not to be resuscitated.

The prime minister said Ms Mowlam had been "great company,
utterly irreverent, full of life and fun".

"Yet behind that extraordinary front presented to the world
was one of the shrewdest political minds I ever
encountered.

"She was a natural politician, could read a situation and
analyse and assess it as fast as anyone."

'Permanent tribute'

Ms Mowlam's successor as Northern Ireland secretary, Peter
Mandelson, said her achievement had been "to see in the
Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, having broken
barriers through the strength of her strong personality.

"This legacy is a permanent tribute to her."

US ex-senator George Mitchell, who chaired the Good Friday
Agreement talks, said: "Mo Mowlam made a major contribution
to the peace process in Northern Ireland at a crucial time
when little progress was being made."

Current Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain echoed those
sentiments.

"I firmly believe that Northern Ireland is a better place
for Mo Mowlam having been there," he said.

Former US president Bill Clinton said he and his wife,
Hillary, were saddened by Ms Mowlam's death.

Mr Clinton said: "Mo was an integral part of building a
peace process in Northern Ireland that has endured for over
a decade.

"Her persistence, toughness and good humour were legendary.
All of us who worked to support peace in Northern Ireland
owe her our gratitude."

The Labour MP for Redcar between 1987 and 2001, Ms Mowlam
helped organise Mr Blair's leadership bid in 1994 and
became his cabinet "enforcer" in 1999 after turning down
the job of health secretary.

But after becoming increasingly disaffected with his
premiership, she became a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq
and stood down as an MP in 2001.

Former cabinet minister Clare Short described Ms Mowlam's
death as "a very sad day indeed".

"Mo's been ill for some time, but it's still such a shock
to lose her so young. It feels unfair and wrong. She was so
full of life and sparkle," she said.

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock said Ms Mowlam would want
to be remembered as a "hell of a woman" and described her
as "serious, smart, fun and a fighter".

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said Ms Mowlam
"combined a fine intellect with a straightforward, no
nonsense approach that spoke directly to people".

And Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, said: "To lose
both Robin Cook and now Mo Mowlam in a matter of weeks must
make this one of the saddest of months for the Labour
movement in a very long time."

Agony aunt

Conservative leader Michael Howard said Ms Mowlam would be
"remembered fondly".

And Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy praised her
"great courage and deep humanity both in her public life in
politics and privately".

SNP Leader Alex Salmond said Ms Mowlam had the "rare
ability to give politics a human face".

Ms Mowlam also drew praise from outside of Westminster.

Pop star Elton John said she was "one of the most
charismatic politicians of our time".

And artist Rolf Harris, who recently met Ms Mowlam for a
BBC programme, said: "I can't believe she's no longer with
us. She was such a livewire, vibrant and full of fun."

Ms Mowlam had for 18 months been the agony aunt for men's
magazine Zoo, and Deputy Editor Ben Knowles said she had
been "great" at the job.

"I think the fact that it was slightly perverse, was going
to shock people and surprise people attracted her to it,"
he said.

Ms Mowlam had been married since 1995 to Labour-supporting
merchant banker Jon Norton, who already had two children.

Her funeral will be a private family occasion, but a
memorial service will be held in a few months' time.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/08/19 16:37:56 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0819/1081852384HM1COLUMBIA.html

File Sent To DPP After Late Night Release Of Connolly

The Director of Public Prosecutions is to decide whether
one of the "Colombia Three", Niall Connolly, is to be
charged with passport offences after gardaí released him
just after midnight following 12 hours of questioning. Mark
Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, reports.

The three men who fled Colombia after receiving 17 year
sentences for training Farc terrorists turned up for pre-
arranged interviews with gardaí yesterday.

Martin McAuley and James Monaghan, spent some seven hours
voluntarily being interviewed by gardaí before leaving
Kilmainham and Terenure Garda stations.

The third, Connolly, was arrested shortly after arriving at
Harcourt Terrace Garda station and questioned, it is
believed, in relation to the alleged obtaining of a false
passport in Dublin several years ago. Gardaí released him
and are to send a file on the matter to the DPP for
consideration as to whether charges should be preferred.

McCauley and Monaghan remained voluntarily at Kilmainham
and Terenure Garda stations until close to 7pm . All three
were convicted in Colombia of using false passports in
2001. Connolly was travelling on an Irish passport while
McCauley and Monaghan had UK passports.

The men's choreographed appearances at Garda stations
appears to have taken the Government by surprise, just as
their announcement did that they had returned to Ireland
earlier this month.

The three jumped bail in Colombia late last year having
been convicted on appeal of training Farc terrorists and
sentenced to 17 years in jail.

It is believed that no one in Government knew before
yesterday morning of the arrangements made between the
Garda and the men for them to attend at the stations. A
spokesman for the Minister for Justice said Michael
McDowell had asked the Garda yesterday for a report on
issues relating to the men.

The Minister arrived home from a holiday abroad on
Wednesday night and was told yesterday morning that the men
had arranged to meet gardaí. "This is a Garda operational
matter but the Minister is being kept briefed on
developments," his spokesman said. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
is not believed to have known of the imminent development
until yesterday, but no confirmation of this could be
obtained last night.

Gardaí first held Connolly for six hours yesterday before
extending his period of detention shortly after 6pm for a
maximum of a further six hours. They were therefore obliged
either to release or charge him shortly after midnight at
the latest.

James Monaghan left Terenure station before 7pm yesterday
after talking to detectives for close to seven hours.
Martin McCauley left Kilmainham station shortly afterwards.
Neither made any comment.

Neither the Garda nor the group which campaigns for the
men, the Bring Them Home campaign, would say yesterday when
the appointments with gardaí had been made.

A Garda spokesman said yesterday that it was "maintaining
liaison with the State's law officers" and that this was
"normal practice".

© The Irish Times

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4167988.stm

Irish Government Pledge Over Trio

The Irish government will meet its international
obligations over the Colombia Three, its foreign affairs
department has said.

Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan were
questioned by Irish police after presenting themselves at
garda stations voluntarily on Thursday.

All three have since been released without charge.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan said
any extradition requests would be passed to the courts.

Mr Lenihan said: "Clearly at a diplomatic and political
level this whole controversy has not been helpful either
domestically in the context of the peace process or in our
relations with other countries."

The trio are wanted in Colombia where they have been
sentenced to 17 years in jail for training Marxist rebels.

The men vanished in December 2004 while on bail pending an
appeal and have since returned to the Republic of Ireland.

News of their return to the Republic of Ireland broke when
Irish state broadcaster RTE interviewed James Monaghan at a
secret location on 5 August.

It prompted speculation that their return had been part of
a deal with the IRA and Sinn Fein, a claim which Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern broke off from his holiday to deny.

Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos has said he wants
the men extradited but said he did not rule out allowing
them to serve their sentences in Ireland.

The trio, who had been accused of being IRA members, were
arrested in Bogota in August 2001.

They were found guilty of travelling on false passports in
June 2004, but were acquitted of training the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

That decision was reversed after an appeal by the Colombian
attorney general and they were sentenced to 17-year terms.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/08/19 21:53:26 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4167962.stm

Heavy Security At Loyalist Parade

A contentious loyalist band parade has passed off
peacefully.

There was a heavy security presence in Rasharkin, County
Antrim, for both the parade and a nationalist protest.

A group of nationalists staged a protest outside a pub in
the town, which they claim was attacked by loyalists on
Thursday night.

Sinn Fein said paramilitary flags had been displayed during
the march, but unionists have blamed republicans for
raising tensions in the village.

Sinn Fein's Phillip McGuigan said: "There is fear, there is
tension, there is concern and it is all coming from people
in this village.

"It is caused by a disgraceful decision that has allowed
the village to be taken over by a heavy PSNI presence to
allow loyalist bands to express sectarianism and
triumphalism."

However, Mervyn Storey of the DUP said: "The majority of
the law-abiding citizens of Rasharkin have no difficulty
with the expression of a different faith.

"Remember, there are four Protestant churches in this
village. The majority of the people in this village have no
difficulty with this parade."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/08/19 21:27:36 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0819/hardyl.html

Irishman To Fight Extradition From Spain

19 August 2005 22:21

An Irishman wanted by police in Germany in connection with
an IRA bomb attack in 1989, is to fight extradition from
Spain.

Leonard Hardy, 44, from Co Antrim, told the National
Criminal Court in Madrid that he will resist Germany's
legal attempts to have him extradited.

He is wanted by German police, who suspect him of
involvement in a bomb attack at a British army base in
Osnabruck.

Hardy has been ordered to the maximum security prison at
Valdemora, just outside the Spanish capital, to await a
full extradition hearing.

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http://readthehook.com/stories/2005/08/19/essayIrishStingLearnLesson.html

ESSAY- Irish Sting: Learn Lessons From I.R.A.

Published August 18, 2005 in issue 0433 of the Hook

By Terry Golway featurewell@featurewell.com

More than 30 years after firing its first shots, the
Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army has ordered
its members to dump their arms.

When will Osama bin Laden, or his successor, issue the same
order? It's a fair bet that most people over the age of 45
will not live to see that day. The war on armed Islamic
fundamentalism figures to last as long as Britain's
campaign against armed Irish republicanism-- the difference
being the new war's global scale and capacity for
slaughter.

There was no shortage of ruthlessness among I.R.A. leaders
(though their ferocity was matched and often surpassed by
the bigots who run the Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern
Ireland), but compared with the Islamicists, the I.R.A.
fought with kid gloves. The fighting in Northern Ireland
produced a body count of about 3,000-- nearly half of whom
were killed by the British security services or Loyalist
murder gangs. On September 11, 2001, the Islamicists killed
that many in a dreadful hour or so.

The war on Islamic fascism seems likely to make the British
almost nostalgic for the I.R.A.'s methods. After purging
itself of the butchers who planted bombs in pubs, its
tactics in later years included an almost Austen-like
comedy of manners: The IRA would contact the police using a
prearranged code, the caller would alert the police to the
location of a bomb, and the police would respond in time to
preserve human life, if not property.

It didn't always work that way-- the I.R.A. certainly
didn't warn Margaret Thatcher that it had planted a bomb in
her hotel in 1984, nor did it warn the 11 civilians killed
while watching a military parade in Enniskillen in 1987.
(The I.R.A. actually apologized for the Enniskillen
murders, and while this was hardly a comfort to the victims
and their loved ones, it at least was a sign that its
leaders were susceptible to public opinion. The bin Ladens
of the world rejoice in the sorrow they create, and relish
the outrage of crusaders and Jews.)

The end of the war in Northern Ireland leaves a legacy of
lessons for the United States, the United Kingdom, and
every other nation targeted for conversion or elimination
by bin Laden's gang. The first remains the trickiest: how
to deal with an irregular enemy in an irregular war? Until
September 11, the United States prosecuted its irregular
enemies-- the people who tried to blow up the World Trade
Center in 1993, and the cleric who inspired them, Omar
Abdul Rahman-- in conventional fashion.

They were brought before a court, publicly tried and
defended, and convicted in the usual manner. In other
words, they were treated to the same justice that would be
accorded any other criminal, any other murderer. In that
sense, the U.S. was following the path of Mrs. Thatcher,
who demanded that I.R.A. members taken prisoner be treated
as common criminals.

In the case of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the
U.S. justice system seemed to agree. (Of course, common
criminals generally do not get expert legal counsel from
the likes of Lynne Stewart.) After September 11 and the
invasion of Afghanistan, however, the U.S. has been eager
to give Islamic terrorists the rights and privileges the
I.R.A. demanded in the late 1970's: those of a special
category of prisoner.

I.R.A. members wished desperately to be treated as enemy
combatants and not as common criminals. When we try Islamic
terrorists in military tribunals, are we not allowing them
a dignity they do not deserve and implicitly recognizing
the political nature of their grievances?

The British experience with the I.R.A. also reminds us how
important it is for a government to live up to its
platitudes. When Britain began to try terrorism suspects in
juryless courts, with only a judge deciding the fate of a
defendant, it handed the I.R.A. a propaganda victory. Mrs.
Thatcher said that I.R.A. members were common criminals,
but the juryless courts suggested otherwise.

Again, the dilemma: Are our enemies legitimate soldiers in
an irregular army, or simply mass killers? Another lesson
that seems irrelevant today but could easily become
relevant in the future concerns the mass internment of
suspected terrorists and sympathizers.

Every August 9, republicans in Northern Ireland commemorate
the night in 1971 when the British army raided Catholic
homes in that province and hauled off people suspected of
either being in the I.R.A. or of being helpful to the
cause. They were jailed without charge.

Could that happen here, or perhaps in the U.K. again? The
guess here is that we are being provoked to take such a
step. What a mistake that would be.

As the I.R.A. trades bullets for ballots, the U.S. would do
well to study the mistakes that Britain made over the last
30 years. There is no shortage of them.

Terry Golway is City editor of The New York Observer, where
this essay first appeared. His most recent book is "So
Others Might Live: A History of New York's Bravest--The
FDNY from 1700 to the Present."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4167892.stm

NI Cocaine Use Is A 'Big Problem'

There is far more cocaine being taken by young people in
Northern Ireland than ever before, drugs workers in
Londonderry have said.

There has been a seven-fold increase in cocaine seizures
over the past three years across Northern Ireland.

Yvonne McWhirter, the addiction services manager at Foyle
Trust, said it was becoming a big problem.

"It certainly is increasing and over the past five years
has made a steady increase in this area," she said.

"We would have had very few people about five years ago
coming through the doors who would have even taken cocaine.

"Now it is a common occurrence that they have taken cocaine
in more of an experimental use."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/08/19 20:32:22 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CAD0B.htm

Self-Loathing Over Stockwell

Behind the fallout over the killing of Jean Charles de
Menezes.

by Brendan O'Neill

Far be it from me to doubt the good intentions of the Daily
Mail, but since when has that paper been interested in
defending 'innocent' immigrants against the 'bungling'
forces of the state?

This morning's Mail, like virtually every other paper and
TV and radio news programme in Britain, expresses its 'deep
unease' over the latest revelations about the shooting dead
of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes by
police at Stockwell tube station on 22 July, the day after
the botched 21/7 bombings. It complains on its front page
that 'Yard chief [Sir Ian Blair] DID resist inquiry into
killing of innocent man', and reports inside on the
'chaotic mess' that has been the police attempt to explain
what happened on that fateful day (1).

Certainly the new revelations are shocking and disturbing.
According to witness statements taken by the Independent
Police Complaints Commission, and leaked this week to ITV
News, de Menezes had not been running from the police or
wearing a suspiciously bulky jacket, and he had been
restrained by cops before being shot. Yet the fact that
this info was leaked by the authorities and made into big
news by ITV - and has subsequently provoked handwringing
everywhere from liberal broadsheets to right-wing tabloids
to Labour and Tory party circles - suggests that something
other than an independent challenge to the police's anti-
terror antics is going on here.

Rather, this is an orgy of morbid self-loathing - where the
tragic death of de Menezes has become a focus for the
elite's own doubt and uncertainty about the war on terror,
and just about everything else.

In the past, politicians, the police and the papers never
made much of a fuss about the killing of civilians by state
forces. It was left to left-wing groups and small
relatives' campaigns to do that, and they were lucky ever
to make it into the papers at all, never mind on to the
front pages.

In the 1980s, John Stalker, one-time head of Manchester
Police, was sent to Northern Ireland to investigate
Britain's shoot-to-kill policy there - and when he tried to
make public some of his findings he had a Public Interest
Immunity Certificate slapped on him, stopping him from
speaking out. It was, according to one free speech
activist, 'one of the more remarkable government gagging
orders of recent times' (2).

In 1992, Channel 4 was taken to court and heavily fined for
failing to reveal its sources in a documentary about
collusion between state forces and loyalist paramilitaries
in the killing of Catholic civilians and IRA suspects in
Northern Ireland. Five years ago, the Police Federation
virtually chased an independent film called Injustice,
which reported on the killing of black people in police
custody, out of the cinemas with threats of legal action
(3).

Today, the fact that the killing of an innocent man by
police hunting suicide bombers can cause such a storm -
even on the front page of the Daily Mail - does not suggest
a sudden lurch to the left in British society, or a
newfound concern for those on the receiving end of state
force.

Rather, it points to a profound sense of disorientation and
defeatism in certain sections of society. This widespread
response to de Menezes' death is not motivated by a clear
critique of the authorities, much less of the way in which
they have ratcheted up fear of terrorism, which surely
contributed to the way de Menezes was dealt with by jittery
cops post-21/7. Rather, it is motivated by a kneejerk
willingness to think the worst about the institutions of
society and to treat their every word and deed with cynical
disdain.

So those left-wing and relatives' campaigns may still be
around, trying to win 'Justice for Jean', but it is not
they who made this killing into such a big issue. That was
done by elements within the Independent Police Complaints
Commission, which leaked shocking revelations and even
photos of de Menezes' corpse to ITV. And pressure has been
put on Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair to
resign, not by campaigners storming Scotland Yard, but by
media outlets not previously known for their radical
credentials.

Both the killing of de Menezes and the fallout from the
killing are products of the same thing: a 'culture of fear'
that has its origins at the top of society. The armed
marksmen who pumped eight bullets into de Menezes (seven of
them into his head) were acting on a message that was
repeated by politicians and police chiefs after the 7/7
bombings - that a handful of cranky bombers pose a new,
terrible and 'unprecedented' threat not only to life and
liberty but also to civilisation as we know it. In such
circumstances, it seems that it was not only about shooting
to kill, but about shooting to save humanity. The police at
Stockwell were acting on very panicky orders.

Meanwhile, the fallout over the Stockwell shooting is a
consequence of the British elite's inability to hold the
line on just about anything these days - including the 'war
on terror'. No sooner had Tony Blair announced post-7/7
that we would not give into terrorists, but would stand
firm and united, than the cracks started to show. This
internal wrangling has come to a head over the death of de
Menezes, and has now given way to a serious bout of self-
flagellation: the police who were supposedly leading the
fight against terror in London are now routinely depicted
as trigger-happy thugs and were even referred to as 'Nazis'
by one news show (4).

This has allowed the official response to de Menezes'
killing to spin out of control. Doubt has been cast on the
inquiry of the Independent Police Complaints Commission,
and now it is revealed that Brazil is sending its own
investigators to London. The British authorities would have
sneered at such a move in the past, especially considering
that the police in Brazil are not known for treating
suspects with kid gloves. Yet such is the disorientation
within the British authorities that they seem incapable
even of telling Brazil to 'get lost', which they wouldn't
have hesitated to do, in snotty and superior tones, not so
long ago.

In the handwringing over the killing of de Menezes we see
the influence of fear and defeatism over sections of
British society. This does nothing whatever to challenge
the 'war on terror' or the creeping authoritarianism that
has accompanied it; rather, it seems likely to nurture
precisely the kind of conditions in which fear and
authoritarianism can flourish.

******************************************

http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=9975652&p=9975698&n=9975740

Shell 'Committed To Ending Pipeline Dispute'

19/08/2005 - 14:38:54

Energy giant Shell today offered to look at any initiative
that could secure the release of the five Mayo men jailed
over their protests against a gas pipeline.

After a meeting between Shell bosses and Mayo County
Council chiefs, the company insisted it was committed to
finding a resolution to the crisis.

The men, known as the Rossport Five, have been locked up in
Cloverhill Prison for seven and a half weeks over their
protests against the onshore pipeline designed to bring gas
from the Corrib field to a refinery.

But Shell bosses insisted they were committed to resolving
the crisis.

"If the initiative by Mayo County Council could facilitate
this dialogue that would be a very welcome development,"
said Andy Pyle, Shell E&P Ireland managing director.

"SEPIL is committed to examining any viable initiative that
could enable the men to come out of prison and I have taken
the opportunity to confirm this to the representatives of
Mayo County Council.

"We appreciate their efforts to move the situation
forward."

Earlier this week the Rossport Five penned an open letter
to Shell requesting that the High Court order against them
be lifted but the company said the matter was in their own
hands.

Shell held talks with Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council,
Henry Kenny, and with Cllr Paddy McGuinness yesterday.

Company bosses said the letter was a very signifiant step
in advancing dialogue between the parties.

"For its part, the company has taken significant steps to
create an atmosphere in which the men could see the merit
of dialogue and are pleased that they have agreed to pursue
this path," Mr Pyle said.

"While we are disappointed that this has not been
accompanied by a move to purge contempt, we recognise their
position.

"Nevertheless, as both sides have expressed a willingness
to engage in dialogue, we would like to explore the common
ground that clearly exists between us as a matter of
urgency."

Shell E&P Ireland has deferred all work on the laying of a
75km offshore pipeline to allow discussion on the future of
the 900m euro project.

In their open letter to the company, the five men said they
had refused access to their lands because of the certainty
that if the pipeline ruptured, their families and
neighbours would die.

It is hoped the gas pipeline will guarantee the country's
security of gas supply for the next 15 years.

******************************************

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/0819/hockey.html

Ireland Into Fifth-Place Play-Off

Friday, 19 August 2005 9:24

Ireland beat Scotland 3-1 to secure a place in the fifth-
place play-off spot in the European Nations Cup in UCD,
with the winner of that match guaranteed entry to next
year's World Cup qualifier.

Lynsey McVicker, Eimaar Cregan and Jenny Burke scored for
the hosts, with Sam Judge having put the Scots ahead in the
12th minute.

Meanwhile, England went down to a 2-0 semi-final defeat to
reigning European champions Holland.

A first-half goal from Sylvia Karres and a second after the
interval from Naomi van As consigned them to the bronze
medal play-off match against Spain, who lost the other
semi-final to Olympic champions Germany.

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