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July 16, 2006

Treaty Unfair To Irish-Americans

News About Ireland & The Irish

MC 07/16/06 Treaty 'Unfair To Irish-Americans'
FT 07/16/06 Hopes Rise For Quick Approval Of Extradition Treaty
SB 07/16/06 Natwest 3 Will Face An Uphill Battle In US Courts
EE 07/16/06 Sectarian Beating 'Carried Out By Loyalist Thugs'
SL 07/16/06 Messege Clear For Haddock
SL 07/16/06 Skull Thuggery
SL 07/16/06 I'll Fight Scap Ban
SL 07/16/06 Planning Row Over H Block Memorial
SL 07/16/06 McConville: IRA Shot Wrong Woman

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http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&Date=20060716&ID=5869075

Treaty 'Unfair To Irish-Americans'

A controversial US-UK extradition treaty would "threaten,
intimidate, harass and persecute and terrorise Irish-
American citizens", a legal expert will tell Congress this
week.

The UK government has urged the Senate to ratify the 2003
treaty, which has come under fresh scrutiny following the
extradition last week of three former NatWest investment
bankers to the US to face charges related to the Enron
scandal.

Britain has, in effect, already incorporated the provisions
of the 2003 treaty into law, making it easier to extradite
British citizens to the US, without securing the
corresponding benefits that were offered by the US.

The prime minister's push last week for ratification
succeeded in boosting the profile of the issue in
Washington and increased optimism among its supporters that
the pact would be approved this year.

Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate foreign relations
committee, quickly announced he would hold a hearing on
Wednesday, the first public attention to the matter on
Capitol Hill since a November 2005 session.

Nevertheless, groups such as the Irish American Unity
Conference and the Ancient Order of Hibernians fear the
treaty will enable the UK to prosecute Irish-Americans who
support separatists in Northern Ireland.

Francis A. Boyle, law professor at the University of
Illinois, said: "The text of this treaty is primarily
designed to go after the Irish-American community" which
opposes the "continued illegal British colonial presence in
Northern Ireland".

He will testify against the treaty before the foreign
relations committee, along with several supporters of the
pact, including officials from the US departments of state
and justice.

Mr Boyle, an outspoken critic of President Bush, says the
new treaty violates the rights of Irish-American citizens
and fails to protect people who express support for
northern Irish independence.

The existing treaty, which dates from the early 1970s and
was supplemented in 1985, protected such people by
including exemptions for certain categories of "political
offences." But the new treaty, Mr Boyle will tell the
Senate, eliminates these protections "in all but name".

Mr Boyle says Irish-American lobbying groups and citizens
"will oppose this treaty to the death".

He threatened repercussions in November's mid-term
elections if the Republican-dominated Senate ratified the
treaty.

"[Irish-Americans] are not pleased, and we will make our
influence known," he said. "Tony Blair is not going to vote
in the November elections but 20m Irish-Americans are."

Bill Frist, the Republican majority leader who sets the
Senate schedule, said last week after a meeting with
Baroness Scotland, Home Office minister, that he wanted to
ratify the treaty this year.

He said he would try to move it to the Senate floor for
action as soon as the foreign relations committee completed
its work.

Baroness Scotland and Margaret Beckett, the foreign
secretary, used meetings last week with senators and
administration officials to push for quick ratification of
the pact.

In spite of the objections to the treaty from lobby groups,
no senator has spoken out publicly against it.

However, some senators with close Irish-American links are
understood to have voiced concerns about the pact.

Copyright 2006 Financial Times

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/363f83f6-14ec-11db-b391-0000779e2340.html

Hopes Rise For Quick Approval Of Extradition Treaty

By Holly Yeager in Washington
Published: July 16 2006 20:10 Last updated: July 16 2006
20:10

The Blair government’s push last week for Senate
ratification of a US-UK extradition treaty succeeded in
raising the profile of the issue in Washington and
increased optimism among its supporters that the pact would
be approved this year.

Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate foreign relations
committee, announced he would hold a hearing on the treaty
on Wednesday – the first public attention to the matter on
Capitol Hill since a November 2005 session.

Bill Frist, the Republican majority leader, who sets the
Senate schedule, said after a meeting with Baroness
Scotland, a UK Home Office minister, that he would like to
ratify the treaty this year, and would try to move it to
the Senate floor for action as soon as the committee
completed its work.

The extradition of three former NatWest investment bankers
to the US on Enron-related charges has focused attention on
the treaty. Critics of Tony Blair, UK prime minister, have
charged that the US failure to ratify it is another example
of what they say is his government acting as a “poodle” to
President George W. Bush.

Mr Blair’s government rejects those charges and Baroness
Scotland and Margaret Beckett, UK foreign secretary, used
meetings last week with senators and administration
officials to push for quick ratification of the pact.

Despite objections to the treaty from some Irish-American
and civil liberties groups in the US, no senator has spoken
out against it and it remains difficult to explain why
action has been so slow.

Some senators with close ties to the Irish-American
community, including Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut
Democrat, are understood to have voiced some concerns about
the pact. But a spokesman for Mr Dodd, a member of the
foreign relations committee, said he would attend
Wednesday’s hearing and “listen with an open mind”.

A committee aide said there was no evidence of concerted
opposition to the pact. “There needs to be an opportunity
for people who have concerns to have those concerns
addressed,” the aide said, suggesting that the treaty would
move forward after that.

Nile Gardiner, who studies US-British relations at the
Heritage Foundation, a Washington think-tank, said the
treaty “just wasn’t really on the radar screen” until last
week. “Anglo-American co-operation in the war on terror is
largely taken for granted in Washington,” he said. “No one
saw the immediate political need for a treaty that deals
with America’s closest ally.”

Jeremy Shapiro, who studies transatlantic diplomacy at the
Brookings Institution, a liberal Washington think-tank,
said the treaty’s granting of mutual recognition of each
other’s judicial system is “a big deal”. But he said the
slow progress toward approval was more a reminder of the
Senate’s tradition of “moving at its own pace” than an
indication of opposition.

Mr Gardiner predicted this week would be a good one for the
UK government in Washington, with an airing of the treaty
preparing the way for it to move forward.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 200

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http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqid=15716-qqqx=1.asp

Natwest 3 Will Face An Uphill Battle In US Courts

16 July 2006 By Niall Stanage

Three bankers whose plight has caused widespread outrage in
their native Britain arrived in the United States on
Thursday afternoon, to be met with indifference.

Three bankers whose plight has caused widespread outrage in
their native Britain arrived in the United States on
Thursday afternoon, to be met with indifference.

The extradition of the so-called NatWest 3 on fraud charges
relating to the collapse of the energy giant Enron almost
five years ago came only after a high-profile campaign to
prevent their transfer to the US had caused even more
turbulence for embattled British prime minister Tony Blair.

In the US, however, the only Enron story to hit the
headlines in recent weeks has been the death of the
company’s former chief executive, Ken Lay, apparently from
a heart attack.

The arrival of the British bankers in Houston, Texas,
accompanied by US marshals, was mentioned only in passing,
if at all, by American media outlets.

The three men, David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles
Darby, are charged with wire fraud. If convicted, they
could be jailed for more than 30 years. The specifics of
the case are complex but, in essence, the allegations
involve a kind of insider trading.

They are accused of persuading their employer, an arm of
the NatWest banking chain, to sell its stake in an Enron
subsidiary for a price - around $1 million - that was much
lower than what the men knew it was worth. The buyer was a
company controlled by now-disgraced Enron executive,
Michael Kopper.

After that deal had gone through, the three Britons then
paid Kopper just over a quarter of a million dollars for,
in effect, a stake in the company they had advised NatWest
to sell. Enron was then persuaded - apparently on the
advice of chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, a friend
of Kopper, who has himself pleaded guilty to serious fraud
charges - to pay $30 million to get the company off its
books.

Other senior Enron figures apparently believed that $20
million of that was going to NatWest. Instead, around $7
million of it went to the Britons, while another
significant wedge was allegedly pocketed by Fastow, Kopper
and other associates.

The British bankers, who plead their innocence, do not make
for obvious martyrs. At least two of them live in luxurious
homes, Bermingham in a mock castle in Berkshire. Their
argument is that the $2.3 million each made was a
legitimate profit.

Nonetheless, protesting their treatment has become a
crusade for some British politicians and media
commentators, who have complained loudly in recent weeks
that it is now easier for Britons to be extradited to the
US than vice versa. The campaign against the extradition of
the NatWest 3 has included such unlikely bedfellows as
Britain’s Institute of Directors and ultra-left MP George
Galloway.

The heart of the matter, at least as far as the Britons’
defenders are concerned, relates to new regulations
governing extraditions between the US and Britain that were
drawn up in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001.

These say that the US authorities need to provide evidence
akin to that needed to issue an arrest warrant in Britain
if they want to extradite someone.

If the roles are reversed, however, British authorities
need to meet the US standard of ‘probable cause’. Some
people have argued that this constitutes a higher bar.

Even more galling to some Britons is the fact that, while
the Westminster parliament has given de facto approval to
the new regulations under the Extradition Act 2003, the US
Senate has yet to ratify the deal. This has led to
complaints that the US is extraditing British people
suspected of white collar crime, like the NatWest 3, while
refusing to extradite people suspected of IRA-related
crimes to Britain.

‘‘When it came to alleged IRA terrorists, the US judiciary
worried that those people we wished to extradite might not
receive due process in the British courts, what with us
being imperialists and racists,” wrote columnist Rod Liddle
last weekend.

A hearing is to be held on Capitol Hill on Wednesday on
whether to ratify the treaty.

Some believe that the hearing has been scheduled because of
British pressure to sort out the issue.

However, opponents of the treaty in the Irish-American
community believe that their objections will get a fair
hearing from the Senate foreign relations committee.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians national president, Ned
McGinley, is on record as planning to ‘‘formulate an attack
on this treaty’’. Another key opponent, University of
Illinois law professor Francis Boyle, has pledged to ‘‘kill
this thing’’.

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http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=4020900&p=4xzx9y5&n=4020992

Sectarian Beating 'Carried Out By Loyalist Thugs'

16/07/2006 - 6:06:13 PM

A senior police officer in Derry tonight branded as thugs
loyalists who left a young Catholic man with life
threatening injuries after assaulting him at a barbecue.

Police believe the man and two of his friends were beaten
by a gang of up to eight people on the Chapel Road in a
sectarian attack at around 3.40am.

Chief Inspector Ken Finney of the Police Service of
Northern Ireland’s Foyle District Command Unit appealed for
members of the public who knew the identities of the
attackers to help police track them down.

“I utterly condemn this despicable act of violence which
was carried out by unknown thugs whose sole intent was to
cause serious injury,” he said.

“As a result a young man lies seriously ill in hospital
with multiple injuries.”

He added: “I am appealing to members of the public to help
us identify those reprehensible act.

“We are treating this as a sectarian attack. Witnesses are
telling investigating officers the attackers came from the
direction of Irish Street and Bann Drive.”

The most seriously injured of the three victims sustained
head injuries and was being treated in Altnagelvin
Hospital.

He is believed to come from the Prehen area of the city.

One of his friends sustained a fractured jaw and the other
man was badly bruised.

There were disturbances in the aftermath of the assault
including an attempted hijacking in the Gobnascale area of
the city.

After the intervention of local community representatives,
calm was restored by 9am.

Sectarian clashes are nothing new to the area with rival
communities attacking each other in the past in the
loyalist Irish Street and nationalist Top of the Hill
estates.

The latest assault was condemned by nationalist
politicians.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan, the MP for the area, said
sectarianism had to be faced down.

“If prejudice and sectarianism drove these attacks, the
entire community leadership must resolve to face down and
root out any vestige of or excuse for sectarian hatred,”
the Foyle MP said.

Sinn Féin councillor Lynn Fleming said sectarianism had to
be condemned from whatever quarter.

“I would appeal to people not to become involved in attacks
on others as Saturday nights events clearly demonstrate how
they can result in tragedy for everyone involved,” the
former Derry mayor said.

“No reasoning can justify this type of behaviour but if the
claims that it was motivated by sectarianism are accurate
it is reprehensible. Sectarianism from whatever source is
to be condemned and everyone of influence must do all in
their power to eradicate it.”

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http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698770

Messege Clear For Haddock

It reads: "Rot in Hell Agent Roxy. Touts Out."

By Ciaran McGuigan
16 July 2006

This is the grim Eleventh Night taunt to Special Branch
agent Mark Haddock from the gang of UVF killers he once
led.

The banner was hung at the entrance to the Mount Vernon
estate to send a chilling message out to Haddock not to
return to his old stomping ground.

It reads: "Rot in Hell Agent Roxy. Touts Out."

Agent Roxy was the codename given to Haddock by the Special
Branch handlers to whom he fed information about the Mount
Vernon UVF for a decade.

Haddock still has relatives living in the north Belfast
estate but it seems that he will now never be able to
return to the area where until recently he was feared as
the local UVF boss.

The loyalist is still recovering in the Royal Victoria
Hospital after being gunned down by former associates two
months ago.

He was returned to the hospital after his condition
deteriorated in the prison hospital last month.

Haddock had been sent back to jail by a High Court judge
who ruled that he breached his bail conditions by being in
Newtownabbey on the day of his shooting.

He had gone to a meeting with UVF pals when he was shot.

The long-time informer had not known he was walking into a
trap until a gunman emerged form the back seat of a car and
shot him six times.

Two men, Ronald Bowe (29) from Mount Vernon Gardens and
Darren Moore (36) of Ballyvesey Court have both appeared in
court charged with the attempted murder.

Meanwhile, the father of one of the victims of Haddock's
gang has again called on senior PUP figures to finally
admit that the UVF murdered his son.

Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond Jr was battered to death
by the UVF, allegedly on the orders of Haddock, said: "It's
clear to the people of Mount Vernon that the UVF there
murdered my son and that the organisation there was riddled
with informers, including Mark Haddock.

"When are the PUP and Billy Hutchinson going to admit
that?"

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http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698768

Skull Thuggery

Notorious Chelsea 'Headhunter' who's banned from every
ground in England spends Twelfth on Shankill - and takes in
game at Linfield

By Stephen Breen
16 July 2006

A nototrious football hooligan who is banned from all
English stadiums attended his first match in six years last
week - at Windsor Park.

Ex-Chelsea 'Headhunter' Jason Marriner was at Linfield's
Champions' League qualifier against Gorica after being
invited to Ulster by loyalist terrorists.

Marriner - who was jailed for six years in 2000 for
hooliganism - travelled to Belfast to celebrate the
Twelfth.

We tracked down the 39-year-old on the Shankill Road where
he urged feuding loyalists to put aside their differences.

Marriner has links with loyalist godfathers including
Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair, who describes the London thug as a
"proud loyalist".

He refused to confirm he'd been invited by loyalists,
claiming he was in Belfast to promote his book, It's Only A
Game.

Said Marriner: "I am proud to be a loyalist because we all
come under the one flag. I love coming to Northern Ireland
for the Twelfth.

"I am not going to take sides in any feud between loyalists
and I'm not going to say if I support one organisation or
the other.

"I would like to see loyalists united, but I don't live
here and I'm not going to tell people what they should or
shouldn't do.

"I do know Johnny Adair but I have met many loyalists over
the years because we share the same views and associations
through Rangers and Chelsea.

"I am no longer involved in football-related violence but I
have many supporters here who want to hear about my
experiences."

Marriner warned Celtic fans in Ulster to "expect trouble"
when the Hoops take on Chelsea in a friendly at Stamford
Bridge on August 9. He said: "I know there are many Celtic
fans in Ulster but they should realise their team's game
against Chelsea is a recipe for disaster.

"I've heard there will be around 15,000 Celtic fans going
to the game, including many from Northern Ireland.

"There is serious potential for trouble because the Chelsea
fans will not be happy with seeing Irish tricolours all
over the place."

But Martin McManus of the William Orr Celtic Supporters
Club said there would be no trouble from local Celts fans,
adding: "Wherever Celtic fans go they are impeccably
behaved. They didn't win the FIFA fair play award for
nothing.

"If there is going to be any trouble in London, it will
come from people like Marriner."

Marriner (38), from Stevenage, was exposed on TV as a
member of the notorious Chelsea Headhunters in 1999.

His ban from attending matches does not extend to Northern
Ireland except when England are playing at Windsor Park, as
he's barred from following his national team.

He has also been involved in protests against Bloody Sunday
marches in London.

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http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698807

I'll Fight Scap Ban

Former army handler ready to challenge High Court
injunction

By Alan Murray
16 July 2006

THE former soldier who helped expose IRA enforcer Freddie
Scappaticci as an Army agent says he may challenge a High
Court injunction banning the media from revealing the ex-
spy's whereabouts or any change of identity.

The former Army agent handler, who uses the pseudonym
'Martin Ingram', co-wrote the book Stakeknife, highlighting
west Belfastman Scappaticci's role as a British spy at the
heart of the IRA.

The book alleged Scappaticci was involved in dozens of
murders as a leading figure in the IRA's infamous internal
security department, known as 'the nutting squad'.

Ingram says he fears other republicans and loyalists
accused of being spies will instruct lawyers to obtain
similar gagging orders.

References to Scappaticci on a blogspot run by Ingram were
removed after the American hosts were served with a copy of
the injunction by his Belfast solicitors.

Among the information banned from publication by the order
was:

:: Any proposed new name for Scappaticci;

:: His address or any details which may lead to information
on his whereabouts;

:: Any image made or taken of him from May 11, 2003 onwards;

:: The nature and location of his employment;

:: Any description of accommodation in which Scappaticci
lives.

Ingram said he was surprised by the move to prevent
discussion about the west Belfast republican's whereabouts
in newspapers and other media outlets.

He said: "I am really surprised and I have contacted my
lawyers to see if we can successfully challenge this
draconian move.

"It is a very dangerous development and I wouldn't be
surprised if lawyers acting for other paramilitary figures
seek similar injunctions.

"There is one on the republican side and one on the
loyalist side at the minute, who are finding the heat being
turned up on them through recent publicity."

The former member of the Army's Force Research Unit (FRU)
co-handled Londonderry republican Frank Hegarty, who was
murdered by the IRA in 1986 for betraying numerous arms
dumps in the Republic and here.

Ingram has queried why Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness was
not arrested and questioned over Hegarty's murder, even
though he was one of the last people to see him alive after
the spy was persuaded to return to his home city and then
went to meet the IRA to 'discuss' his treachery.

slnews@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

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http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698583

Planning Row Over H Block Memorial

By Sunday Life Reporter
16 July 2006

The Housing Executive is at the centre of a legal row over
the erection of a hunger strike memorial in Downpatrick.

The 10ft-high concrete monument - in the shape of a H for
'H-Block' - has been erected on land owned by the executive
at the entrance to the town's Model Farm estate.

It was officially unveiled on Friday night by former IRA
prisoner Seanna Walsh, who last summer read the IRA
statement announcing an end to its terrorist campaign

But now - within hours of the ceremony - it has emerged
that a Protestant ratepayer is preparing to go to the High
Court seeking a judicial review - claiming that the
executive has a duty to act, as the memorial has been
erected on its land without planning permission or
consultation.

Down DUP councillor Billy Walker said: "This is ridiculous.

"It is clearly illegal and the executive has an obligation
or it will find itself in court."

Mr Walker said he was already aware of the potential legal
challenge.

But Sinn Fein's Eamonn Mac Con Midh, who, as a former IRA
prisoner, took part in the blanket protests which led to
the hunger strike, commended the Downpatrick 1981 Committee
behind the construction of the monument.

He said: "The vast majority of local residents have
welcomed the erection of this monument.

"It is a reminder of the sacrifice that was made by the
hunger strikers and of the many hundreds of republican men
and women who participated in the prison protests at that
time."

He said discussions are already being held about a move
would be made for retrospective planning permission.

The Housing Executive has confirmed the monument was
erected without permission.

It has said it will be seeking to consult with the local
community on the issue.

slnews@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

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http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698771

IRA Shot Wrong Woman

Provo Kidnapper told Jean McConville's daughter

By Stephen Breen
16 July 2006

A member of the IRA gang that kidnapped Jean McConville has
broken his silence and quashed Provo claims that she was an
infomer.

Helen McKendry, a daughter of the murdered woman, revealed
she's spoken to one of the 10-strong gang who abducted her
mum from her Divis flats home in Belfast in 1972.

She says the former Provo, who now lives outside Ulster,
admitted the IRA unit kidnapped and murdered "the wrong
woman".

Mrs McKendry travelled to the Sinn Fein HQ on the Falls
Road yesterday morning to urge the IRA leadership to
investigate the claims, but found the offices closed.

Mrs McKendry said the conversation with the ex-IRA man took
place some time ago but she decided not go public until
after Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan had concluded her
inquiry into the case.

"I spoke to this individual and we know he was one of the
people who took my mother away from her home.

"He told me that the IRA were looking for an informer that
night and it was someone who had the same surname as my
mother.

"This man told me they got the wrong woman but they
couldn't do anything because they had already killed her.

"They knew they made a mistake but the IRA leadership just
won't own up to this and are still maintaining a lie that
she was an informer."

"If my mother was an informer, then why did they send her
jewellery back to us? There is no way on earth she could
have been an informer for the Army."

Helen hopes Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams can arrange a
meeting between her and the IRA.

Added Helen: "I have been sitting on this information for
some time now and I would like to inform the IRA about what
I have been told.

"It is up to them to look into this information and outline
their views on it. If they can accuse my mother of being an
informer, they can also look into this.

"I also want the Provos to tell me if they are aware of
vicious rumours levelled against me, and if these were
started by members of the republican movement.

"I will continue to fight for the truth because my mother
has the same rights as the victims that republicans are
fighting for.

"I know I wasn't invited here but they can't stop me
requesting a meeting. Even now, we are still being told lie
after lie."

The IRA caused outrage last week when it issued a statement
re-affirming the claim that Jean McConville was an
informer.

The statement was issued 24 hours after Ms O'Loan said
there was no evidence to support the IRA's allegations
against the murdered mother-of ten.

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