IRA gunmen face arrest over Boston College Belfast Project tapes

[inanna]

Source: The Guardian

Saturday 24 January 2015 23.07 GMT



Dozens of IRA and loyalist paramilitary veterans are facing arrest after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed its decision to seek all the taped testimonies that form the core of the controversial Boston College Belfast Project.

<snip>

Participants were promised that these interviews would be released only to historians, researchers and journalists once they were dead. But now the PSNI is going to the courts in the US in an attempt to obtain all the project’s tapes, including those in which ex-IRA and Ulster Volunteer Force members talk about their roles during the Troubles. The move could have serious consequences for political stability in Northern Ireland.

To date, the PSNI has successfully pursued the Boston tapes relating to only one crime from the Troubles: the IRA’s kidnapping, murder and secret burial of Jean McConville in 1972. This led last May to the arrest of the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams. He was questioned but not charged about claims from former republican comrades he gave the IRA an order to “disappear” the widow to avoid a public backlash over the decision to kill her because the Provisionals believed she was an informer.

However, in a court case in Belfast on Thursday, another participant in the Belfast Project, the ex-UVF veteran Winston “Winkie” Rea, it was revealed that the PSNI had moved to seize his testimony as well. Police have since announced that they are pursuing all of the Boston College’s archive. “Detectives in Serious Crimes Branch have initiated steps to obtain all the material as part of the Belfast Project,” said a spokesman. “This is in line with the PSNI’s statutory duty to investigate fully all matters of serious crime, including murder.”

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/24/ira-gunmen-face-arrest-boston-college-belfast-project-tapes

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. This sends an important message to all sorts of folks.

And that message is 'Never create additional evidence that you committed some crime'. Because no government can be trusted in this day and age not to be seizing every bit of information they can about every single person, no matter how supposedly 'secure' it is.

And that goes hand in hand with not putting any incriminating evidence online, or even on computers connected to the internet.

[Nihil]

10. Yeah ... "If you can't stop yourself from murder, at least don't brag about it afterwards on film."

Personally, I hope that the message that people take from this is "You aren't going to get away with it".

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

17. I was making a more general point.

One that applies to all sorts of things, including those that are actually legal, but can be used to embarrass you or even keep you from getting a job.

[riderinthestorm]

7. Gerry Adams has been proven innocent over and over and over..

Stop, just stop, with the smear campaign. There would have been NO peace without him.

Turning over these records is a huge mistake and will jeopardize the fragile state of affairs in N Ireland even more. And ensures the truth about what happened during those years will never be accurately told.

[freshwest]

8. I have NOT smeared him over and over. Whatever, I'll delete, it's not worth flaming.

[Adrahil]

13. Let's not mistake a lack of charges for innocence.

Last edited Mon Jan 26, 2015, 05:57 PM - Edit history (1)

I am HIGHLY skeptical that Gerry Adams' hands are not spattered with blood. But I suspect he is well insulated from the trigger-puller in most cases, and probably mostly untouchable.

That doesn't mean he's innocent.

[riderinthestorm]

14. In the war for Irish independence blood was spilled

You'll get no argument from me.

Gerry Adams has been investigated many times and has been demonstrably proven to be innocent.

And there would NOT have been peace without him.

[Adrahil]

15. I won't disgree that he has been important to the end of the troubles...

but to say he's been "demonstrably proven to be innocent" is a massive exaggeration.

Not charged != innocent.

[riderinthestorm]

16. Nope. Innocent until proven guilty.

Look, opening up the Boston archives to purposefully witch hunt anyone who participated in Ireland's war for independence will only cause havoc and ramp up tensions in N Ireland even more.

These folks opened up about their role, for history's sake, with explicit promises that their testimony would be sealed until their death. Like Rwanda's truth and reconciliation commission, this allows history to some day know and understand what truly happened. Ireland suffered their own version of attempted genocide by the British as well as centuries of oppression. While I don't approve of the IRA's violence one bit, placing their actions in context AND with accurate oral histories ensures we'll get the full picture some day.

I want that. As an Irishwoman, I want that more than jail time for members of the IRA. Again, that doesn't mean I support the IRA but in the context of Irish struggles for many centuries under the Brits, IRA actions are part and parcel of that and for me personally, I desire to see the whole picture someday, warts and all.

I don't expect you to understand that but I believe it's how many people feel in Ireland.

[Adrahil]

18. Oh don't get me wrong... let sleeping dogs lie.....

I don't support mining the Boston College files. I think the wounds they would open are not justified by any sense of closure. it wouldn't bring any dead people back, and m

But "innocent until proven guilty" is a LEGAL fiction, not a reality. The presumption of innocence is an important legal principal, but it doesn't wipe away what really happened, proven or not. AS we all know, there is a difference between what we know, and what we can prove.

George Zimmerman is a murderer, despite the fact that he was acquitted.

Dick Cheney is a war criminal, despite the fact that has not, and will not be charged.

[riderinthestorm]

19. I believe we're on the same page except when it comes to Gerry Adams then

I guess for me personally, he's been the focus of so many investigations and has never been charged because they can't find anything. Zimmerman was investigated and charged. Cheney (if they ever investigated him) would be charged. The Brits would LOVE to have found something on Adams if they could, but they couldn't. He's been investigated and interrogated but never charged. I just don't think there's anything there to find.

I think, in the end, when we finally know the whole story and the Boston archives are made public then we may truly understand Gerry Adams' role.

But for now, after many many investigations, Adams still comes up clean. It's good enough for me.

[Telcontar]

3. In the interest of peace

Someone in authority needs to step in and stop this. Otherwise it could be Troubles 2.0

[amandabeech]

4. What are they trying to do?

Avenge the late Ian Paisley? How could there possibly be on balance a plus in doing this now.

[Telcontar]

6. I have no idea what the reason is

Other than someone thinks they can now go after former IRA fighters/terrorists. I am fully against the IRA, but if they agree to peace terms that include amnysty, then the yerms need to be upheld; else why would any future movement agree to settle?

[Nihil]

11. You missed the bit where they said they've *already* been going after UVF terrorists too. (n/t)

[Telcontar]

12. Havent missed it, remember it from last year

Think it is still a stupid idea, one that risks overturning the peace

[iandhr]

5. I was in Boston when Gerry Adams was frost questioned

It was big news for days

[Zorra]

9. Northern Ireland should just vote to become independent from England.

Or whatever.

[truebrit71]

20. And when the separatists lose that vote, would they then finally STFU?

I doubt it...

Fuck the IRA...

Twice.