Bloody Sunday Report

[warmcome]

would you mind defining the Irish people ?

sure wouldnt we all be goose stepping german speaking sausage munching nazis if it werent for the brits winning WWII

Or, given the length of occupation of the British, especially in and around Dublin, they liked their colleens too...

[El Gordo]

I haven't read all 5000 pages, obviously, but I've read a fair amount. What's really striking is the inability of the British Army to enforce discipline in its own ranks. You have solders from the level of private up through lieutenant colonel blatantly disobeying orders with no consequences. Reading the report, they come across not as a tool of oppression, but as a disordered mob with more than a few psychos.

[Derry lad]

While I'm happy for the familes to get their apology I feel it is of little value. Approx 50 years before Bloody Sunday in Derry, Dublin had it's own Bloody Sunday in 1920 when in a similar situation with similar troops another massacre took place.
Members of the Black and Tans, one of the british forces in Ireland, entered Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd killing 14 innocent people. 52 years later the Black and Tans reappear as the Paras and history repeats.

Where has the lesson been learned???

[Forrest]

While I'm happy for the familes to get their apology I feel it is of little value. Approx 50 years before Bloody Sunday in Derry, Dublin had it's own Bloody Sunday in 1920 when in a similar situation with similar troops another massacre took place.
Members of the Black and Tans, one of the british forces in Ireland, entered Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd killing 14 innocent people. 52 years later the Black and Tans reappear as the Paras and history repeats.

Where has the lesson been learned???

The Croke Park, Bloody Sunday, massacre in 1920 was a retaliatory action for the assassination of 14 British Intelligence officers, known as the Cairo Gang, by Michael Collins's 'squad' earlier that day. Slightly different circumstances, but murder is murder, and on both occasions British forces showed absolute disdain for people that were a part of their 'Commonwealth'.

It is an absolute disgrace that it took 26 years to start the investigation and a further 12 years to come to a conclusion.
It's a shame the British Police and justice system didn't take the same amount of time to find the true culprits for the Birmingham and Guildford bombings. The manner in which they got those convictions for the Birmingham 6 and the Guildford 4 was another example of British brutality. Their history, over hundreds of years, is littered with similar acts of thuggery and murder.

[luther]

The innocent people who were gunned down by those scumbag paras on Bloody Sunday weren't combatants in a war, they were marching for their Civil Rights...

Sadly Mousey this is often the case, but to be honest, I don't blame the paras, or not the lower ranks on the ground. It was the unit commanders and above that I blame........

Remember, in those days, on the ground in Nothern Ireland was the most feared place for a British soldier to be. Did he have a choice to join up, yes he did, but did he want to be there, like fcuk he did, he wanted to be off seeing the world like he was told he would be when he joined up 6 month before, sunning himself on some nice beach between training exercises............

Many of these were kids being told that the "enemy" in front of them on the streets of Derry had weapons and were about to use then on all of them and their buddies, brainwashed into a kill or be killed situation on those streets.........

I promise you this, if you were in that situation, being told the things that I believe those soldiers were told by those "in charge", in the heat, confusion and fear of the situation, when you'd finished shitting your pants, even if you couldn't see them, you would convince yourself that those weapons existed, and were being pointed at you and were going to kill you if you didn't do something about it..........

Was this in any way an excuse or justification for what happened???

Absolutely not............

But my honest opinion, were there weapons in the area???................Yes

Did the commanding officers know where they were or how to deal with the situation???..............No

Did they carry out an unimaginable act in a weak and misguided attempt to deal with it???............Yes

They killed, or ordered the soldiers to kill or open fire on the crowd in an attempt to disperse the entire gathering and march in the hope to dispersing everybody, including anybody who may or may not have been armed..........

One of the saddest days in a long and troubled land, and a disgrace that it took this long for a proper investigation.............

I know I'll probably get a bit of flack for my views on this, I'm in no way condoning he actions taken by anyone on that sad day, but that's just the way I see it. Did those young lads who fired those weapons have a brain to think for themselves???..........Yes, but in the army you are not paid to think, you are paid to do what you are told and are trained to obey orders and trust the judgement of superior ranks and experience...........

It's no excuse but in this instance I believe the shit should roll up hill.................................................................

[BitchHunter]

I think it's a huge waste of money. Nearly €200 million was spent just find out what we already know. Basically it costs €200 million to get an apology off the English...

Sure they could've got those cold case people on it, they would've done it for a a few million I bet.

[IrishKelt]

What are you talking about.

How many British soliders have went to jail because they killed an innocent person?

[luther]

What are you talking about.

How many British soliders have went to jail because they killed an innocent person?

There are 26 posts in this thread, are we to guess who you are talking to???

[Derry lad]

You are right in what u have said Luther!
Some one somewhere had to make the decision to send the Paras to Derry. They were chosen because of their reputation and no doubt it was felt in Whitehall that this march would need to be broken to maintain the unionist grip on the north. It was only when Whitehall realized that the action they took swelled the ranks of the IRA, that it was a mistake and that a distance would need to be made to protect the upper levels in the army and the govt.

Despite everything that happened the Paras were never removed from the streets and were used to spearhead operations in republican strongholds. The govt and the generals knew exactly what they were starting but possibly didn't realise that it would have gone so out of control.

[IrishKelt]

Thought I pressed quote. It was to Parker.

brits winning WWII

Surely a windup? Because they were getting their asses kicked before America came.