'In relation to perpetration of killings, Republican paramilitaries account for almost 59 per cent of all deaths, Loyalist paramilitaries for almost 28 per cent, the British Army for 9 per cent, the RUC for almost 2 per cent and other groups each for less than 1 per cent. Republican paramilitaries have killed 74 per cent of all Protestants killed over 25 per cent of all Catholics, and almost 96 per cent of those who were classified as "Non Northern Ireland." Loyalist paramilitaries killed 19 per cent of all Protestants killed, almost 50 per cent of all Catholics and just 2 per cent of the "Non Northern Ireland" category.'
'Martin McGuinness would meet Queen as president
Martin McGuinness has said he will be prepared to meet all heads of state "without exception", if he is elected President of Ireland.Sinn Fein announced on Friday that it would be supporting Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister for the role
Returning from a trip to the US on Saturday, Mr McGuinness said he hoped his candidacy would not be divisive.How magnanimous of Martin McGuinness to deign to meet the Queen in the future.
When the Queen made her first visit to Ireland in May, Sinn Fein did not take part in any of the main ceremonies.
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday morning, Mr McGuinness said he had given careful consideration to his decision to stand.
He was asked how he would handle another Royal visit to Ireland, given his party's position on the Queen's historic trip.
He said: "If the people of Ireland decide that I should be their president, my responsibilities and duties would be to meet heads of state from all over the world and to do that without exception and that would be my position."'
'The IRA gave clear reasons for the execution. I think it is unfortunate that anyone has to be killed, but the furore created by Mountbatten's death showed up the hypocritical attitude of the media establishment. As a member of the House of Lords, Mountbatten was an emotional figure in both British and Irish politics. What the IRA did to him is what Mountbatten had been doing all his life to other people; and with his war record I don't think he could have objected to dying in what was clearly a war situation. He knew the danger involved in coming to this country. In my opinion, the IRA achieved its objective: people started paying attention to what was happening in Ireland.'What has Martin McGuinness ever said about this cold-blooded murder? Did he have any part in it, the ordering or approving of it? Have the BBC ever asked these questions? Do the BBC even care?
'why not ask when did McGuinness leave the IRA, exactly? When he was occupying the position as Capo di tutti capo, just how many innocent lives did he arrange to have terminated.Perhaps even more pointedly, how many peope did he murder HIMSELF? What exactly did he "command"?'
'Dear 5 Live listener
CAS-686637
Thank you for your further e-mail regarding BBC Radio 5 Live broadcast on 4 March 2011.
Firstly I’d like to apologise for the delay in our reply. Please be assured your concerns were raised with the relevant editorial staff.
We must stress that the BBC makes no editorial comment or judgement on the views expressed by Mr Adams or any public figure whose opinions feature in our news coverage or programmes.
Although some people believe that a programme or news bulletin should not allow certain figures or groups to air their views, we feel that it’s better to include many viewpoints wherever possible. This may include hearing opinions which some people may personally disagree with and we recognise your views on Mr Adams and his role in the Northern Ireland conflict.
To provide some context, this very brief contribution (18 seconds long) was heard during a summary bulletin providing one aspect of reaction to the Queen’s visit. During very short bulletins such as this, we often only have time to use one clip. This was the only occasion on this date that in covering the story we used Gerry Adams in a news bulletin.
During the rest of our coverage in programmes – ‘5 Live Drive’ for example - and bulletins, many other Irish perspectives were heard, from journalists, academics and politicians alike. ‘5 Live Drive’ heard from our Royal Correspondent Peter Hunt who put Mr Adam’s views into context, detailing the majority of the Irish population’s opposition to his take on the visit.
As previously mentioned, we have a duty to reflect all relevant views when discussing a subject and Mr Adams represented opposition to the visit at that time. Some of his views are also shared by a section of the Irish population, albeit small.
We strive to cover subjects with due impartiality, across our coverage and over time. We therefore believe we reported on the Queen’s visit and the reaction in Ireland in a fair, accurate and impartial manner.
Should you now wish to proceed to the second stage of the complaints process, it's now open to you to write to the Director of BBC News:
HelenBoadenComplaints@bbc.co.uk
Helen Boaden
Director
BBC News
Room 5601
Television Centre
Wood Lane
London W12 7RJ
Should you choose to escalate your complaint our procedures stipulate you do so within 20 days of receiving this correspondence.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.
Regards,
Liam Boyle
Senior Complaints Advisor for News and Current Affairs
BBC Audience Services'
'Further to this and this I have lodged a complaint with the BBC:
- Complaint type: BBC News
- Location: England
- What is your complaint about: Radio News
- Programme title: 5Live 10pm news bulletin Friday 5 March 2011
- Transmission date: 05/03/2011
- Complaint category: Offence
- Complaint summary: Choosing to intreview Gerry Adams re the Queen's future visit to Ireland
- Full complaint: BBC 5Live 10pm News carried a piece about the upcoming visit by the Queen to Ireland. The BBC chose one person to interview about this visit; not the BBC's royal correspondent but Sinn fein's Gerry Adams. So for an opinion on the first royal visit to Ireland for 100 years the BBC choose the man who lead an organisation (Sinn Fein), in the public's mind, intrinsically linked with the terrorist organisation (the IRA) that blew up and killed the Queen's uncle, Lord Mountbatten, in 1979. Did anybody at BBC 5Live News wonder if it might be a trifle tasteless to interview a leading figure in Sinn Fein about the visit of the Queen to Ireland bearing in mind that history?
- Receive a reply: Yes
- Contacted us before: Yes
- Complaint related to previous contact: No
- Title: Mr
- First name: NotaSheep
- Surname: MaybeaGoat
- Email address: notasheepmaybeagoat@gmail.com
- Under 13: No
- I wonder how long I will have to wait for a reply and how the BBC will justify their choice of guest... Somehow I doubt that they will accept a breach of taste.'
'Dear Mr MAYBEAGOAT
Reference CAS-637702
Thanks for contacting us about BBC Radio 5 live.
I understand you felt it was inappropriate to interview Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams on the subject of the Queen’s first official state visit to Ireland.
The visit of the Queen to Ireland has created a lot of debate due to the history between the country and Britain over a number of years. As such, we’ve heard from a number of figures across our broadcasts, including Gerry Adams.
While you may personally disagree with the views of Mr Adams, he is fully entitled to hold them in the context of legitimate debate. For other views on the visit, please see the BBC Online link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12652934
Nonetheless, your complaint will be added to our audience log, a daily report of audience feedback that's circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.
The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.
Finally, I have attached an invitation from BBC Audience Services' Head of Communications & Complaints, asking you to participate in our customer survey. We would welcome your views on our service.
Kind Regards
BBC Complaints
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.
__________________________________________
Dear Mr MAYBEAGOAT
Thank you for your recent email to the BBC. It is our aim to provide the highest standard of responses to emails we receive. To help us do this, I am writing to ask you to complete a customer satisfaction survey which is being conducted by the research company Ipsos MORI.
Your response will help us to judge how your most recent email was handled, so we'd be grateful if you could rate the service you received and the quality of our response. We aren't expecting you to rate the BBC, its output, or any previous contacts you may have had with us. The purpose of this survey is to help us understand the level of service we currently provide when responding to emails and to ensure we achieve the highest possible standards. We may use your individual responses to help in our staff training and performance management.
The questionnaire is very straightforward to complete and should take no longer than 5-10 minutes. You can log onto it in two ways, depending upon the email system you are using. You can either click onto the following website address, or paste it into your address bar (where you normally type in a website address). You will be guided through the questionnaire automatically once you have logged into it.
Website Address: http://survey2.infocorp.co.uk/webprod/resources/bbcinfo/ start.asp?st=6&pass=CAS- 637702-7DF6Z9
Thank you very much for taking the time to assist us.
Keith Jones
Head of Communications & Complaints, BBC Audience Services'
'Thank you for your reply.
Gerry Adams is indeed entitled to hold his views and if the BBC wish to promote them then that is a matter for you and your collective consciences. My point was that on that news broadcast you chose to broadcast just one interview: with the man who lead an organisation (Sinn Fein), in the public's mind, intrinsically linked with the terrorist organisation (the IRA) that blew up and killed the Queen's uncle, Lord Mountbatten, in 1979.
Interestingly of the seven people interviewed on the page to which you linked - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12652934 - six welcomed the visist whilst only one did not. That was the one person that you decided to give air space to on the news broadcast in question. Why not any of the others?
The BBC is often guilty of blatant bias, in this case you were clearly guilty of a complete lack of taste and decency as well.
By the way, the invitation from BBC Audience Services' Head of Communications & Complaints, asking me to participate in our customer survey has expired. So you clearly don't welcome my views that much.
Regards
NotaSheep MaybeaGoat'
'The IRA gave clear reasons for the execution. I think it is unfortunate that anyone has to be killed, but the furore created by Mountbatten's death showed up the hypocritical attitude of the media establishment. As a member of the House of Lords, Mountbatten was an emotional figure in both British and Irish politics. What the IRA did to him is what Mountbatten had been doing all his life to other people; and with his war record I don't think he could have objected to dying in what was clearly a war situation. He knew the danger involved in coming to this country. In my opinion, the IRA achieved its objective: people started paying attention to what was happening in Ireland.'
'Sinn Féin is the largest group in the Republican wing of Irish nationalism and is closely associated with the IRA, with the Irish Government alleging that senior members of Sinn Féin have held posts on the IRA Army Council.[48] However, the SF leadership has denied these claims.[49]
A republican document of the early 1980s states, "Both Sinn Féin and the IRA play different but converging roles in the war of national liberation. The Irish Republican Army wages an armed campaign... Sinn Féin maintains the propaganda war and is the public and political voice of the movement".[50]
Sinn Féin organiser Danny Morrison at the party's Ard Fheis (Annual Conference) in 1981, said:
"Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in this hand and an Armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland?"[32]The British Government stated in 2005 that "we had always said all the way through we believed that Sinn Féin and the IRA were inextricably linked and that had obvious implications at leadership level".[51]
The robbery of £26.5 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004 further scuppered chances of a deal. The IRA were blamed for the robbery[52] though Sinn Féin denied this and stated that party officials had not known of the robbery nor sanctioned it.[53] Because of the timing of the robbery, it is considered that the plans for the robbery must have been laid whilst Sinn Féin was engaged in talks about a possible peace settlement. This undermined confidence within the unionist community about the sincerity of republicans towards reaching agreement. In the aftermath of the row over the robbery, a further controversy erupted when, on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme, the chairman of Sinn Féin, Mitchel McLaughlin, insisted that the IRA's controversial killing of a mother of ten young children, Jean McConville, in the early 1970s though "wrong", was not a crime, as it had taken place in the context of the political conflict. Politicians from the Republic, along with the Irish media strongly attacked McLaughlin's comments.[54][55]
...
Gerry Adams responded to the IMC report by challenging the Irish Government to have him arrested for IRA membership, a crime in both jurisdictions, and conspiracy.[59]
On 20 February 2005, Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell publicly accused three of the Sinn Féin leadership, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris (TD for Kerry North) of being on the seven-man IRA Army Council which they later denied.[60][61]
On 27 February 2005, a demonstration against the murder of Robert McCartney on 30 January 2005 was held in East Belfast. Alex Maskey, a former Sinn Féin Mayor of Belfast, was told by relatives of McCartney to demand that Maskey "hand over the 12" IRA members involved.[62][63][64] The McCartney family, though formerly Sinn Féin voters themselves, urged witnesses to the crime to contact the PSNI.Three IRA men were expelled from the organisation, and a man was charged with McCartney's murder.[65][66]
Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern subsequently called Sinn Féin and the IRA "both sides of the same coin".[67] The ostracism of Sinn Féin was shown in February 2005 when Dáil Éireann passed a motion condemning the party's alleged involvement in illegal activity. US President George W. Bush and Senator Edward Kennedy refused to meet Gerry Adams while meeting the family of Robert McCartney.[68]
...
In March 2005, Mitchell Reiss, the United States special envoy to Northern Ireland, condemned the party's links to the IRA, saying "it is hard to understand how a European country in the year 2005 can have a private army associated with a political party".[70]'
'A Sinn Fein spokesman told Newsnight that Adams "wrote to the Speaker's office on Friday and informed him of his resignation. It's a non-issue from our perspective. He submitted his resignation and that's it. He's stepped down from that position. He certainly didn't apply for the Stewardship of the Manor of Northstead."'
'I've just asked a senior Parliamentary official whether Gerry Adams is still an MP.So that is still an option!
"At the last count, yes he is," he told me.
It's all governed by the Parliamentary bible Erskine May, it seems, and the following section:
"It is a settled principle of parliamentary law that a Member, after he is duly chosen, cannot relinquish his seat; and, in order to evade this restriction, a Member who wishes to retire accepts office under the Crown, which legally vacates his seat and obliges the House to order a new writ."
So in British law, Gerry Adams is still an MP, whether he wants to be or not. Until he applies for one of the two stewardships.
I was also advised that one way Adams might get round this without expressing allegiance to the British Crown in any form would be to turn up at the House of Commons and try to sit in the Chamber.
He would then be automatically disqualified from the House on the grounds that he hasn't sworn the oath, and a writ would then be moved for a by-election in West Belfast.
"The seat is vacated as if they were dead," I'm told.'
'By all means let's have the truth about the conduct of the British security forces during the NI Troubles, but it should be a two way street. Let those who always characterized themselves a national army fighting a war against British occupation of their country be subjected to the same level of scrutiny, and be similarly forthcoming about the atrocities for which they were responsible.'
1970
* 26 June 1970: Three IRA volunteers and two young girls were killed when a bomb being assembled accidentally exploded in the Creggan, Derry.[1]
* 27 June 1970: IRA volunteers used firearms to defend Clonard monastery in west Belfast, the Short Strand in east Belfast (see Battle of St. Matthews) and other nationalist areas from attack by loyalist mobs. Six people (one Catholic IRA member and five loyalists Protestants) were killed in gun battles.[2]
* 3–5 July 1970: During the Falls Curfew the Official IRA and Provisional IRA fought a three day gun battle with 3,000 British troops who imposed a curfew on the Lower Falls area of Belfast, over 1,500 rounds were fired by British troops. Four civilians were killed.[3]
* 11 August 1970: Two RUC officers were killed by an IRA booby-trap bomb attached to an abandoned car in Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The bomb contained 20 lbs of gelignite and exploded when one of the officers attempted to open one of the car's doors.[4][5][6]
* 4 September 1970: IRA volunteer Michael Kane (35) was killed when a bomb he was placing at an electricity transformer in Belfast exploded accidentally.[4]
* 16 November 1970: The IRA shot and killed two alleged criminals in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast.[4] The men are alleged to have been involved in protection rackets, fencing stolen goods, minor racketeering, moneylending, burglary and robbery.[7]
[edit] 1971
* 6 February 1971: A British soldier on security duties, Gunner Robert Curtis, was killed by Billy Reid in a gun battle in North Belfast. Curtis was the first British soldier to die in Ireland since the 1920s. IRA volunteer James Saunders (21) was shot dead in a shoot out with the British Army in the Bone area of Belfast and one Catholic civilian was shot dead by three British soldiers. Eight British soldiers and five civilians were also injured in various gun battles around Belfast.[8][9]
* 9 February 1971: An IRA landmine killed five men near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain in County Tyrone. Two of the dead were BBC engineers, the other three were construction workers. It was believed their vehicle was mistaken for a British Army landrover. British mobile patrols frequently inspected the transmitter.[10][11]
* 15 February 1971: A British soldier was shot and killed by an IRA sniper while taking part in a mobile-patrol in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. Two British Army scout cars came under sniper fire and had a bomb thrown at them. The soldier was shot in the head.[12][13]
* 26 February 1971: Two RUC officers who were attached to the forces Special Patrol Group (RUC) were killed in a gun battle with the IRA in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.[10][14]
* 8 March 1971: IRA volunteer Charles Hughes (26) was shot dead by the Official IRA in the Lower Falls area of Belfast. This was part of an ongoing dispute between the IRA and the OIRA.[12] In response the IRA shot and seriously injured a member of the OIRA.[15]
* 10 March 1971: The IRA abducted three off-duty British soldiers from Belfast and brought them to a mountain road outside the city, lined them up, and shot each of them in the head. They were the first off-duty soldiers to be killed in the conflict.[16][17]
* 15 May 1971: IRA volunteer Billy Reid (32) was killed during a gun battle between the IRA and the British Army on Academy Street, Belfast. Two British soldiers were wounded in the incident.[12][18]
* 25 May 1971: A bomb was thrown into Springfield Road British Army/RUC base in Belfast, killing army Sergeant Michael Willetts as he shielded civilians from the blast with his body. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross. Seven RUC officers, two British soldiers and eighteen civilians were injured.[12][19]
* 12 July 1971: A British soldier was shot dead by an IRA sniper at a British Observation post on Northumberland Street in Belfast. The IRA claimed his death was in retaliation for the killings of two civilians in Derry by the British Army the previous week.[12][20]
* 14 July 1971: A British soldier was shot and killed in an IRA ambush on a mobile-patrol in the Andersonstown area of Belfast. Three IRA gunmen using automatic weapons fired at least 35 shots at the patrol.[12][21]
* 8 August 1971: A British soldier was shot dead in an IRA sniper attack while on foot-patrol in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. The IRA said he was shot in retaliation for the shooting dead of a civilian by the British Army the day before on the Springfield Road.[12][22]'
"Who would be the most unsuitable person in the whole world to introduce a television programme about Jesus Christ? One would be hard pushed to come up with someone worse than Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, and former member of the Provisional IRA.
Yet, believe it or not, on Sunday evening this man with blood trickling from his hands will present an hour-long Channel 4 programme about Jesus, part of a series called The Bible: A History.
A former terrorist personally implicated in at least one murder, and associated with many more, has been invited to make a documentary about a man described by his followers as the Prince of Peace, who lived a life that celebrated non-violence.
How on earth could this happen? You may suspect Gerry Adams was chosen to discourse on Jesus because he has freely admitted his sins, and apologised for his past. Christianity, after all, is a religion that extols forgiveness, and puts a high value on repentance. But Mr Adams is not sorry for what he did - not, of course, that he admits to having ever killed anyone. He says at least twice that violence was the only course open to people like himself.
I have seen a preview of the programme and it begins with a shot of the former terrorist at prayer. He informs us that he went to Mass while in prison. Then, with his vulpine features, and a sinister smile revealing shining, remodelled teeth, he tells us that 'along with others' he 'helped to bring peace to Ireland'. While stressing that he doesn't feel he has any blood on his hands, he says he wants 'to explore Jesus's message of forgiveness'.
...
I repeat: how could a respectable television channel dream of allowing an unrepentant terrorist to explain Christ's life, and give viewers the impression that he has tried to live by it? There is even a preposterous, not to say sacrilegious, subtext implying a parallel between Christ, who according to Adams was persecuted by the Roman authorities, and Adams himself, who presents himself as a victim of British power.
In the interests of balance and fairness, Channel 4 should tell viewers something about the life of this former terrorist, since Adams himself certainly does not. Though he has refused to admit it, he was a member of the Provisional IRA as far back as 1972, when he represented the organisation in secret talks with the British government. A former IRA prisoner, Dolours Price, has referred to Adams as 'my commanding officer' in 1973.
The most damning information about Adams and his life as a terrorist was published in a book called A Secret History Of The IRA by Ed Moloney, a Dublin-based investigative journalist. According to Moloney's account, which has never been contested in the courts, Adams was at various times commander of the Belfast Brigade of the IRA and the IRA's chief of staff, as well as a long-time member of the IRA Army Council.
Moloney says that Adams was chief of staff when the IRA committed one of its most appalling atrocities - the murder of 12 Protestant civilians in the La Mon hotel on the outskirts of Belfast in February 1978. Moloney also contends that in 1972 Adams may have personally ordered, or at the very least approved, the killing of Jean McConville, allegedly an informer to the security services.
The closest we come - and it is not very close - to an admission of any involvement in such atrocities is Adams's musing about war towards the end of the programme: 'You have to harden yourself because it is not a natural thing to go out and harm other human beings.' Knowing what I do about Adams's past, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I imagined him stealing down some dank Belfast street with murder in his heart.
...
He cannot plausibly claim to have lived a virtuous Christian life, which is why he is the last person on earth who should have been asked by Channel 4 to present a programme about Christ. He does not seem to have been much more decent in his personal life. For many years Gerry Adams covered up for his paedophile brother, and even helped him to work with children.
This seems to have been done not so much out of brotherly affection as to protect Adams's own reputation. When the scandal was revealed last December, Adams tried to win sympathy by claiming that his family were victims of sexual and physical abuse by his father, also called Gerry, who was buried with full IRA military honours six years ago.
As a Christian I am appalled that a man who once said he would 'wade up to my knees in Protestant blood' to achieve a united Ireland should have been asked by Channel 4 to introduce a programme about Jesus. I can see that it is a stunt, designed to attract maximum publicity to what has been a pretty undistinguished series. If Channel 4 had really wanted to make an enlightening programme about the life of Christ, there are hundreds of people far better qualified to do so than Gerry Adams.
Adams now presents himself as a democratic politician, and he has a right to be heard on that basis. But it betrays an almost unbelievable moral imbecility on the part of Channel 4 bosses to enable this unrepentant former terrorist to yoke himself to Jesus Christ, not to throw light on the noblest life ever lived but as a crude piece of self-serving IRA propaganda."
"In a damning new book to be published about the secret life of Gerry Adams, there will be revelations about his role in the case of The Disappeared - an infamous case involving the IRA murder of a dozen civilians.
This will finally nail the lie of Adams's denial of his involvement with the IRA, not to mention revealing the existence of secret tapes about his involvement in the killing of Jean McConville, a mother of ten suspected of being an informer."
"With his brother facing arrest and his niece pouring scorn on him, the past is at last coming back to haunt Adams.Let's hope they are not enough to save him.
The question is now whether his lies and special pleading will be enough to save him from political destruction."
"Leading republican Colin Duffy is one of three men being questioned about the murder of two soldiers at Massereene Army base last weekend.
The 41-year-old was arrested during a police raid in Lurgan on Saturday.
...
Colin Duffy is a former IRA member who has been critical of Sinn Fein's support for the police service. "
"Statement from Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, who sought an urgent meeting today with the British security Minister Adam Ingram at which he expressed grave concern at the dangerous situation developing in north Armagh with the campaign of harassment and violence being waged against Lurgan republican Colin Duffy and the nationalist people of north Armagh.
...
``I pointed out to the British Minister that he was responsible for the level of Crown forces on the streets of these towns and that their presence there was oppressive and heavy-handed. The violent and ongoing abuse of Colin Duffy is the tip of the iceberg of harassment of nationalists by the Crown forces. Over the last month solicitors in Lurgan and Armagh have been inundated with complaints about harassment by the RUC and RIR and have logged over one hundred complaints in each area. "
"He (Duffy) came to prominence in the 1990s after he was acquitted of the murder of a soldier when it emerged a key witness against him was a loyalist paramilitary, but was later arrested over the subsequent murder of two police constables though the case collapsed.
...
Colin Duffy is a member of the republican protest group Eirigi, which has not supported the new police service, but which insists it is a peaceful pressure group.
He attracted criticism last year when serious rioting in the Lurgan area led to attacks on police, which he failed to condemn.
After police came under gun and petrol-bomb attack during two days of rioting, he said the episodes were a symptom of a section of the nationalist community refusing to accept the PSNI.
But in the wake of the murder of the soldiers in Antrim and of Constable Carroll in the Lurgan/Craigavon area, Duffy and the Eirigi group were challenged to condemn the killings.
Eirigi, which is Irish for 'rise up', released a statement in response to the pressure insisting it did not support violent groups.
Earlier this week it said: "Eirigi is an open, independent, democratic political party which is not aligned to, or supportive of, any armed organisation."
It added: "While supporting the right of any people to defend themselves from imperial aggression, Eirigi does not believe that the conditions exist at this time for a successful armed struggle against the British occupation.
"As can be seen from the recent attacks on Britain's armed forces it is clear that not all republicans agree on how the British occupation should be resisted at this time.
"Those who carried out those attacks are best placed to explain their own rationale." "
"THE Beeb and PA are reporting that Colin Duffy is one of the three people being questioned about the shootings of two soldiers last weekend. The Lurgan Mail reports that his house is also being searched. Duffy, a hate figure within unionism, was jailed but later acquitted of the murder of a UDR member in 1995. Duffy had also been charged with the June 1997 IRA murders of community police officers John Graham and David Johnston in Lurgan - the last policemen killed by republicans before this week. The charges were dropped, and it transpired a witness was a loyalist gunrunner. Recently, he has been a spokesman for republican group eirigi (pictured here at a recent protest against the Belfast homecoming parade for UK troops). In December, it was claimed by an anonymous security source that he had had an affair with murdered solicitor Rosemary Nelson, which has also been strongly denied. "
