Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History (35 page)

We call off numerous operations when there is any danger to those not targeted — and our Volunteers prefer to operate in daylight to be able to see whether anyone is unintentionally endangered. The percentage of civilians killed by loyalists and Crown forces is much higher and they are intentionally less discriminate as part of their policy of terror to intimidate the nationalist community.

One measure of how accurate Britain’s propaganda image of the IRA is can be found in Fr. Raymond Murray’s generally accepted statistics about the war: in 18 years less than 150 civilians have been killed in the North by all nationalist bombs, including those of the INLA, officials, etc. Those due to the IRA have been accidents — we do not wish to harm innocent people, which is why we give bomb warnings.

Q:
What about infamous bombings like La Mon Hotel, Harrod’s Department Store and the Birmingham pubs?

A:
First of all, it should be noted that the IRA takes responsibility for all actions of its Volunteers, even when unauthorized and when the publicity is damaging to us, in order to maintain credibility with our people. La Mon was tragic but unintended — the warning was inadequate for the speed with which the flames spread. Harrod’s was not approved by command — the IRA was on the way to another target but were forced to abandon the car with the bomb. A 40 minute specific warning was given, and the police chose not to alarm the Christmas shoppers while they tried to find the bomb. Birmingham was the result of delays in delivering the warning due to non-working public phones.

Q:
The Birmingham Six appear to be innocent so why not bring forward the guilty to serve in their place?

A:
The six are in prison because of British injustice and should be released. If Britain were not in Ireland things like this would never occur. The British are not going to turn over their terrorists to us and we discipline our own soldiers.

Q:
What about compensating the families of those killed and injured?

A:
We wish we could but we do not have the funds. Help would likely be rejected anyway. Again, Britain ultimately bears responsibility: as long as it occupies our country there will be war and casualties.

Q:
James Adams’ The Financing of Terror claims the IRA takes in $7 million a year, mostly from protection rackets, extortion of contractors, band and post office robberies, the Belfast black taxis, drinking clubs, the former co-op, etc. He says the real beneficiaries are the “rich godfathers.”

A:
Anyone familiar with British black propaganda and knowledgeable about the situation here knows this is utter fabrication. We have challenged those making such assertions to provide any evidence — most recently a British TV program investigated and found nothing to corroborate these fantasies. Even our Volunteers are unpaid at the moment. The irony is that our critics are the ones who are well-off.

The co-op was run by former prisoners, as are the taxis and clubs; the IRA is not involved. There are no protection rackets run by us — any member caught trying to exploit people for personal gain is subject to very severe discipline. There have been no postal robberies in four years or banks in six. Most of our funding comes from individual donations from outside Ireland— and we do not accept donations with any strings attached.

Q:
What about Adams’ claim that you work territorial deals with the Ulster Defense Association so that you don’t get accused of exploiting your own people?

A:
Utter rubbish. We have no arrangements of any kind with loyalist paramilitaries.

Q
. What about charges that since the hunger strikes a criminal element has entered the IRA?

A:
In any organization, especially an underground one, you get some people who do not live up to its ideals. We want to be informed of anyone not conforming to Army discipline. Today, however, we are more selective than ever, so problems are minor.

Q:
One Irish American newspaper carried a column about the people of Rostrevor, Co. Down being turned against the IRA by the execution of a local boy it claimed was an informer, an assertion the community rejects. How careful is the IRA in passing sentences?

A:
Very careful, despite the conditions we have to operate in. We require documentation or admission and our intelligence is very good. Executions take place only when we are certain. In the Rostrevor case he was, in fact, an informer and therefore endangering the lives of our Volunteers. Communities and families are naturally shocked by the facts and find them hard to accept. Informers know the risk they take for personal gain. We have also offered amnesty to those pressured by the Royal Ulster Constabulary into doing informing and dozens of people have come forward. We can arrange relocation and protection if needed.

Q:
The accusation was made that Special Air Services Captain Nairac was tortured for information. Has the IRA ever used torture?

A:
Never. Aside from ethical reasons we know from Britain’s use on us how unreliable information gained this way is. In the Nairac case the torture charge was based on blood found in the car in which he was taken, but this was due to resistance.

Q:
The British say that abuse of prisoners is no longer employed and that cameras installed in interrogation rooms prevent this.

A:
They have always denied the use of torture and beatings. Now, cameras are just turned off and beatings take place on the way to interrogation. Medical testimony confirms this continues. Many of those abused have no connection to the IRA, of course, and would have no reason to lie. The British judges simply dismiss evidence of torture.

Q:
How many “prisoners of war” are there?

A:
There are around 650 in prison for “scheduled offenses” meaning charges connected with the political situation here. The British incredibly pretend there is no war, only a massive outbreak of crime, so they do not recognize these formally as political prisoners or prisoners of war, though they receive special treatment separate from those they regard as ordinary criminals.

It is worth mentioning that only the Republican Movement provides aid to prisoners’ dependents, regardless of whether the prisoner had any connection with the IRA.

Many of the prisoners and certainly their families are innocent, railroaded by the non-jury, Diplock court system which requires no evidence to convict. The Social Democratic and Labour Party does nothing to alleviate the suffering of these families.

Q:
The SDLP claims IRA supporters have attacked its meetings and election workers.

A:
Individuals have spontaneously reacted to SDLP hypocrisy and lies but we don’t approve such harassment and say so. The SDLP has never protested British or Irish government harassment and repression of Sinn Fein. During recent elections they have been quite willing to try to benefit from such repression.

Q:
While in Belfast I read a story about the former quartermaster for Belfast, one of the local IRA’s top ten people, having been an informer, responsible for six deaths and 20 arrests, now spirited into hiding by the RUC. The article said this was the highest the RUC had ever been able to place an informer.

A:
The individual in question was low-ranking and did little damage. The story was a British intelligence plant to try to stir suspicions among our Volunteers about each other.

Q:
What about Loughgall and the apparent use of an informer which led to the ambush killing of eight IRA earlier this year?

A:
Crown forces routinely stake out barracks they think might be vulnerable or likely to be attacked based on patterns. It was bound to result in a “success” eventually. So few people knew of the plans for Loughgall that we are satisfied there was no informer. It would have been too risky for an informer to give out such information knowing only a handful knew of this.

Q:
On my arrival in Belfast the news was ablaze with claims that the IRA’s latest victim, Nathaniel Cush, had already resigned from the Ulster Defence Regiment and was working for the post office. Allegedly the bomb which killed him narrowly missed harming a woman with a baby.

A:
We used a remote control detonator so there was never any danger to any civilians. We have warned those who resign from Crown forces to notify the Republican Movement for their own safety but our information was that he was still a member and the fact he was given a full dress military funeral supports this. Cush, incidentally, was a former member of the infamous Parachute Regiment.

Q:
Another recent incident involved the driver of a school bus who was shot in the leg and the papers claimed this endangered the children.

A:
The bus was halted when this incident took place.

Q:
There was a lot of negative reaction to the IRA’s 1986 announcement that it would regard as legitimate targets civilians doing work for the British Army.

A:
Without such support the Crown forces could not remain in Ireland easily and this strategy of warning those profiteering from the British presence was used during the War of Independence in the 1920s.

We were very specific about the kinds of people who are guilty — those programming computers for British intelligence for example, not some secretary for a contractor building barracks for the British Army. To those who say helping the Crown is an ethical way to make a living we would ask if they would have supported building ovens for the Nazis. Let contractors build the housing the people need.

Q:
One priest asked why you don’t give part of your earnings toward job creation.

A:
We do not have the money to spare. The best way to create jobs would be for Britain to leave so the healing process for the economy can begin, bringing an end to employment discrimination, allowing business and tourism to flourish, with interim help of international aid for the rebuilding process.

Q:
The same individual asked why the IRA took 300 jobs out to West Beast by killing the manager of an audio manufacturer in 1976.

A. That was part of an effort to cause disinvestment that is no longer pursued. We continue some commercial bombings when the businesses serve Crown forces and outside the poverty-stricken areas where there are no jobs anyway, where we intend to disrupt Britain’s effort to pretend everything is normalizing.

Q:
Another controversial assassination was of Leslie Jarvis, claimed to be a civilian at Magilligan Prison.

A:
He was a full time part of the administration and knew the risk in being part of the British system of oppression. We have not targeted part-time workers.

Q:
English director Nicholas Meyer claims he was threatened by the IRA while filming “Johnny Loves Suzy,” based on the anti-IRA novel Fields of Blood in Belfast.

A:
Totally untrue. If he was threatened, it was not by us. We would know.

Q:
The assassination of Lord Mountbatten caused a greater negative public reaction than any other single IRA killing. Was he really a proper target?

A:
As a former leader of the British military and cousin to the Queen who lived on land confiscated from the Irish people, he was a symbol of the ruling class which supports the occupation of our country. His execution was a warning that if they insist on keeping troops here they will never be safe.

Q:
Letter bombs were recently sent to current and former government officials in England. Aren’t they likely to harm civilians?

A:
Those who associate with the ruling class know there is risk but the innocent have rarely been harmed. We have to use what weapons we can, and these have been effective. If Britain fears them it should get out. Government officials who retire, incidentally, often remain senior advisors and are not necessarily off the target list.

Q:
Isn’t killing RUC and UDR members perceived as sectarian, alienating loyalists even further?