State Violence, Collusion and the Troubles

Maurice Punch

Description

The period in Northern Ireland known as 'the Troubles' (1968-98) seemed to have been conclusively ended by the official peace process. But recent violence from dissident Republicans shows that tensions from the past remain unresolved.



State Violence, Collusion and the Troubles reveals disturbing unanswered questions about the use of state violence during this period. Maurice Punch documents in chilling detail how the British government turned to desperate, illegal measures in a time of crisis, disregarding domestic and international law. He broadens out his analysis to consider other cases of state violence against ‘insurgent groups’ in Spain and South Africa.



This is the story of how the British state collaborated with violent groups and directly participated in illegal violence. It also raises urgent questions about why states around the world continue to deploy such violence rather than seeking durable political settlements.
1. State Crime: ‘Bloody Sunday’ and the Troubles

2. State Terror and Insurgent Terrorism

3. Roots of the Troubles: Emergency Context: Conspiracy?

4. Security Units: Firearms Policy: Rough Justice

5. Dirty Tricks: Intelligence, Informants and Collusion.

6. Investigations, Courts, Inquiries and Whistle-blowing.

7. End Game: State Deviance: Learning from the Past.

References

Index

Sujets

• Law Enforcement
• Political Science
• Droit et juridique
• Irlanda del Norte
• Northern Ireland
• Irlande du Nord

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 08 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849646383
• Langue: English

Extrait

State Violence, Collusion and the Troubles

First published 2012 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Maurice Punch 2012
The right of Maurice Punch to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3143 0 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 3147 8 Paperback ISBN 978 1 8496 4638 3 Epub ISBN 978 1 8496 4639 0 Kindle
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
For all who have suffered, and continue to suffer, as a result of the Troubles.
Contents


Acknowledgements
Paramilitary Groups
Abbreviations and Irish Gaelic Terms
Timeline
Main Non-Irish Insurgent Terrorist Groups
1. State Crime: ‘Bloody Sunday’ and the Troubles
2. State Terror and Insurgent Terrorism
3. Roots of the Troubles: Emergency Context: Conspiracy?
4. Security Units: Firearms Policy: Rough Justice
5. Dirty Tricks: Intelligence, Informants and Collusion
6. Investigations, Courts, Inquiries and Whistle-blowing
7. End Game: State Deviance: Learning from the Past
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements

Since I started this book a few years ago many people have been generous with their time and have aided me in various ways, by discussing the topic, commenting on drafts and/or by suggesting research material. They include some highly supportive colleagues in London at LSE and King’s but especially Ben Bowling, David Downes, Janet Foster, Penny Green, Tim Newburn, Paddy Rawlinson, Robert Reiner and Paul Rock. There were academic colleagues elsewhere, as well as some ‘reflective practitioners’ in policing or the military, who assisted me in diverse ways including Alexis Aronowitz, Piet Deelman, Auke van Dijk, Julian Dixon, Stan Gilmour, Jim Gobert, Bob Hoogenboom, Graham Smith, Kees van der Vijver, Geert de Vries, Jim Waddington, Ron Weitzer, Hans Werdmölder and Merrick Willis, while I received sage advice from Michael Clarke. In Amsterdam I’ve gained much from many stimulating conversations with Derek Phillips, while he has kindly passed on The New York Review of Books since the late 1970s. This has been essential reading but in recent years it has carried excellent articles on the ‘war on terror’, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. I am most grateful to them all. I have long drawn on the operational experience and insights on police leadership, command and control and use of force of Geoffrey Markham (former Assistant Chief Constable, Essex Police); and on the operational background in policing and expertise in Human Rights of Ralph Crawshaw (former Chief Superintendent, Essex Police). A special word of thanks has to go to them for the many valuable discussions in attractive locations throughout Essex and Suffolk. I also appreciate the professional advice and patience of Anne Beech, Will Viney and the team at Pluto. Finally, I have as ever received encouragement and affection from my dear wife Cornelia; also support from Julio, Maria, George and grandson Jimmy and from my extended family in the Netherlands, Ireland, UK and US. This network of colleagues, friends and family has been essential in the completion of this work.

Amstelveen, The Netherlands
October 2011
Paramilitary Groups

NATIONALIST/REPUBLICAN PARAMILITARY GROUPS


• The original Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Ireland, or Old IRA, comprised the Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican Brotherhood of the 1916 Easter Rising, and fought the British in the War of Independence (1919–21) as the Army of Ireland
• Those who resisted the 1921 Treaty with Britain fought and lost to the new Irish government in the Civil War (1922–23), called themselves the IRA and from 1922 to 1969 opposed the governments in the South and North with periodic violence to realise an independent, united (32 county) Ireland as a socialist republic
• In late 1969 a split took the new Provisional IRA (PIRA or ‘Provos’) out of what became known as the Official IRA, OIRA. At times there were armed clashes in feuds between PIRA and OIRA. OIRA abandoned violence in 1972. By the early 1990s PIRA was estimated to have a core of some 300 activists with about 450 in support roles (Bishop & Mallie 1988)
• Provisional Sinn Fein was ostensibly the political wing of PIRA, but it is assumed that it was intimately linked with PIRA; several IRA commanders probably also held leading roles within Sinn Fein (Moloney 2007, 2010)
• The Continuity IRA (CIRA) broke from PIRA in 1986 when PIRA recognised the authority of the Dublin government
• In 1997 the Real IRA (RIRA) split off from PIRA because RIRA was opposed to the peace process
• The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) was the military wing of a Trotskyite splinter group, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, that had broken with OIRA
• The Irish People’s Liberation Organization (IPLO) split from the INLA after a dispute. IPLO feuded with the INLA, and the IRA attacked the IPLO and disbanded it.
There were other splinter groups that might also be names used as cover for a sub-unit acting autonomously, including Republican Reaction Force, Irish Freedom Fighters, Catholic Reaction Force and South Armagh Republican Action Force.
LOYALIST PARAMILITARY GROUPS


• Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF): split from UVF in 1996 (and feuded with it)
• Ulster Defence Association (UDA): was set up in 1977 and was legal until 1992 after which it was proscribed for providing cover for paramilitaries
• Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF): emerged in 1965 (an earlier UVF had been launched in 1913); in the mid-1970s the UVF had around 1,500 members, with 400–500 activists that were later reduced to a core of about 80
• Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF): split from UVF in 1996 and at times feuded with it
• Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF): with a core of about 60 members.
The Red Hand Commandos, Red Hand Defenders, Ulster Protestant Action and Protestant Action Force were supposedly splinter groups but more often these were cover names for a sub-unit mounting an operation without authorisation.
Abbreviations and Irish Gaelic Terms

14th Int.
14th Intelligence Company (or Det for ‘detached’)
ACC
Assistant Chief Constable
ACPO
Association of Chief Police Officers
AIA
Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985)
APC
armoured personnel carrier
ASU
Active Service Unit (of IRA)
CAIN
Conflict Archive Internet
CIA
Central Intelligence Agency (US)
CID
Criminal Investigation Department
CIRA
Continuity Irish Republican Army
CIU
Counter-Insurgency Unit
CLF
Commander Land Forces (senior Army officer in Province)
CLMC
Combined Loyalist Military Council
CO
Commanding Officer
CT
counter-terrorism
DPP
Director of Public Prosecutions
DUP
Democratic Unionist Party (of Rev. Ian Paisley)
ECHR
European Court of Human Rights
FRU
Force Research Unit
GAL
Grupos Antiterroristos de Liberacion
GFA
Good Friday Agreement (1998)
GMP
Greater Manchester Police
GOC
General Officer Commanding (in charge of all armed services in Province)
GWOT
Global War on Terrorism
HMIC
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary
HQMSU
Headquarters Mobile Support Unit
INLA
Irish National Liberation Army
IPLO
Irish People’s Liberation Organization
IRA
Irish Republican Army
IRB
Irish Republican Brotherhood
JIC
Joint Intelligence Committee
JIS
Joint Irish Section
LVF
Loyalist Volunteer Force
MACP
Military Aid to the Civil Power
Met
Metropolitan Police
MoD
Ministry of Defence
MI5/MI6
The Security Service (Military Intelligence, Section 5

[domestic]/Section 6 [overseas])
MIU
Military Intelligence Unit
MP
Member of Parliament
MRF
Mobile Reconnaissance Force
NGO
non-governmental organisation
NICRA
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
Noraid
Irish Northern Aid Committee
OIRA
Official Irish Republican Army
OPONI
Office of Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
PANI
Police Authority for Northern Ireland
PC
Police Constable
PD
Peoples’ Democracy
PIIC
Public Interest Immunity Certificate
PIRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
PSNI
Police Service of Northern Ireland (2001– )
PAF
Protestant Action Force
RAF
Republican Action Force
RIRA
Real Irish Republican Army
RIC
Royal Irish Constabulary (1822–1922)
RUC
Royal Ulster Constabulary (1922–2001)
SAS
Special Air Service Regiment
SAM
surface-to-air missile
SAP
South African Police
SB
Special Branch
SDLP
Social Democratic and Labour Party
SIO
Senior Investigating Officer
SOCO
Scene of Crime Officer
SOP
Standard Operating Procedure
SPG
Special Patrol Group
TCG
Tasking and Coordinating Group
TRC
Truth and Reconciliation Committee
UDA
Ulster Defence Association
UDR
Ulster Defence Regiment
UFF
Ulster Freedom Fighters
UPA
Ulster Protestant Action
UPV
Ulster Protestant Volunteers
US
United States
UUP
Ulster Unionist Party
UVF
Ulster Volunteer Force
WMDs
weapons of mass destruction
WTC
World Trade Center
WWI
World War One
WWII
World War Two

Irish Gaelic terms:
Sinn Fein
Political wing of PIRA
Dáil
Irish Parliament
Taisoaech
Irish Prime Minister
An Garda Síochána
‘Guardians of the Peace’; Ireland’s