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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

David Cameron shows class on Bloody Sunday apology

Posted on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 09:42 PM

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The admission by British Prime Minister David Cameron that those killed on Bloody Sunday were innocent of any crime is an extraordinary statement.

It is even more significant than Tony Blair's apology about the Irish Famine and Britain's role in it.

It speaks very well of Cameron, especially as he is a Tory leader, and that party has been very slow to admit any culpability in the past on issues relating to the conduct of British forces in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

The sight of nationalists in Derry applauding and cheering Cameron's remarks must have made heads spin at the incongruity of it all.

The pity is that Edward Heath the Prime Minister of the day on Bloody Sunday and the Widgery Inquiry that whitewashed the killings did not use the words that Cameron used on Tuesday.

If they had the history of Northern Ireland would have been completely different.

The Bloody Sunday massacre and the cover up were the birthing pangs of the IRA.
That event and internment without trial that preceded it were the midwives of the IRA.

After those killings and the cover up the civil rights movement disappeared effectively replaced by violence in an attempt to get the British Army out.

Remember the British Embassy in Dublin was torched to the ground after Bloody Sunday as the reaction in the Irish Republic was every bit as violent as in Northern Ireland.

The police in Dublin let the embassy burn as they knew if they tried to stop it they would be attacked.

There were mass demonstrations in the U.S. Everywhere Irish blood was up.

Nationalists would never trust the British state again, yet remarkably a year or so earlier they had welcomed British troops into Northern Ireland as their saviors against the Unionist government intent on keeping them down by whatever means possible.

That ended forever that sunny but cold January day back in 1972. What followed was a quarter century of violence, much of which might never have happened if Bloody Sunday had not occurred.

At last a British Prime Minister has set the record straight.

It is better late than never

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barneyjo | Jun 22, 2010, 01:32 PM EDT

"In war, the first casualty is innocence" All sides will have dirty hands, tainted with innocent blood. Apologists, naysayers, and begrudgers can say all they like, be it in hushed or shrill tones; thats all they are good for. They can never change history, or for that matter, the truth "Human beings torture one and other;they hurt one and other, and grow hard" So said Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate and child of Northern Ireland (from his poem "The Cure at Troy) What last week in Derry also showed was that there was equal truth in the sentiment of the same poem's last line "Hope and History CAN!!! Rhyme" dISMISS THAT IF YOU THINK YOU CAN!!

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seanomelbourne | Jun 20, 2010, 10:04 PM EDT

Is SouthernPride referring to the illegitimate Free State government.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 20, 2010, 07:45 PM EDT

Over 140 children were murdered by the British army and their N.I. pro British R.U.C. cohorts. To think that no Palestinian children were murdered by the Israeli bully boys beggars belief,some of you contributors to this site live living in denial.

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hancock | Jun 20, 2010, 03:31 PM EDT

Nice backpeddle Jim. I thought you would know.

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jimquad | Jun 19, 2010, 06:34 PM EDT

just seen the article about the plastic bullets. It does say 9 children died over a number of years. But it also says that the British government was trying to get the Northern Irish police to stop using plastic bullets. So dont know why you describe Irish police as British.

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jimquad | Jun 19, 2010, 06:30 PM EDT

Posted by imuverin on Jun 16, 2010, 09:13 AM EDT How about an Apology for the many Children killed by Plastic Bullets shot by British Soldiers, teenagers themselves I keep reading about this one. Do you live in Israel? I am not aware of many children killed. I think I would know. Can you list their names or dates? Doubt it!

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seanomelbourne | Jun 18, 2010, 12:03 AM EDT

You are right woundedKnee my synopsis lacked clarity,all parties(dail)were culpable of a deafening silence and cowardly in not pursuing Britain's murderous attempt in influencing the passage of an anti-terrorist bill which was been voted on some days later.

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Southernpride | Jun 17, 2010, 08:09 PM EDT

The Irish goverment will go to any lengths to protect irish citizens against IRA terrorists. 27 September 1922 – The Free State's Provisional Government puts the "Public Safety Bill" before the Dáil, setting up military courts which allow for the execution of IRA terrorists captured bearing arms against the state and aiding and abetting attacks on state forces. It passes by 48 votes to 18. The Irish Labour Party oppose it.

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WoundedKnee | Jun 17, 2010, 07:46 PM EDT

seanmelbourne: " It's not the Dail that should apologise for the 1974 bombing". --- I didn't say the Dail should, but the Fine Gael and Labor parties who were in power at the time and closed down the enquiry into who was responsible, just weeks after the event, and ordered the Irish police to BURN ALL THE EVIDENCE. Why would an Irish "government" act like that? I have my own hypothesis--what's yours?

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WoundedKnee | Jun 17, 2010, 07:43 PM EDT

Alanwin: "How abot suing the cowardly plastic Paddies in New York and Boston who financed the Ira"---The plastic John Bull British taxpayers should be sued also. They financed the British Army. And still do.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 17, 2010, 07:07 PM EDT

If wxman can add to the debate he may sound credible. Maybe he would like to comment on conservative leaning groups Shuvonn mentions.

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MichaelMcWeeney | Jun 17, 2010, 02:39 PM EDT

It's all well and good that England has actually told the truth about one instance in time. I'm still waiting for England to abide by the 1610 Contract that they made with the Chieftains for the "Plantation of Ulster" and the Reparations due the Irish for "England's crown family's Deceit & Breach of the 1610 Contract".

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irishwxman | Jun 17, 2010, 10:53 AM EDT

Leave it to old Sean to bash the conservatives just because.

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shuvonn | Jun 17, 2010, 06:59 AM EDT

Who was it that funded the Red Hand Commandos? The U.V.F? The U.F.F.? How about Trimbles membership in the Ulster Vanguard? Hows about the collusion between the RUC and the loyalist paramilitary groups? Or was it JUST the IRA that is the target of your hate?

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Alanwin | Jun 17, 2010, 06:25 AM EDT

How about an apology from the Imperialist American forces who invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and have butchered hundreds of thousands of people of all ages?.The size of potetial lawsuits would make the oil spillage in the Gulf Of Mexico look like a drop in the proverbial ocean.How abot suing the cowardly plastic Paddies in New York and Boston who financed the Ira?.Better still, the UK govt could send the 700,000 people, born in the Irish Republic home.The Irish economy would collapse overnight, if it hasn't already!.Irish independence has meant a change in the colour of the postboxes to a gaudy green.Alsatian once again as the tone deaf Tones used to crow.

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