News Archive
9 December 2004: Humiliation Press Release
The innocent victims of terrorist violence in West Tyrone are dismayed at the way IRA/SF have rejected the proposals to ensure transparency in decommissioning of all illegal armaments tabled by the UK and Irish governments last Wednesday.
Members of the innocent victims’ community have taken courageous steps for peace in N. Ireland during the past 35 years. They accepted the disbandment of the B-specials in the early seventies in a bid to get peace, but none came. They accepted the disbandment of the UDR for peace, but it eluded them. They had to put up with the removal of the RUC in order to get peace, but it never materialised either. Many of them accepted the Belfast Agreement of 1998 in a further bid to get peace, but this was answered definitively by the republicans the following August by the Omagh bomb, and by the numerous terrorist-related incidents that have dogged our steps even since.
Innocent victims have yearned for real and lasting peace more than many believe or admit. They and their families have paid a very high price for peace in our land. But this sincere desire has not been reciprocated by those who murdered and maimed their loved-ones.
The republicans say that having photographic evidence of decommissioning has been suggested as a means of “humiliation.” But they do not know the first thing about what humiliation is.
Humiliation is about getting word that your loved-one has been murdered by the PIRA. It is walking behind a loved-ones coffin with the full knowledge that the murderers are rejoicing in a job well done (as in the case of the murders of Buchanan and Breen). Humiliation is about having your right to justice removed from you. Humiliation is seeing images of your murdered loved-one in the press and broadcast media. Humiliation is learning about the torture your relatives experienced before they were mercilessly murdered by PIRA. Humiliation is hearing how republican lies have been listened to and believed by gullible people at home and abroad. It is about witnessing the security of your country being dismantled piece by piece, and seeing the triumphalism of those who attacked the country on our TV screens. Humiliation is having to live in fear in isolated border areas, knowing that your protection has been removed to facilitate the terrorist murderers. Humiliation is having to check under your car and around your house on a regular basis. It is living in virtual fortresses because of death threats from republican terrorists. Humiliation is living with pain and the loss of a dear father, spouse, brother or sister, son or daughter, and knowing that those terrorist criminals have been rewarded and elevated by governments.
Mary Harney TD has weighed in behind the UK, Dublin and US governments, as well as the innocent victims’ groups in N. Ireland, and her statement in the Dail to the effect that “humiliation works both ways,” is most welcome. Every party in N. Ireland, with the exception of IRA/SF, supports the need for photographic confirmation. This is yet another ploy by the terrorists to further humiliate the innocent victims as well as every decent person who lives on this island. And if Mr Ahern proceeds with his plan to release the four terrorist killers of Det. Garda Jerry McCabe, victims will be humiliated yet again by such crass insensitivity to their needs. But he and Mr Blair do not seem to care that they are humiliated, so long as IRA/SF are not.
November 2004: West Tyrone Voice visit to Brussels
In the middle of November, a group of 25 members and staff travelled to Brussels for four days. The main purpose of the trip was to visit the European Parliament, where we saw the Parliament Chamber and met with Jim Nicholson MEP. He highlighted the work of the MEP’s in bringing PEACE funding to Northern Ireland, and listened to our concerns. On 11th November, Belgium has a Public Holiday to mark Armistice Day, which some of our members attended. Four members of the group also met Graham Meadows, Director-General of the PEACE Funding, and Fernando Alonso of the European Commission in a good meeting. Friday was free for members to explore the sights of Brussels, including Manniken Pis, Grand Place, the Palais de Justice, as well as the shops. All in all, the trip was very successful, and our thanks go to Jim Nicholson MEP for sponsoring the visit.
Graham Meadows (European Commissioner), Hazlett Lynch, Robert Hutchinson, Leslie Finlay, Fernando Alonso (European Commission) and Gary McMurray following the meeting at the European Commission Building in Brussels
October 2004: Airbrushing the Past?
Our Training and Education Officer recently had the opportunity to give a presentation on our Peace and Reconciliation work to a Seminar on the future of Peace Funding in the Millennium Forum in Londonderry, organised by the North-West LSPs. He gave a balanced report, highlighting our successes in cross-border meetings, and also drew attention to a number of difficulties that hamper our reconciliation work. These include the still high level of threat in the area, the acceptance and justification of terrorism through the votes for Sinn Fein, equating perpetrators with victims in official circles, and the diversion from our core work that training has brought about. In all, this was intended as a fair reflection of where our group is. But several official complaints were made about his speech, most notably from the Sinn Fein Mayor of Londonderry, who objected to the linking of Sinn Fein/IRA, and to the use of the word ‘terrorist’. However, some of the participants were supportive of the message we brought, especially a Limavady Councillor, who was a great encouragement.
Surely Reconciliation demands honesty, and engaging with people where they are. Yet it seems from this conference that republicans wish to airbrush the past (by claiming they were not ‘terrorists’ but ‘soldiers’), and don’t want to know or engage with the innocent victims in their current situation. This does not hold much hope for our society, when our honest and heartfelt views bring criticism and complaint. But be assured, we will continue to voice your concerns and views at the highest levels, and on every available opportunity.
Since the event, councillors in the city have raised this issue, but the Mayor remains unrepentant for his remarks, and refuses to issue an apology. This is the same man who seeks to pursue his plan of a united day of remembrance, where terrorist perpetrators and victims would stand side-by-side to remember their loss together.
Something similar to this incident happened in the Irish Republic in 1952, where historical facts stated publicly led to the expulsion of the speaker, Mr Hubert Butler, from many committees and organisations. His ‘crime’ was to mention, on the grounds of historical accuracy, the treatment of Orthodox Serbs in Croatia during the Hitlerite period, allegedly offending the papal nuncio.
Other examples of this editing, or airbrushing the past can be found in the treatment of Joe Cahill’s funeral. The terrorist was hailed as a man who had contributed much to the peace process, and had been an example to his comrades. (Of course, had he and his colleagues not engaged in a murderous campaign, a peace process would not have been necessary). Also of note was the part played at the funeral by singer, Frances Black, who sang several songs, including the Bold Fenian Men. Is it now fashionable to take part in republican funerals? Similar praise came for Yasser Arafat on his recent passing, when he was hailed as a great peacemaker by West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty, also without regard for the many victims of his terrorist campaign. We are also sickened by the actions of Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in laying a wreath on Arafat’s grave. Our society cannot and should not rewrite history, and applaud terrorists as peacemakers. West Tyrone Voice is committed to stand firm against terrorists and their revision of history and continues to tell our story with truth on our side.
Recently, we received a letter from the Chairman of Strabane District Council informing us of a ‘Day of Civic Remembrance to recognise all those from the Strabane area who have died as a result of conflict, whether that be national or international and for all those who still live with the pain and memory of that loss.’ We reject this idea completely, as there is no comparison between victims and terrorists.
September 2004: One Group’s Attempts at Promoting Peace and Reconciliation - Presentation given at Millennium Forum, Londonderry
Commencing operations as an entirely voluntary victims’ group in Jan 1999, WTV has grown to become easily the largest pro-British victims’ group in N. Ireland, drawing its substantial membership of 572 from pro-British people in both communities, though mainly from the Protestant/ Unionist community.
From the outset, the group saw its raison d’etre as providing support for the many innocent victims of paramilitary terrorism in the region, and seeking to voice their concerns at the highest level. It was clear that, despite opinions to the contrary, WTV wanted to see real peace and genuine reconciliation brought about and established in N. Ireland more than many believed, or were prepared to admit. Its members had suffered bereavement and loss of close loved-ones and family members, physical and emotional injury, loss of homes and business, loss of education and career opportunities, loss of social life and involvement – they lost out substantially. If any group of people wanted true peace and genuine reconciliation in N. Ireland, it was the innocent victims of paramilitary terrorism, for they had suffered more than enough, and didn’t want any further suffering to come their way, or for others to suffer.
In order to try to address these ‘losses,’ WTV set about getting its members involved in simple social-type activities, such as, shopping outings to Belfast, annual holiday abroad, annual BBQ, and ran craft classes, coffee mornings, days away, with the pure motive of giving victims the opportunity to meet with other people within their own safe community, and to visit places that they had had no way of visiting before.
As the work developed, we started ‘taking risks for peace.’ These had to be carefully and sensitively organised. The first event was a visit by the project Co-ordinator to a Community Dialogue meeting in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone. This was difficult, given that terrorists were welcome to attend and participate in these events on a par with their victims. We had to question whether or not this was a wise course of action for victims to take.
As time went by, other committee members were invited along to these meetings, and also to the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation in Co. Wicklow. This had to be equally carefully thought through, since some of our people were well aware that the IRA used that area as a training ground for terrorist killers.
However, our first tentative experiences of these ‘cross-community’ events gave us the opportunity to do two things: first, to tell our story to people who had never had the opportunity to hear how their behaviour affected them and their families; and second, to challenge these terrorists as to the reasons for their killing spree against a law-abiding people, and to explain the benefits they derived from murdering our loved-ones. It hardly needs to be said that we got no satisfactory answers to these sincerely asked questions. This was most frustrating and annoying, not to say deeply disappointing.
However, we persevered with these cross-border and cross-community visits/events, involved more and more members in them, and sought to create the circumstances in which the desired objective might be met. We had exchange events with the Meath Peace Group (Co. Meath) and the Guild of Ancient Oriel (Co. Louth), and established links with the Irish Peace Institute in Limerick University. We have meetings with residents from Co. Donegal, and ongoing contact with innocent victims from GB.
As a victims organisation, we have a broad perspective on those issues that are important to us. Very few of us have any great difficulty meeting with nationalists from N. I, or from the Irish Republic. In fact, we have discovered that we have more in common with Catholics who have suffered as innocent people at the hands of paramilitary terrorists, than we have with Protestants who have not suffered in this way. So we have been trying as well to promote mutual understanding between ourselves and our own co-religionists across the border.
One of the challenges that we faced with the P & R element in PEACE II applications/projects was that there was no definitive understanding of what reconciliation is. What were we supposed to be doing? And with whom? What does reconciliation look like? And how is it to be achieved? I think I am probably speaking for many PEACE II funded projects when I say that this was something of a vague idea that sounded good, and that it had to have some reference to meeting with people from different backgrounds. I think we were all clear that it was more than drinking tea and eating scones together. But what was it? No one seemed to be very clear as to what it was we were supposed to be doing.
WTV tried to work out what it thought reconciliation is, and to work within this framework. We understood reconciliation as the bringing together of two people(s) from the same family who had become estranged for some reason or other. It was a re-uniting of the family, after a split had occurred. But this created its own difficulties for us, because in our meetings with terrorists and their supporters, we soon discovered that from what they were saying, we were not in the same family at all.
Difficulties encountered:
1. The fact that 37 of our people are still under death threat from terrorists in West Tyrone.
2. The evident and significant move of people in the nationalist community towards legitimising the use of terrorist violence to secure a political end. This is seen in the support that voters gave to IRA/SF in recent elections, thus indicating their support for terrorism.
3. The equating of terrorists with their victims in the vocabulary of the establishment, and the use of sanitised language to describe what has happened in N. Ireland for the past 35 years. The end result of this policy has been the attempt to cover over the horrendous reign of terror that terrorist armies had over the province, and to hide the enormous suffering that families endured while this reign was going on.
4. The tendency to place victims on a guilt trip by almost insisting that they ought to be ready to forgive those who murdered their loved-ones, without any sign of repentance, remorse, regret over what they had done, no word of sorrow or apology whatever on their part.
5. The inadequacy of funding for core work in the group.
6. The fact of the over-emphasis, or almost exclusive emphasis, on training that PEACE II had, meant that the beneficiary base was drastically restricted and limited to those who wanted to become employable again. WTV has seen tremendous progress that victims have made just by being on the various training programmes we ran, through the increase in self confidence in people who believed that they were incapable of achieving anything worthwhile, some gaining employment, victims feeling confident enough to apply for jobs, things that would have been unthinkable some time ago. We appreciate profoundly the funding for training, and see it as a positive aspect of our work; but alas, our victims support group has been forced to become a training organisation, something we never envisaged at our conception. Perhaps this is an emphasis that could be changed significantly in any future PEACE programmes.
Why do I raise these difficulties? It is because of our understanding of reconciliation. We understand reconciliation as the gracious approach of the offended party to the offending party with a view to establishing good relations with them. It is an act of mercy on the part of the injured party to those who caused the injury. It is the decision of the offended party NOT to seek revenge on the offenders, so that some kind of good working relationship can be put in place. It is the positive move of the offended person towards to offender in order to initiate good neighbourliness between them. WTV members have been doing that from the start, and certainly throughout this PEACE II programme, but terrorist killers and their supporters have consistently rebuffed our overtures. We looked for signs that these offenders were genuinely sorry for what they had inflicted on us, but to no avail. Is this because terrorists and their supporters are not interested in reconciliation, and simply refuse to accept responsibility for what they had done? True reconciliation demands that, at least; but alas, it has not been forthcoming to date.
And in some ways this is the greatest argument for the continuation of PEACE funding way into the future, or else for its cessation. It cannot be used as a gravy-train by those who have no desire for reconciliation with those who differ from them. Because that genuine desire for reconciliation is absent in those who have caused such grave offence, questions have to be asked as to whether or not they receive further funding under the PEACE programme.
PEACE II funding has enabled us to continue and expand our peace and reconciliation work, and we look forward to expanding this vital work in the future.
Bullying in the army, bullying in the navy, bullying in the royal air force. 100 years ago it was considered vainglorious to die for your country but today people are more likely to be focused on the employer’s Duty of Care under the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974). The reality is that soldiers, in their attempt to be the best, are 15 times more likely to die in their barracks than in combat.
The recent spate of suicides and suspicious deaths at Deepcut Army Barracks in Surrey, England, suggests that the army in the UK seems to have a lax attitude to death of personnel in service. By contrast, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force don’t seem to have a suicide problem amongst recruits.
In June 1995 Private Sean Benton, from Hastings, East Sussex, was found dead at the Deepcut Princess Royal Barracks. He had five bullet wounds to his chest. Ballistics tests suggested that only one bullet was fired from close range and the others from a distance, but the Army claimed he had committed suicide.
In November 1995 Private Cheryl James, 18, of Llangollen, Gwent, was found dead with a single bullet wound to the head at the barracks which is the headquarters of the Royal Logistical Corps. The coroner recorded an open verdict but an Army inquiry concluded she had committed suicide. Surrey Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the Private James' death
In September 2001 Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Hackney, east London, was found dead with two gunshot wounds to his head while on guard duty. A coroner recorded an open verdict after hearing from witnesses that during a search after the shots were fired a figure was seen running away. In total five shots were fired; three bullets have not been found. His parents have a web site devoted to discovering the truth about his death.
On 23 March, Private James Collinson, 17, from Perth, was found dead with a single gunshot wound while on guard duty at the barracks. The Army said he shot himself, but his parents do not accept this, insisting he had been happy. As of November 2002 no inquest has been held.
There’s a world of difference between shouting abuse and giving encouragement. Bullies disingenuously confuse the two in order to abdicate responsibility for their abuse. Abuse reveals itself by patterns. At Deepcut there's a pattern of four suspicious deaths, and another at Abingdon in Oxfordshire in October 2002. There have also been suspicious deaths at Catterick in North Yorkshire.
In a civilian workplace people can stand up to verbal abuse, get their union involved, if necessary a solicitor, and claim constructive dismissal for the employer’s repudiatory conduct. In the army, recruits are subject to military discipline and therefore none of these options are available. Service personnel are socially and geographically isolated and this means they don’t have contact with sources of information, advice and support that civilians workers do. No personal space, no permanent home, living in barracks, no privacy, no social contact, and no PC with Internet access. Even access to a phone may be difficult. Life in the military means living in a closed community, with no access to independent investigators or to the media for undercover filming.
Often unable to leave the base, the soldier is, to all intents and purposes, a prisoner of circumstances. Inexperienced, isolated, vulnerable young people in a captive environment with a hierarchy of military discipline and the threat of the Official Secrets Act provides the ideal breeding ground for a culture of abuse.
There’s no doubt that the UK has a professional army that is highly regarded throughout the world. However, there is a dark side and the army has a poor record of death in service and an uneasy attitude to psychiatric injury and PTSD. More veterans of the Falklands war have since committed suicide than were killed in the battle itself. In WW1, 306 soldiers were executed on the orders of General Haig (known at the time as Butcher Haig) for the sole purpose of instilling fear in the remaining soldiers. It’s not recognised that most, and maybe all, the selected soldiers, many of them teenagers, were exhibiting the symptoms of PTSD. Today, General Haig would be regarded as a war criminal but he retains his earldom whilst the families who lost a loved one still bear the shame of false accusations of cowardice and desertion.
The Army, and the UK government, continue to refuse to issue posthumous pardons, presumably because they fear legal action, compensation claims, and closer inspection of unpalatable matters such as continuing deaths in non-combat situations.
Bullying in the Armed Forces is not restricted to new recruits and junior ranks. A growing number of allegations have been made by older service personnel that they are being hounded out of their jobs before normal retirement age so that the Ministry of Defence can save on pension costs. For every soldier forced to leave after giving 12 years loyal service, a saving of £1m in pension payments for every four soldiers discharged this way can be made.
Whenever an Army spokesman is interviewed, there are strenuous denials of bullying, or heavy emphasis on "policy". However a policy is only words on paper, it needs a commitment from those in authority to make it work. Four suspicious deaths and another recently at a barracks in Abingdon (and more elsewhere) are evidence that the Army’s fine words are at odds with reality.
The Armed Forces also offer careers to people in a non-combatant role such as engineer, driver, cook, etc. These people are then subject to the same brutal disciplinarian regime as their combatant colleagues. One should not be surprised that problems arise. In October 2002, chef Alison Croft, 22, hanged herself from a wardrobe door at Dalton barracks in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
These denials are still being perpetrated by the Army in relation to the death of the young 18 year old RIR soldier Paul Cochrane. Did he take his own life, or was he murdered? No answers have been forthcoming from the MOD. It is not that victims want to die, or cause heartache to their families. They just cannot find any escape from the horrors that they are being put through. Hazlett Lynch supported the call for an enquiry into the soldier’s death. Even where treatment has not ended in death, soldiers are being subjected to bullying by officers and peers alike. Members of our group have told Hazlett Lynch how they have been bullied, and they described the negative effect this has had on their lives and work. While it’s true that “only the best are bullied," something that ought to reassure victims, the fact remains that officers who are professional and good at their job never resort to such evil tactics. To try to get the best out of people by humiliating them does not work because it is the wrong thing to do. The treatment they got while in the forces is a reflection of the treatment they get now that they are ex-service. They are still treated like dirt, just numbers, no one from the MOD cares, every attempt is made to deprive them of their rights. They are demonised and regarded as contemptible. They fought and served to protect their country and homeland, but were rewarded with dismissal.
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