Monday, November 14, 2005
Monday Madness - OTRs
I still cannot quite believe how low Sinn Féin are willing to stoop to protect Provisional IRA terrorists. They have secured legislation that covers up the truth about collusion between loyalist terrorist groups and British State forces. On Thursday, SDLP leader Mark Durkan pointed out how disgraceful this legislation is:
"It will certainly go down well with the (British ) army’s Secret Forces Research Unit that spearheaded collusion.
"But it will bother victims of state planned murder. They have not been consulted about a word of this.
"We have seen collusion in the past between the state and paramilitaries. Now we are seeing collusion on the past between Sinn Féin and the British government - each helping the other to cover up their dirty secrets."
The SDLP's Justice Spokesman Alban McGuinness hit the nail on the head:
"It covers not just Provisionals, but loyalists and people in the police or (British) army who committed murder," the North Belfast MLA said.
"Not one of them will do time, and that is what Sinn Féin has signed up to.
"It is a good deal for Sinn Féin, whose Provo associates walk scot-free without even having to turn up in court.
"It is a good deal for the British government, which can close the books on everything from the Finucane murder to the Dublin/Monaghan bombings without answering awkward questions."
My best efforts to explain how outrageous this is to Shinner supporters fell on deaf ears! However, any sensible person need only to listen to Martin McGuinness' pathetic performance on Hearts and Minds to see how spineless and depraved Sinn Féin are. Here's a transcript of the best bits as Noel Furlong took Martin McGun-slinger to task:
McGuinness: "I don't envisage that any of the people involved in the murder of nationalists is ever going to be brought before a court in this day and age."
Furlong: "But what you have effectively done is taken away the possibility from the victims of those killings that anything will come to light."
McGuinness: "Well I think the victims and the relatives of those victims know...what's the likelihood of these people being brought before a court?"
And better yet:
Noel Furlong: "Well Mark Durkan is pointing out that it's you who is putting them in that position. You have secured an amnesty for the British security forces. He wants their (the victim's) voices to be heard!"
Martin McGuiness: "Well Mark is very naive if that is the case. These people have effectively had an undeclared amnesty for thirty years."
The man and his party are a disgrace. But don't take my word for it, listen to the opinion of a Republican source on the OTR proposals:
"Our negotiations were only about the OTRs – a very small number of people.
"It was only meant to deal with people who had been charged and, had they been convicted, who would have been eligible for release under the Good Friday Agreement.
"What the British government has done is to introduce a catch-all to defend its own people, both the agents on the ground and the political leadership. There is good reason to believe that a lot of decisions in the 1980s and 1990s, such as shoot-to-kill, went as far up as prime minister Margaret Thatcher. This is to stop them from being exposed in court."
Is this what being an Irish Republican is all about? Protecting criminal scumbags?
These OTR proposals need to be vociferously opposed by all decent people in Ireland who believe in justice and equality for all. This goes above and beyond nationalism and unionism, it's about decent people standing up to terrorists acting under the pretense of democracy.
It's funny. For years Shinner supporters could be heard to utter the phrase, "Brits Out". Who knew that "Brits Out" would later come to be associated with British criminal scum who ought to be behind bars but who instead are given an amnesty through Sinn Féin!
Brits Out indeed.
# posted by United Irelander @ 12:03 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
