Monday, December 19, 2005
Monday Madness - British rogue elements
No prizes for guessing what I'm angry about this week! It is of course the recent revelation that the Assembly in the north of Ireland was brought down on the basis of one gigantic lie! A lie which claimed that Sinn Féin were operating a spy ring in Stormont when in actual fact, the only spy ring involved the British agent Denis Donaldson who was working for his handlers in MI5!In the last few days there has been alot of speculation on this particular subject. Frankly because, well, we don't really know for sure what the story is! Even the Irish government are confused by the issue with Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern telling us he will be demanding answers from the British government on the matter.
Since alot of people have already put forward their theories on the issue, permit me to put forward my take on this matter:
- Firstly, I believe that there are rogue elements within British Intelligence, more specifically MI5, who have a vested interest for whatever reason in seeing events in the north of Ireland destabilised.
- I do not believe that these rogue elements, or as Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has termed them, 'dissident elements', are one bit afraid to challenge the authority of the British government. Former RTE, BBC and Channel 4 journalist, Joe Tierney, in his book, 'The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings and the Murder Triangle', highlighted the dangers of these elements and how they were prepared to challenge the authority of the then British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. Tierney wrote:
"On a visit to Dublin in 1972, as leader of the Labour Opposition, Harold Wilson had said in a speech that he could envisage a united Ireland within fifteen years. The speech outraged those right wing elements, including a group of right wing officers within MI5, who Wilson himself believed later plotted against him.
"In an interview with two British journalists, Barry Penrose and Roger Courtiour, in 1976, and shortly after his resignation, Wilson claimed that a right wing MI5 faction had been collaborating with American and South African intelligence to organise a smear campaign against him in the 1974/75 period.
"'I'm not certain,' Wilson declared, 'that for the last eight months when I was Prime Minister I knew what was happening fully in Security.'
"He complained that the security services were incapable of distinguishing between socialism and communism and that a story had been put about of a 'pro-Soviet cell in No 10'. He alleged a level of interference by the security services that bordered on professional treachery and suggested a Royal Commission be set up to examine their accountability."
This is an astonishing thing for a Prime Minster to say! Wilson is alleging that MI5 were basically carrying out their own agenda. 'He alleged it bordered on 'PROFESSIONAL TREACHERY'! As well as that, we have the Prime Minister of Britain saying that for a period of time, he did not know what was going on in Security! He even suggested a Royal Commission be established to look into their behaviour! Unbelievable stuff!
It is my belief that there are still figures in British Intelligence who maintain a considerable degree of influence, which is probably even greater nowadays in light of the current political climate, and that they have acted on their own orders when it comes to NI rather than the orders of Mr Blair and his government, similar to the way they acted under Harold Wilson.
- I believe that MI5 as well as high ranking officials in the PSNI were using Denis Donaldson to try and influence the Republican movement. Perhaps as an agent provocateur. I believe it's quite possible that there are other senior figures in Sinn Féin who are agents.
- I believe that these rogue elements orchestrated the whole Stormontgate affair to bring down the institutions and once more destabilise the North. As the Belfast Telegraph pointed out:
"By indicating that one of the parties elected to Government in Northern Ireland was acting illegally it was inevitable that the whole edifice would collapse.
"It was also inevitable that no unionist party would work to rebuild the Assembly with Sinn Fein while the stench of criminality hung over republicans."
- I believe it's quite possible that these rogue elements were made aware, perhaps by Denis Donaldson, that the IRA were preparing to wind down their military machine. A key event for Republicans was September 11th because after that, terrorism was never going to be tolerated. I believe that this was the point where the IRA realised it was foolish to remain in the political picture and I believe that MI5 did not like this one bit. I believe that they sought to take away the Assembly in order to send a message to Republicans that they had no future in politics in the North.
- Finally, I believe that these rogue elements have seriously undermined the authority of the British government. I believe that they have seriously embarrassed Sinn Féin too. I believe that this issue therefore will be swept under the carpet as any public enquiry will only lead to further embarrassment. How unionists respond to this remains to be seen...
That is my view on this whole sorry affair. Frankly it makes me sick to my stomach to think that, in effect, there are elements in British Intelligence, clearly answerable to no one but themselves, who brought about the fall of Stormont as a way to damage the Republican movement. They ended up damaging much more than the Republican movement however. They damaged all the parties, the two governments and more specifically, the people of the North who were left without representation and forced to undergo several years of Direct Rule - ALL BECAUSE OF A LIE.
There are forces at work in the North that are a grave danger to the people. It's time for all of us to acknowledge that.
# posted by United Irelander @ 2:58 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
