Bloody Sunday, Bloody hypocrisy

Finally the outcome of the "Bloody Sunday" public inquiry has been concluded. And as everyone expected, it finds in favour of the Irish nationalists and against the British army. Our Prime Minister, David Cameron apologised on behalf of the British government for the events 40 years ago, saying the deaths of the 13 men was "unjustified and unjustifiable". Almost £200 million of tax payers money the inquiry has cost, taking 10 years. I honestly don't know why they even bothered.

I watched the news coverage of the events in Londonderry, Northern Ireland yesterday with absolute disgust. The real facts and realities of what happened back then seem to have been conveniently forgotten as the British government continues it's policy of appeasement of Sinn Fein, an organisation with very close ties to the IRA, allowing them to effectively re-write history.

It was sickening to see Martin McGuinness, a so-called Irish nationalist politician, speaking about the events of Bloody Sunday and how "innocent" people were murdered at the hands British army. It was Martin McGuiness who was the commander of the IRA in Londonderry at that time, and who was actually seen with a machine gun on that very day according to some eyewitness reports. This murderer and terrorist, has the audacity to speak about atrocities by the British and justice, when the IRA murdered thousands of people with it's campaigns of terror over the last 40 years in both Northern Ireland and on the British mainland. I lived through the 70's and 80's and remember those campaigns very well. The IRA deliberately targeted civilians and civilian buildings such as shopping centres and pubs. No inquiry has been carried out into those atrocities or the part Martin McGuiness and his other Sinn Fein buddies played in them.

As for the so-called "innocents" who were "murdered" by the British army that Sunday in 1972. You only have to watch the video footage of the scene that day to see how innocent they were. A violent angry mob of Irish nationalists attacking and throwing missiles at British soldiers, intermixed with IRA members armed with machine guns hiding around corners. And all this in an area which was under the control of the IRA with the people overwhelmingly supporting of the IRA. Only two days before the incident, two police officers have murdered in that very area. Innocent people wouldn't of been out on the streets attacking the British army that day.

Whilst perhaps you could argue the shootings were unnecessary, you could also argue the British army were simply defending themselves in a very hostile and confusing situation where it was difficult to tell where firing was coming from and who was an IRA operative and who was not. This situation was typical of the tactics deployed by the IRA.

The IRA have always been quick to point out in the past they are an army not terrorists, fighting for the liberation of Northern Ireland from British rule. They used this argument to get IRA "political prisoners" freed from prison which Tony Blair agreed to, allowing terrorist murderers to walk free in the interests of the "peace process". If the IRA were an army fighting a war, then they wouldn't hide behind civilians, they would fight British soldiers away from civilian areas. And they wouldn't cry foul, when civilians get killed. It's unfortunate, but in war civilians do sometimes get killed. That's the reality of war. The IRA like to be an "army" when it's convenient, and civilian victims of the British army when it's not.

Only last month, Israeli armed forces killed 16 Turkish civilians aboard a boat while hardly anyone batted an eyelid. The British army kills 13 Irish nationalists in what could be considered similar circumstances, and people are up in arms about it.

In my opinion, the British governments of the past and the armed services didn't go nearly far enough towards dealing with the IRA. They should of put them well and truly out of operation instead of appeasing them.