The Saville Report – an opportunity for reconciliation

When David Cameron later today addresses the House of Commons to publish Lord Saville’s findings into the events of Bloody Sunday, he will do so against a backdrop of anger and hurt. Already, before a word of the report is published, rancour and recrimination is plain for all to see. The Belfast Telegraph has reported that Northern Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions will consider whether to charge soldiers involved in the deaths of 13 civil rights protestors in Derry on January 30, 1972.

The-Bloody-Sunday-Inquiry Quoted in The Times, Joe McKinney, whose brother Willie was shot dead on Bloody Sunday aged 27, pointedly remarked:

“We know who murdered Willie and that person has to be pursued right through the British justice system.”

The Newsletter, however, yesterday led with the news that two senior military figures had concluded that if soldiers were prosecuted, then so should the former IRA member and now deputy first minister, Martin McGuniess, for his part in one of Northern Ireland’s darkest days.

As Major General Julian Thompson, a commanding officer in the Royal Marines, stationed in Armagh during the troubles has commented:

“In that case, let’s prosecute the IRA as well, men like McGuinness. How about drawing a line under this unless we want to go and prosecute all the IRA guys who murdered as well?

“It’s ironic that these guys [British soldiers] could be prosecuted and the people who’ve murdered 20 times more than they have are being allowed off.”

Both these position demonstrate clearly the tensions, the anger and the hurt that will be felt when Lord Saville’s report is finally released. However, as Northern Ireland yet again faces the need to come to terms with a scar in its history, today’s events could also provide an opportunity for some sort of reconciliation.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu has previously concluded:

“Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth.

“It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.”

http://twitter.com/houseoftwits/status/16211793955 House Of Twits

RT @leftfootfwd The Saville Report – an opportunity for reconciliation: http://bit.ly/bMcEmr
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Bloody Sunday Inquiry: NI reaction: RT @leftfootfwd: The Saville Report – an opportunity for reconciliation: http://bit.ly/bMcEmr
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http://twitter.com/ackemp03/status/16215581057 Anthony Kemp

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David Dee

One has to ask if Thompson knows what he is talking about in his equating the brutal murder of 13 iunnocent,unarmed and British Subjects in a British town by an arm of the British state whose job it was to protect them, with that of kilings by any of the para military groups that existed in NI.

Bloody Sunday was a huge cock-up from beginning to end in that the plan (formulated by Wacko Jackson ?) was to try to uncover the IRA member who he ,wrongfully, thought would return the first barrage of fire which came under his orders and orderred on the grounds that the IRA in the crowd would respond,thereby exposing themselves to the ‘elite’ squad who werr to follow them through a pre-ordained route and ‘take them out’.

There was no response to the fire but poor old ponderous and slow-witted Jackson did not have a plan ‘B’ so the ‘elite squad’ continued with a now useless plan ‘A’ which had also made the assumption that the civilian casualities that were expected could be accounted for by stating that they were killed in the crossfire that never came about.

Having been outwitted by the IRA, and having to work off their own initiative (not their greatest asset)the ‘elite squad’ decideed to open fire on the innocent civilians murdering 13 and wounding many more.

This was followed by the Wigdery report,written, in the main by Heath aand Hailsham, which was a complete white wash and succeeded only in rubbing salt into the wounds of already grieving families and relatives of the dead and injured.

Saville was necessary, and despite all the delaying tactics by the MOD, who hoped that it would get buried along the way, did well to actually complete the report.

However now is not the time for revenge however strongly the families feel.

What is needed now is for an immediate and unqualified apology from Cameron, a sign of remorse from the soldiers and their superiors, and talks to begin on the huge amount of compensation that this military cock-up is going to cost us.

The removal of Jackson’s promotion would also be a tremendous help towards reconciliation.
Liz McShane

David Dee – Agree with you.

People like Gen Thompson should think of is if a similar incident (ie a civil rights march to protest against shocking housing & voting discrimination) were to take place in say Leeds, Newcastle or Manchester and the army opened fire and killed 13 civilians – there would be uproar & rightly so!

All these people were marching for was simple, basic equality in what was a very unfair city – a predominant Nationalist/Catholic city where Unionists/Protestants had two votes for every Nationalist/Catholic vote with regards to the council.

The protest led by John Hume was just asking for ‘British Rights for British Citizens’ nothing more, nothing less.
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