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from An Phoblacht/Republican News
July 14, 1994
1. British see red over NY official's visit
2. Smallwoods' true role overlooked by media
3. Second victim of loyalist attack dies
4. War News
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British red faces over NY official's visit
THERE WERE RED FACES at the Northern Ireland Office this
week after they sent out invitations to a dinner for a senior
visiting New York official and included in the mail-outs an
uncomplimentary confidential briefing memo about the visitor
drawn up by British diplomats in the US.
The internal memo accused New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi
of ''showboating'' -engaging in public relations stunts for
political effect. The memo also claimed he had no known record of
long-term interest in Irish affairs. This claim was made even
though he had co-sponsored the MacBride Principles on Fair
Employment in 1986 and lobbied on behalf of Joe Doherty and Irish
immigration groups.
On his visit Hevesi, the senior financial official in New
York State, derided the memo and urged the British government and
unionist politicians to adopt the MacBride Principles. His call
comes at a time when the present Fair Employment principles,
implemented in 1989, are about to go under review. And he urged
the British to appoint an independent impartial body of academics
from outside the Six Counties ''with no axe to grind''.
Hevesi warned companies that did not adopt progressive
employment practices that they would be penalised by investors.
Hevesi is responsible for the investment of $6 billion in
New York State employee pension funds, much of which is invested
in American, British and Canadian companies with operations in
the Six Counties. His warning to companies that they would face
action if they did not meet their fair employment obligations
will cause serious concern to those companies which have long
discriminated against people on religious grounds.
One such company is the Northern Bank, infamous among the
nationalist community because of its record of discrimination
against Catholics. Less than 20% of Northern Bank employees are
Catholic.
Hevesi requested a meeting with the top three executives of
Northern Bank but they refused to see him. He believes that this
decision will have serious implications for the bank as he is
responsible for some $8 million in pension funds that are in
invested in the National Australia Bank, of which the Northern
Bank is now a subsidiary. He said that he and his advisors
''would have to think about the methods which would be effective
in getting the Northern Bank to change its mind''.
During his visit Hevesi met with representatives of the NIO
and unionist and nationalist politicians, including Sinn Fein
President Gerry Adams and Chris McGimpsey of the UUP.
The unionist politicians that Hevesi met virtually told him
to ''mind his own business'' he said. But he believes that they
cannot hide from the fact that the momentum for the MacBride
Principles is growing stronger in the US. Over 16 US states have
adopted the principles and over 40 cities. They were ''not going
away''.
He believed that the fair employment principles should be
harnessed and exploited by the British government and unionists
thus converting them into a force for economic development. He
believes that there is a well of goodwill in the US which would
be willing to invest funds in the Six Counties.
During the visit Hevesi went to the H-Blocks to see POW Joe
Doherty, whom he befriended while he was held in the US. He
believes that the British should take the nine years he spent in
jail in the US, off Doherty's sentence.
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Smallwoods' true role ignored by most media
The killing of leading loyalist Ray Smallwoods drew a
response in media and political circles that was more intent on
exonerating Smallwoods and loyalism than on seriously examining
his role in loyalist death squad activity.
Much of the media tried to portray Smallwoods as a 'reformed
terrorist' and as someone who would have been a catalyst for
peace had he lived. All that is known about Smallwoods points to
the opposite conclusion.
The Irish Times stated that the IRA operation was an
''indication of the scorn that the IRA have for the democratic
process''. The paper conveniently omits to mention that
Smallwoods was a key player in undermining such a process through
his masterminding of the UDA's murderous campaign against
nationalists.
Forty-four-year-old Smallwoods held a prominent position
within the UDA's Inner Council and sat on the Combined Loyalist
Military Command. He was directly esponsible for UDA operations
carried out in the Lisburn area as well as South and West
Belfast, areas which have seen some of the worst loyalist murders
in past years.
There has been a concerted attempt by loyalists to terrorise
the nationalist community in Lisburn and the surrounding area
into submission. So far this year here have been eight
indiscriminate gun and bomb attacks on nationalists. This puts
into perspective claims that the IRA executed Smallwoods in order
to ''provoke retaliation''.
Smallwoods' part in targeting nationalists and directing
loyalist death squads was played down by the media and in some
cases was not even mentioned. The IRA killed Smallwoods not
because of his political beliefs but because of his prominent
position within the loyalist paramilitary structure.
The former bread delivery man was jailed in 1981 for his
part in the attempted murder of Bernadette McAlliskey, her
husband and infant son. Several newspapers since his death have
claimed that he was involved in the murders of Noel Little,
Ronnie Bunting and Miriam Daly in the same year. Smallwoods only
served six years for his part in the McAlliskey shooting - a
stark contrast to the double-figure sentences being served by
many nationalists for much lesser offences.
Smallwoods is on record as saying that he had ''no moral
objection to UDA murder bids directed against members of Sinn
Fein''.
The former head of the UDA John McMichael, who was killed in
1987 when the IRA placed a booby-trap bomb under his car, was
Smallwoods' mentor. He stated in one interview: ''I worshipped
the man I would have done anything he wanted.''
The gap left by McMichael in loyalist paramilitary thinking
was taken up with zeal by Smallwoods. He rejuvenated the Ulster
Democratic Party (UDP), which until then represented a disastrous
foray by the UDA into Six-County politics. And it was no
coincidence that after the banning of the UDA by the British in
August 1992, the profile of the UDP significantly heightened.
It is necessary to understand Smallwoods' role in the past
three years as not merely that of a spokesperson for the UDA, but
as someone who fully participated in its reign of terror against
the nationalist community.
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LOYALIST GUN VICTIM DIES
A MAN seriously injured in the loyalist attack on a workers'
hut on the Rushpark Estate in Rathcoole lost his fight for life
on Sunday, 10 July. The man, William Corrigan (32), who lived on
the estate in Newtownabbey is the second person to die as a
result of this attack carried out on 17 June.
Jim Dougherty, also from the Rathcoole Estate, was killed
instantly when a UVF killer fired indiscriminately into the hut
which he thought was filled with Catholic workers.
The attack was never claimed by any group, but it is widely
believed that loyalists carried out the attack expecting to kill
several Catholics.
A hospital said that Corrigan's condition had deteriorated
badly in the past week and his relatives had been keeping a
bedside vigil.
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War News
UDA/UFF leader executed
In attacks on both the official and unofficial arms of the
British crown forces in the past week, Belfast Brigade, IRA, said
its Volunteers injured two British paratroopers in West Belfast
and killed leading UFF commander Ray Smallwoods in Lisburn. In
South Armagh, the IRA shot down a British army Puma helicopter.
Two British paratroopers were seriously injured last week in
an IRA mortar attack in the Lenadoon area of Belfast, on Friday
morning, 8 July. Crown forces raids and harassment in the area
where the attack took place had been particularly intense in
recent weeks.
Despite this high level of crown forces' activity, the IRA
launched its second successful attack on crown forces on Suffolk
Road within a fortnight.
Volunteers fired a horizontal mortar at the British army
Land Rover as it travelled along the Suffolk Road at around
8.15am. According to the IRA statement:
"The mortar exploded on impact on the front door of the
vehicle. The Land Rover was one of a four-vehicle British army
and RUC patrol on Suffolk Road at the time of the attack. A
corporal and a lance corporal in the Parachute Regiment were
injured by the blast. One of the soldiers was critically injured,
the other was described as serious.''
Smallwoods executed
The IRA dealt a major blow to the UDA when Volunteers from
its Belfast Brigade executed Raymond Smallwoods, a prominent
member of the UDA's Inner Council, who represented that
organisation on the Combined Loyalist Military Command. He was
shot outside his home in Donard Drive, Lisburn on Monday, 11
July. The IRA said:
"An IRA active service unit moved into position, occupying a
house across the street from Smallwoods' home, on the night
before the attack. At around 9am on Monday morning, Smallwoods
emerged from his house. As he went to his car parked in the
driveway, the Volunteers immediately approached him and shot him
three times at point-blank range with sawn-off shotguns.
"Our Volunteers then withdrew from the area. Once they had
got clear of the immediate area of the execution, they abandoned
the shotguns used in the operation at a spot arranged before the
attack. The ASU then proceeded safely to base.
"Smallwoods was a member of a UDA death squad operating
under the direct control of UDA commander John McMichael. This
squad carried out the killings of anti-H Block/Armagh activists
Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting and Noel Little in 1980. "Smallwoods
was jailed in 1981 for his part in the attempted murder of
Bernadette McAliskey and her husband Michael and was released in
1988. His commander McMichael had been executed in December of
the previous year by the IRA.
"Publicly, Smallwoods tried to distance himself from the
murderous activities of the loyalist death squads. However,
Smallwoods was a prominent member of the UDA Inner Council and
sat on the Combined Loyalist Military Command.
"He was responsible for planning and advocating the mass
murder of nationalists throughout the Six Counties and had direct
operational responsibilty for UDA/UFF attacks in the Lisburn and
South and West Belfast areas.
"His brigade has been responsible for the killings at Sean
Graham's bookies on the Ormeau Road, the killing of West Belfast
teenager Damian Walsh, the killing of 22-year-old Aidan Wallace
and the deliberate wounding of a 10-year-old boy in the Devenish
Arms as well as scores of other killings, gun and bomb attacks."
Helicopter brought down
South Armagh Brigade, Oglaigh na hEireann, said it carried
out the attack on a British army helicopter in Newtownhamilton,
on Tuesday, 12 July.
"The Puma helicopter with 15 military personnel on board was
leaving the Newtownhamilton base when IRA Volunteers launched a
mortar from the back of a commandeered tractor. The helicopter
took a direct hit and its tail immediately went on fire.
"The helicopter crashed in a nearby field turning over on
its side.
Several British soldiers and RUC personnel were injured in the
attack".
This is the second time that the IRA in South Armagh has brought
down a military helicopter this year. In March, an RUC member was
seriously injured when an IRA mortar struck a helicopter in the
village of Crossmaglen.
Delivery woman shot by loyalists
THE RANDOM sectarian nature of loyalist gun gangs was
highlighted last Friday, 8 July when a loyalist assassin opened
fire on a Chinese woman and her ten-year-old daughter on
Belfast's Antrim Road.
The woman was delivering a Chinese takeaway order to
Downview Avenue in North Belfast, when a loyalist walked from the
footpath and shot at the car she was driving. The woman, Selina
Lee, a member of the Chinese community, was hit in the chest and
seriously wounded. Her ten year-old-daughter, who was also in the
car, was not hurt.
Loyalists had placed the bogus order with the Five Star fast
food business run by Lee's family. In the last two years three
Catholic men have been shot dead while delivering takeaway food.
Martin Moran (22) was fatally wounded hours after the Shankill
bombing last October. A bogus call lured him into a trap in the
loyalist Donegall Pass area of Belfast.
Another deliveryman, 48-year-old James McCaffery, was killed
in Candahar Street off the Ormeau Road in November 1991. Also in
1991, 57-year-old Francis Crawford was murdered when he was
delivering a takeaway meal on the Antrim Road. A UFF gun gang
ambushed him as he drove to a bogus address.
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