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Pulled from usenet, soc.culture.celtic
In article <26MAY93.17452830@skyfox>, wardp@skyfox writes:
At the time of these bombings, the Dail were debating a bill introducing strong
"anti-terrorist" legislation, which would grant special powers to the police
and the judiciary in dealijng with crimes deemed "political". The vote was
expected to be very close as many of the TD's objected to variuos aspects
of the legislation (such as proviosions for extradition without good _prima_
_facicea_ evidence, restrictions on civil liberties, alterations of rules
of evidence). On the night the vote was to be taken, several bombs exploded
in the centre of Dublin. The legislation was approved by a sizable majority.
Loyalist paramilitaries were originally blamed for the bombings because
the cars used were stolen from Loyalist areas in Belfast. Suspicion of
British invovement came to light during testimony given to police in the
Irish Republic by Keith and Kenneth Littlejohn, after their arrest for several
bank robberies. These were two small-time hoods who were recruited by British
intelligence and spent their time committing bank heists in the Republic and
blaming them on the IRA. They were caught. Originally the British Gov't offerred
to get them off if they kept quiet, but when they didn't follow through (they
considered them an embarrassment and tried unsuccessfully to deny involvement),
the Littlejohns sang loud and long. They named names, and the involvement of
British intelligence has been more or less proven by a number of sources
(independent journalists both British and Irish, Irish gov't etc..). The
involvement of British intelligence organizations directly in the Dublin
bombings has never been definitively proven, but subsequent investigations have
shown the likelihood to be high (I believe there was an official Irish gov't
complaint lodged with the British ambassador, but may be wrong). Support for
this theory has come from a number of sources over the years. Ex-intelligence
agents and operatives have supplied bits and pieces, and Loyalist groups have
denied involvement. The British gov't really wanted this legislation in place
to ease extradition of IRA members to Britain, and to make it more difficult
for the IRA to operate from the Republic. The timing of the explosions was
too much of a coincidence not to raise suspicion, and given some of the other
notable excesses of British intelligence, certainly not beyond the realm of
possibility. Terrorism, in this type of conflict, is not the exclusive
domain of small groups of nationalist fanatics.
Pearse
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| Different bombs??
I think the article refers to the Sackville Place bombs, which killed a
bus worker, and were some time before the other bombs which killed the
thirty people. My memory of that time is very hazy, however, so I may
be wrong.
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