Psyche, Science, and Society

British government created counterinsurgency murder gangs in Northern Ireland

January 31st, 2007

Neil Mackay, in the Scottish Sunday Herald — How Britain created Ulster’s murder gangs — reports on Britain campaign of murder against Irish Republicans:

Since the Sunday Herald was founded in 1999, it has led the way in exposing the “dirty war” in Northern Ireland. Today, we report on the most shocking revelations to date. Our investigations show that far from merely “turning” terrorists to work for the state, British military intelligency actually created loyalist murder gangs to operate as proxy assassins. They even cleared areas in which the gangs were operating of police and army, to allow them to carry out their hits and escape.

Unfortunately, counterinsurgency campaigns inevitably turn dirty. The state uses whatever means are considered necessary to maintain power and control. While condeming the alleged crimes of their opponents, governments commit similar, often even more barbarous, crimes. After all, the state has vastly greater resources of terror than do the rebels being suppressed. This reality should be remembered by all viewing a supposedly “moral” counterinsurgency campaign. The reports that the United States created Iraqi death squads is another illustration of this reality.

Entry Filed under: Iraq, Law, Middle East, Terrorism, War and Peace