Voices from the grave

Gerry Adams ‘had Jean McConville disappeared’

The Sunday Times
John Burns

Brendan “darkie” Hughes, a former commander of the IRA in Belfast, has claimed posthumously that Gerry Adams ordered the killing and burial of Jean McConville, the mother-of-10 shot dead by the IRA in 1972. He also suggested that Adams gave the order for the Provisional IRA to hang one of its own members in Long Kesh in June 1973 after the 22-year-old cracked under police questioning.
Hughes also boasted that he personally ran a personation campaign for Adams’s election as MP in west Belfast in 1987, and again in the council elections of 1989, stealing a “massive” number of votes.
The claims were made in a series of interviews Hughes gave to a researcher for Boston College in 2001 and 2002. He agreed to speak on condition that the material would not be published until after his death.
“I find it so difficult to come to terms [with] the fact that this man has turned his back on everything that we ever did,” Hughes said in an interview before he died in 2008.
“I never carried out a major [IRA] operation without the okay or the order from Gerry [Adams]. And for him to sit in his plush office in Westminster or Stormont or wherever and deny it, I mean it’s like Hitler denying that there was ever a Holocaust.”
Hughes’s interviews are contained in a new book, Voices From The Grave by journalist Ed Moloney, which is serialised exclusively in today’s Sunday Times.
Adams, the Sinn Fein president, has denied any involvement in the killing of McConville and being a member of the IRA. Asked last month if he was aware that the widowed Belfast woman was to be murdered and her body dumped, he said “No”.
Hughes revealed that he was deeply involved in the affair, one of the most high-profile killings of the Troubles. He said his unit found an army transmitter in McConville’s flat in Divis. Her family insists that the widow was not an informer, and that she was shot for going to the assistance of an injured soldier.
“She was an informer; she had a transmitter in her house. The British supplied the transmitter [to watch] the movements of IRA volunteers around Divis Flats at that time,” Hughes said. “I sent a squad over to the house to check it out and there was a transmitter. We retrieved [it], arrested her, took her away, interrogated her, and she told [us] what she was doing.”
Hughes said he wasn’t “on the scene at the time”, but insisted that his unit took possession of the transmitter and, because she was a woman, released McConville with a warning. He claimed that within a few weeks another army transmitter had been put in McConville’s flat.
“She was still co-operating with the British . . . getting paid by the British to pass on information. The squad was brought into operation then,” he said. “And she was arrested again and taken away.”
Hughes said he knew McConville was to be “executed” but didn’t know whether she was to be “disappeared” or her body left on the street. He claimed Ivor Bell, another IRA leader, argued for the body to be dumped in public, but was over-ruled.
“There was only one man who gave the order for that woman to be executed,” he said. “That man is now the head of Sinn Fein. I did not give the order to execute that woman — he did. And yet he went to see [McConville’s] kids to promise an investigation into her death.
“[Bell] argued, ‘if you are going to kill her, put her on the street. What’s the sense of killing her and burying her if no-one knows what she was killed for?’ ”
Asked if Adams had rejected this logic, Hughes replied: “He rejected it.” And ordered her to be disappeared, the interviewer asked. “To be buried. She was an informer.”
Hughes accused the Sinn Fein leader of getting into a position where he had to deny all of his IRA past. “It . . . appears that way,

Courtesy Irish American GOP Activist

Virginia

And more to come ..... a "must read", I would say!

Hypocrisy & Lies Continue

I cannot encourage you enough to search the internet, look at You Tube, view websites like Republican Network for Unity, Friends of Colin Duffy, etc.... You cannot make an informed decision if you do not have all the information!

I attended an event for the Deputy First Minister Mr. McGuinness on 18 March at Rory Dolan's in the heart of the Irish community. It was POORLY attended! For the first 2 hours there were only 20-30 people. Naturally, he was running late. There is nothing like keeping people waiting! A sign of rudeness & arrogance. The Downs brothers, more than once made excuses for the "micro" turnout-- saying people must be tired from the Parade. Note the word I use here-- "micro" -- as it related directly to the hypocrisy of the event.

Finally, Mr. Deputy First Minister arrived. Along with his entourage, a total of maybe 60 people finally attended this event for Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein leader & DFM! Not great support-- I would say. Rita O'Hare spoke, then MLA John O'Dowd of Lurgan spoke, then Mr. McGuinness spoke. It was a very vigorous but very repetitious speech. The theme was "Sinn Fein has delivered", "We deliver", "SF delivered what we said we would deliver" interspersed with "We will have a united Ireland", "We have a plan", We are nearly there", We are working toward a united Ireland" and "we want your continued support". I think I remember Mr. Adams being here about 6-9 months ago asking Irish America "HOW DO WE GET A UNITED IRELAND?" -- he was asking for ideas! WOW! They came up with one pretty fast it looks like.Then the lies and hypocrisy began in full!

Toward the end of his speech, he said there are "MICRO" groups who oppose SF, the GFA, and peace...... and they have NO support. This is a lie! He further said that Americans should not support these people. He claimed that due to these "micro" groups Derrymen have lost their lives, his fellow county men, and only his county men have lost their lives due to these "micro" groups. He mentioned that his fellow Derryman Kieran Doherty was recently killed. (Mind you Kieran Doherty had stopped supporting SF before 2000 & was in the Real IRA). Martin McG. reiterated don't support them, they have no support, they are going nowhere.

Finally he finished and there was a Q&A segment. Three men asked questions. I was next. I started by saying I had supported & watched SF for many years, but I and many others had questions & concerns re: a number of issues. I said I MUST correct statements made in his speech. (You could see an immediate change in his posture & body language!) I said his claim of only Derrymen being killed due to "micro" groups was NOT TRUE! I stated - Yes, Kieran Doherty was a Derryman, I knew Kieran, but John Brady was a Tyrone man, murdered in custody of "the NEW police of n.Ireland", and John was my friend. I said Joe O'Connor was a Belfast man murdered in broad daylight in front of his mother's home. I am a friend of the O'Connor Family, and young Paul Quinn was from Cullyhanny and murdered -- murdered by British agents (MI5, PSNI or Provos). I said THIS is the truth and these are facts! I also said that these "micro" groups, in fact, do have growing support. Then I said "my question for you tonight is -- Where does SF stand on SECTION 44 & the return of DIPLOCK Trials? I asked why Republicans are being harassed on a weekly basis, why men like Colin Duffy, Gary Donnelly- a Derryman- are being arrested & re-arrested & assaulted. And why MI5 are now openly recruiting for informers in Nationalist areas?

WELL...... McMcGuinness was livid. He responded by making a personal attack. He called anti-GFA groups & supporters criminals, drug dealers, thugs, & informers!! He said I was seriously misinformed. He was in a temper. He never answered my question at all! The hypocrisy is SF/the Provos have their own share of informers, drug dealers, & criminals! Let's remember Denis Donaldson & Freddie Scappeticci. Let's also remember Liam Adams-a paediophile (even Gerry accepts this as true), Provos who have been outed for raping Joe Cahill's neices, other SF sex abuse cases, Provos dealing drugs, --- last week Mr. McGuinness had the audacity to call for Cardinal Brady to step down !?!?!? I didn't hear him call for Gerry Adams to step down for hiding & covering up crimes of criminals within his own organization ! People in glass houses ....These hypocrites are now master liars & have learned from the very best---- their new masters --- the Brits! I honestly don't know how anyone can support these people. Their arrogance is out of control. They abuse anyone who questions them or who does not support them! Money & power has corrupted them completely! Republicans do not turn on Republicans. Republicans do not work with the enemy to jail Republicans!

I spoke with both Mr. McGuinness & R. O'Hare after the event and suggested that it was very bad form to slander & attack former comrades and ex-prisoners! McGuinness could hardly hold it together, he was so rattled! Ms. O'Hare had more dignity. She actually told me (which I already know) that she cannot go home and if she did she would likely face jail & trial much like Gerry McGeough!

Cathleen O'Brien

Friends of Irish Freedom

I am not at all surprised by Martin McGuinness’s negative attitude toward Ms. O’Brien’s line of questioning and her factual “corrections” to most of the statements he made at the Rory Dolan event. Unfortunately, Sinn Fein is not forthcoming with the truth about the issues Ms. O’Brien raised that evening and they have not been since before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. As a one time supporter of Sinn Fein, for about 30 years, I find it disgraceful and cowardly that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness continue to ignore the plight of their former comrades and to be complicit and silent in the cover-up of their continued harassment by the RUC/PSNI, murder, and Diplock trials of fellow Republicans who should have been part of the “amnesty” they secretly and selectively negotiated for those loyal to them.

The fact that, within the last six months, a good number of Sinn Fein members have jumped ship is an indication that all is not so good within their organization. As for their bad mouthing of other Irish Republicans – shame on them. They come here to the USA and they blow smoke and placate Irish-Americans and then go home and do just the opposite. They have been doing that since 1994 and sadly enough, most Irish-Americans just take them at face value and don’t do their homework. Kudos’ to Ms. O’Brien for her courage to address such issues with Mr. McGuinness. We should all take her advice and use the Internet to search out all Irish Republican sites/blogs to find out what is really going on behind the scenes as well as to realize that some of the “micro-groups” McGuinness continues to bad mouth, in fact do have support and that support is growing.

Helen McCLafferty
March 25, 2010 1:44 PM

People in glass houses . . .

Scandal shows how prone we are to hypocrisy and hysteria

Ruth Dudley Edwards is sickened by the abuse of children, but also by the persecution of essentially good people like Brady

Ruth Dudley Edwards – Sunday Independent - March 21 2010

I had a struggle to feel proud to be Irish this St Patrick's Day. Normally I would have smiled tolerantly at the ubiquitous shamrock-bespattered leprechaun hats and orange beards infesting central London. But I was afflicted by an attack of existential gloom, brought on by listening to Morning Ireland in full cry over Cardinal Sean Brady. It wasn't so much that we are at our least attractive when in sanctimonious lynch-mob mode: it was because this was RTE at its worst.

It was bad listening to Charlie Bird in Washington trying to persuade Brian Cowen to call for Brady's resignation and order a police investigation of his behaviour in the Seventies, but at least the Taoiseach firmly dismissed any idea that he should interfere in Church matters or the operational independence of the gardai. But then came the utterly fantastic interview with Martin McGuinness, who had no such statesmanlike inhibitions.

Wringing his hands, McGuinness told us how he tried to be as good a Catholic as he could be, how the people whose voices have not been listened to should be heard, how the Church should demonstrate real leadership and how the Cardinal "should consider his position". When it came "to such a serious matter as child abuse I do think there's a very grave responsibility on everybody in positions of leadership to do everything possible to ensure the protection of children".

I waited for Bird to ask a few of the obvious questions. Surely you are in no position to criticize Cardinal Brady for a sin of omission as a young man? By your own admission, were you not involved by 1975 in an organization that killed and mutilated children and destroyed innumerable lives? Did Pope John Paul II on his knees in 1979 not beg the IRA in the name of God "to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace"? Why did a good Catholic like you ignore his plea? Would the IRA not have murdered anyone who reported any of its members to the police? Was there not a culture of secrecy and authoritarianism within the republican movement that suppressed all criticism of the leadership? Since Gerry Adams allowed a brother he believed had raped his own daughter to work in his constituency in youth organizations for years, should he not resign? Which heads should roll because it took months to suspend an alleged child-abusing Sinn Fein councillor? Is your neck not made of solid brass?

Bird didn't ask those questions. He just kept pressing him to go further and call directly for Brady's resignation. And at the end, he said sympathetically, "It must be hard for you to say something like this to him". Oh, it was hard, said McGuinness, because he had found Brady "very decent, very supportive of the peace process". However, "We who are in positions of political leadership have a responsibility to lead".

And so I mooched off into the street, glowered at the leprechauns and with difficulty held back from explaining to passers-by that we are a nation of slovenly minded hypocrites and self-righteous hysterics. However, that isn't really true. I spent a few days in Clare the other week, where one could speak of showing some compassion to the clergy without someone shrieking that you condone child abuse.

After abandoning religion in my teens, I spent the next couple of decades practicing anti-Catholicism until I realized it was time I got over it. So I learned to be a religion-friendly atheist, not least because I found in Northern Ireland many people whose Christianity had enabled them to forgive perpetrators of terrible crimes. And now my country is in the in the grip of adolescent anti-Catholicism and I feel sorry for its victims.

Some Catholic clergy did bad things, others showed a lack of moral courage and others defended their institution blindly in the way the institutionalized do. In Ireland, our craw-thumping society colluded all the way in allowing them to abuse their power. I am sickened by what happened to children, but I'm sickened too by the persecution of people I believe to be fundamentally good, like the 70-year-old Cardinal Brady and the 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI. We are all fallible.

Perhaps next time Bird is looking for a question to ask Martin McGuinness, he might ask him why he's forgotten Jesus Christ's recommendation that you don't throw stones unless you're sinless.

Comment

Perhaps Mr. McGuinness should examine his conscience, look inward, and practice some self criticism before attacking a man who has dedicated his entire life to the service of God and his fellow man. His criticism of Cardinal Brady marks him as more of a publicity seeking, run of the mill politician than the statesman in the making that some of his admirers consider him to be. Dr. Edwards, a self proclaimed atheist, has struck the nail squarely on the head in this article.

Jack Meehan, Past National President
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America
Knights of Columbus – 4th Degree
.

Islamic terror suspects detained in Ireland

Seven quizzed over cartoonist 'murder plot'
Thursday, March 11 2010

www.independent.ie

Seven Muslims detained over a suspected plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist, allegedly masterminded by a self-styled "Jihad Jane", were facing another three days of questioning today.
Four men and three women were detained in Cork and Waterford over an alleged international conspiracy to murder Lars Vilks, who controversially depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
Two Libyan men and a woman, one Algerian man and a Palestinian woman had their periods of detention extended at a closed court hearing last night while a US woman and Croatian man were ordered back into garda custody at a brief sitting today.
They can be questioned until Sunday morning.
The group had been arrested on Tuesday in a series of raids by anti-terrorist units acting on intelligence from the CIA, FBI and European agencies.
A judge at Waterford District Court agreed to a special closed sitting to protect the investigation as US caretaker Colleen LaRose, who styled herself Jihad Jane in a YouTube video, was charged with plotting the murder bid.
The suspect was accused in the US on Tuesday of conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad.
According to the US Justice Department, the 46-year-old, who also goes by the name Fatima LaRose, plotted with five others in South Asia, Eastern and Western Europe and the US to recruit men on the internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe.
They are also accused of recruiting women online to travel to and around Europe supporting violent jihad.
It is understood LaRose agreed to marry an online contact from South Asia so he could move to Europe.
US prosecutors said she was ordered to kill Mr Vilks in a way which would frighten "the whole Kufar [non-believer] world".
The seven people held in Ireland, aged from their mid-twenties to late forties, can be questioned for another 72 hours when detectives can ask a judge to extend their detention for another 48 hours.
Some of those arrested in Ireland have been legally in the country for up to 10 years.
Mr Vilks, whose cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog were printed in the Swedish Nerikes Allehanda newspaper in August 2007, has been under threat of death from Iraqi members of the Islamic terrorist group al Qaida.
They put a $100,000 (€74,000) bounty on the cartoonist's head, forcing him into police protection in an isolated area of Sweden.
LaRose is also accused of travelling to Europe and tracking Mr Vilks online in an effort to complete her task.
If convicted of the charges against her, LaRose faces a potential sentence of life in prison and a one million dollar fine. She has been under arrest since last October.
Senior gardai do not believe those detained in Ireland are members of the terrorist group and stressed there was no threat to Irish security.
It is understood at least one of the suspects is a naturalised Irish citizen while a number of others have attempted to claim asylum.
Press Association

Let Freedom Ring

Courtesy of Irish American GOP Activist, Virginia

An American obsession with freedom
Tony Blankley

The publishing of the Declaration of Independence 233 years ago by our Founders was responded to in London by two of the 18th century's greatest minds: Dr. Samuel Johnson (after whom a literary age was named) and Edmund Burke (the intellectual father of modern Anglo-American conservatism).

Dr. Johnson made the harsh assertion that our Declaration was "the delirious dream of republican fanaticism" that, if sincere, would "put the axe to the roots of all government." Moreover, he went on, it was the rankest hypocrisy for owners of slaves to shout for freedom, or, as Johnson put it: "Why is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?" But it was Edmund Burke who had the more profound insight. He recognized that it wasn't despite being slaveholders that American Colonists felt so powerfully about liberty. Rather, being in the midst of the obvious evils of slavery, those men who were free more fully appreciated their freedom. "Those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of rank and privilege," Burke argued. Or, as Jedediah Purdy (from whose historically rich and ingenious book "A Tolerable Anarchy" I have abstracted these observations) put it: "Slavery made masters uniquely sensitive to any invasion of their independence."

These sensitivities - sensibilities - that Burke so shrewdly observed in 1775 continue to manifest themselves in American politics today as we fight over socializing health care, nationalizing industries, indebting our grandchildren, regulating and taxing energy creation and the other intrusions into what Americans have long considered not to be the government's business.

Burke would understand what Europeans (and many European-influenced Americans) in 2010 continue to scoff at as America's obsession with the slogan of freedom. Because although we Americans may talk about freedom as an abstraction - and believe in freedom as an abstraction - our politics come alive when we experience an intrusion into what John Adams called "the sensations of freedom." As Burke explained: "Abstract liberty, like other abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite point which ... becomes the criterion of their happiness."

I believe that the rise of the Tea Party movement and the impassioned nature of American politics in 2009-10 is the result of the Obama administration's having, probably inadvertently, intruded into "some favorite points which becomes the criterion of [our] happiness."
That is to say, though the Democrats see their health care proposal as merely another step along a continuum of government action, a strong majority of the American people sense that the "quantity" of the intrusion has changed the "quality" of the intrusion. What is seen, currently, as a basically private-sector health process with some government intervention has crossed over, in the Democrats' plans, into basically a government system. And, by being seen to have so crossed over, it is an attack on "some sensible object" (i.e. private-sector health care) in which our "Liberty inheres."

Similarly, the shift from less than $500 billion of annual deficit in the last George W. Bush year to a $1.5 trillion deficit in each of the first and second Obama years (and the proposed addition of almost $10 trillion of new public debt over the next decade) has - by the increase in quantity - changed the nature of public debt in such a way as to intrude into our sense of our fundamental liberty.

If the Chinese, by selling off our debt notes, can destroy our economy and way of life at a whim - as the accumulating debt suggests is possible - then what had been merely irresponsible, self-indulgent deficit spending by both Republicans and Democrats in the recent past has transformed into a fundamental threat to our liberty and our grandchildren's future.

The Obama administration and the Democrats crossed a line and touched a nerve in America's body politic. We sense our fundamental freedom endangered. And the response will be as remorseless as was our revolution against the British. Against all odds, the intrusion on those things around which our "liberty inheres" will be driven from our political midst. (It is not Waterloo, but Yorktown, that is likely to be the terminal point.)

The first hard step in that defense will be the election in November. The second, even harder step will be the rollback of already enacted debt and damage to our freedom. Defining the extent and detail of the rollback must be the agenda for the government's loyal opposition in this year's election. And the things to which we are loyal are our Constitution, our founding principles and the good institutions and social contrivances brought into being by those principles over our providential history.

Tony Blankley is the author of "American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century" (Regnery, 2009) and vice president of the Edelman public relations firm in Washington.

Something is Rotten in . . .

www.tribune.ie

'Why am I on trial and McGuinness is not?'

Ex-IRA member Gerry McGeough believes his trial for a 1981 murder is a political conspiracy, writes Suzanne Breen

'Why am I on trial and McGuinness is not?'

Sinn Fein - Radical Socialists

Sinn Féin Ardfheis
The Irish Times - Mon, Mar 08, 2010

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams may have credibility problems with the broad electorate, but his reception at the party’s weekend ardfheis in Dublin would suggest a colossal level of support among active members. As for early retirement, he appears determined to lead the party into the forthcoming Westminster and Northern Ireland Assembly elections and beyond.

Attempting to tap into public anger over Government cutbacks and widespread unemployment, Mr Adams spoke of transforming life in the South and building a new Republic where there would be homes and work for all and no banker would be able to evict a family. Nama would not be tolerated. There would be help for the farm sector and disadvantaged areas. And people would be encouraged to take a stand against corruption, greed and injustice. It was as appealing as homemade apple pie. But, in urging people to take a stand against authority, there were hints of a public disobedience campaign.

The grainy, difficult side of politics emerged when discussion turned to the Hillsborough agreement and arrangements for the transfer of policing and justice powers. Martin McGuinness excoriated Reg Empey and the Ulster Unionist Party for jeopardising a hard-won deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, while Mr Adams justified concessions made to Peter Robinson on Orange parades. Sinn Féin was in government in Northern Ireland and was bringing about change. It could do the same in the South.

It was a delicate exercise. Having offered to share power with Fianna Fáil before a disappointing 2007 general election and to form a broad alliance with the Labour Party and the Green Party before the local and European elections of 2009, future party alliances were uncertain. Activists sought to forestall a future alliance with Fianna Fail through an anti-coalition motion. They were routed by a leadership that damned both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and went on to assure delegates that a special conference would be called to decide the matter. Despite that, such open dissent within the party – following the resignation of a number of councillors – is likely to spell future trouble.

Becalmed in the opinion polls since last year’s local elections, Sinn Féin has struggled to connect with the economic concerns of southern voters and offer a positive way forward. Its solution: a jobs creation programme based on higher taxes and increased State borrowing and spending over an extended period carried echoes of trade union demands. The approach is likely to appeal to newly unemployed and low paid workers.

Getting that message to its target audience may be complicated. Delegates complained of being excluded by the media from the broad economic debate. Their problems do not stop there. Support for the party is greatest among low-income groups where voting can be sporadic, at best. Expanding that base will be difficult. Senior members spoke of making ‘incremental’ progress. Sinn Féin is flying high in Northern Ireland. Down here, it looks like being a long, slow haul.

Comment
This is a classic example of the radical socialist codswallop that is at the root of Sinn Fein’s political agenda. If their goal for a United Ireland is “a 32 county socialist republic”, it certainly is not mine. I am quite sure that a huge majority of those Americans who have admired their steadfast, unwavering pursuit of a free and United Ireland, myself included, were either not aware of, or chose not to recognize, their radical socialist agenda. As a very proud citizen of both the United States of America and Ireland, I am disgusted by the very thought of the United Ireland of our dreams being established as a 32 county socialist republic.
I do not believe, nor will I ever accept that in order for a person to be considered an avid supporter of a free, united, 32 county Ireland whose destiny is to be determined only by her own people, the person must also be expected to support the entire political agenda of any specific political party. This is especially true when that party's agenda advocates a policy of radical socialism. I want to be perfectly clear when I say that I hold no animosity toward Sinn Fein, but I vehemently disagree with their socialist political ideology.

Jack Meehan, Past National President
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America

Special Deal for Pro Sinn Fein 'On the Runs' ?

Former IRA men 'given immunity' in secret deal
'On the runs' given royal pardon under British scheme, claims Gerry McGeough
Suzanne Breen, Northern Editor
William Cherry

www.tribune.ie

The British government has operated a secret scheme granting royal pardons or immunity from prosecution to hand-picked ex-IRA members wanted for killings, bombings and other paramilitary activities, it has been claimed.
Of 216 'on the runs', 47 have been told they are free to return to the North with no fear of prosecution, according to leading Tyrone republican Gerry McGeough.
An ex-IRA gun-runner and former Sinn Féin ard comhairle member, McGeough goes on trial in Belfast tomorrow charged with IRA membership in 1975 and the 1981 attempted murder of UDR man Sammy Brush.
He will be the first republican on trial for historical crimes since the Good Friday Agreement. McGeough said: "Excellent detective work by my lawyers has uncovered that around a fifth of 'on the runs' have been given a royal pardon, immunity from prosecution, or else haven't had to serve their minimum sentence as laid out by the Good Friday Agreement.
"There was a secret deal between the British and Sinn Féin. A meeting was held in a Dundalk hotel. I'm disgusted that hand-picked 'on the runs' have received preferential treatment – and can come home and lead normal lives with their families – while others can't or if they do return are living in fear, always looking over their shoulders."
The Sunday Tribune has seen the names of some of those allegedly given immunity. They include prominent ex-IRA members. A Northern Ireland Office (NIO) spokesman denied the claim. "There is no secret deal to pardon on the runs," he said.
McGeough was arrested at the 2007 Assembly election count. He had stood as an anti-PSNI republican candidate. His lawyers will tomorrow put forward an abuse of process application: "They will argue that my prosecution breaches article six of the European Convention which guarantees a fair trial, and article 14 which guarantees the right not to be discriminated against.
"I've been singled out for prosecution because I am a republican opposed to the political status quo." McGeough said his former Sinn Féin colleagues had offered no support.
"I've been imprisoned in Germany and the US for my republican activities yet Sinn Féin leaders meeting for their ard fheis this weekend are unsupportive because I'm not 'on message'."
Tyrone man Vincent McAnespie was also charged with the attempted murder of Brush and weapons' possession. The first, but not second charge, has since been withdrawn against McAnespie who is pleading not guilty.
In a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Kevin Winters' solicitors, the NIO says Sinn Féin provided the names of 216 on the runs. The PSNI and the Public Prosecution Service then reviewed files "to determine whether the individual is wanted for questioning, arrest or prosecution".
The NIO said decisions were evidence-based and whether prosecution was in "the public interest".
It claimed "political considerations play no part in this assessment".
McGeough's lawyers are demanding the authorities disclose "all material pertaining to any discussion, meetings and correspondence" relating to decisions not to prosecute certain republicans.
The former head of the PSNI's serious crime squad, Norman Baxter, told a House of Commons' committee last November: "There was an extremely unhealthy interest by (NIO) officials about prioritising individuals who were on the run and ensuring they were cleared to return to the North."

Happy St. Patrick's Day

La Le Padraig Shona Agaibh!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to All!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_aVQTAKyY&feature=related

Poll Finds No Support for Amnesty

Contact: Steven A. Camarota, (202) 466-8185, sac@cis.org
Minority Advocates, Constituents Differ on Immigration

Zogby Poll Finds Wide Support for Enforcement, Lower Numbers

WASHINGTON (February 25, 2010) – While it is sometimes assumed that minorities, particularly Hispanics, favor increased immigration and legalization for illegal immigrants, a new Zogby survey finds that minority voters’ views are more complex. The poll of Hispanic, Asian-American, and African-American likely voters finds some support for legalization. But overall each of these groups prefers enforcement and for illegal immigrants to return home. Moreover, significant majorities of all three groups think that the current level of immigration is too high.

These views are in sharp contrast to the leaders of most ethnic advocacy organizations, who argue for increased immigration and legalization of illegal immigrants. The survey used neutral language, avoiding such terms as “amnesty,” “illegal alien,” or “undocumented.”

The findings

In contrast to the leadership of many ethnic advocacy groups, most members of minority groups think immigration is too high.

Hispanics: 56 percent said it is too high; 7 percent said too low; 14 percent just right.
Asian-Americans: 57 percent said immigration is too high; 5 percent said too low; 18 percent just right.
African-Americans: 68 percent said it is too high; 4 percent said too low; 14 percent just right.

Most members of minority groups do not feel that illegal immigration is caused by limits on legal immigration as many ethnic advocacy groups argue; instead, members feel it’s due to a lack of enforcement.

Hispanics: Just 20 percent said illegal immigration was caused by not letting in enough legal immigrants; 61 percent said inadequate enforcement.
Asian-Americans: 19 percent said not enough legal immigration; 69 percent said inadequate enforcement.
African-Americans: 16 percent said not enough legal immigration; 70 percent said inadequate enforcement.

Most members of minority groups feel that there are plenty of Americans available to fill unskilled jobs.

Hispanics: 15 percent said legal immigration should be increased to fill unskilled jobs; 65 percent said there are plenty of Americans available to do unskilled jobs, employers just need to pay more.
Asian-Americans: 19 percent said increase immigration; 65 percent said plenty of Americans are available.
African-Americans: 6 percent said increase immigration; 81 percent said plenty of Americans are available.

When asked to choose between enforcement that would cause illegal immigrants in the country to go home or offering them a pathway to citizenship with conditions, most members of minority groups choose enforcement.

Hispanics: 52 percent support enforcement to encourage illegals to go home; 34 percent support conditional legalization.
Asian-Americans: 57 percent support enforcement; 29 percent support conditional legalization.

African-Americans: 50 percent support enforcement; 30 percent support conditional legalization.

Discussion

This survey of minority voters shows that when it comes to the issue of legalizing illegal immigrants, these voters disagree with the leadership of many ethnic advocacy groups. Most voters want the law enforced and illegal immigrants to return to their home countries. Overall they also feel that the current level of immigration is too high.

The poll specifically asks voters to put aside the issue of legal status and focus only on the numbers. Even so, most think the level of immigration is too high and very few think it is too low. Not surprisingly, when it comes to allowing more unskilled workers into the country, most Hispanic, Asian-American, and African-American voters feel there are plenty of Americans here to do such work; employers just need to pay more.

The overall findings of this poll show a significant divide between the perception that minority voters want legalization and increased legal immigration and the reality, which is that they want enforcement and less immigration. Like most Americans, minority voters are not anti-immigrant or anti-immigration per se. Moreover there is not unanimity on the immigration issue among or between groups. What the poll does show is that, like most Americans, Hispanic, Asian, and black voters want the law enforced and illegal immigrants to go home. Moreover, they think the overall level of immigration is too high.

When some leaders of minority groups speak on immigration and argue for legalization, they are merely offering their own personal opinions, not necessarily those of voters in these communities.

Methodology

Zogby International was commissioned by the Center for Immigration Studies to conduct an online survey. A sampling of Zogby International’s online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the United States, was invited to participate. Zogby maintains the panel and has used it for other surveys. Slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender, and education to more accurately reflect the U.S. population. The survey included roughly 700 Hispanic, 400 African-American, and 400 Asian-American likely voters. The survey was conducted by Zogby from November 13 to 30, 2009. The margin of error for likely voters is +/- 0.5 percent. The margin of error for Hispanic likely voters is 3.7 percent; for African-Americans it is 4.7 percent; and for Asian-Americans voters it is 5.1 percent.

The poll is available online at http://cis.org/Minority-Views-Immigration.
# # #

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institution that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

Bagpiper at Funeral

Bagpiper at Funeral

As a bagpiper, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery in the remote countryside and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there. As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost and being a typical man, did not stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating lunch but the hearse was nowhere in sight.I apologized to the workers for my tardiness and stepped to the side of the open grave where I saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long but this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch.

I played out my heart and soul. I played and I played like I'd never played before, from Going Home and The Lord is My Shepherd to Flowers of the Forest. As I played the workers began to weep. I closed the lengthy session with Amazing Grace and walked to my car.

As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another..."Sweet Jaysus, Mary 'n Joseph, I have never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for 22 years."

Courtesy of American Sympathizer

Somewhere, County Waterford

Behind the Lace Curtain

Helen Rittelmeyer
Author Archive Latest
March 17, 2009 4:00 A.M.

Behind the Lace Curtain: How the GOP blew it with the Boston Irish

In 1938, John Danaher of Connecticut became the first Irish Catholic elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican. When word got out that Danaher had joined the GOP, one Irish grandmother was incredulous: “It can’t be true. I saw him at Mass just last Sunday!”

Continue reading, click below:

http://article.nationalreview.com/388682/behind-the-lace-curtain/helen-rittelmeyer?page=1

The Real Che Guevara

The Real Che Guevara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38mm4TimlLw

Immigration Realpolitik

Teddy is gone, and Hillary will not be president! McCain in fact may be going. That Teddy is gone means you no longer have to create visas for Tijuana and Tanganyika.

A month is a long time in politics and several months a lifetime, but it looks like the Dems are going down in November.

O’Dowd is moving towards reality. If he is not, his Irish Government financial backers are.

Small is the way to go right now, especially when we are in a big time recession.

The Dream Act beneficiaries could petition for their parents in due course.

The IIRM knew one thing that escaped O'Dowd's notice. To help the Irish, if that was really his object, you must engage the Irish American Community in all its diversity.

I think the amnesty folks looked upon O’Dowd as what the communists used to call a “useful idiot.” He helped to put a white face on the problem. That was helpful to the cause.

Now I suspect it would be harder than in 1987-88, much harder to do any good for those Irish who did not get visas last time out of the chute. The ties are more tenuous. Americans have been fed the Celtic Tiger stuff for a long time and times here are tough all around.

The Irish used to take up about 9,000 to 10,000 of their 16,000 visas each year in the 1950s and 60s. They spoke English and were virtually unnoticeable.

Nowadays, we are talking millions of immigrants who are quite noticeable and it does not go unnoticed that some of them take sojourns in Afghanistan.

IIRM Veteran

Immigration Reform is Dead - ILIR

Courtesy of AOH leader

Immigration reform is dead

Comprehensive immigration reform for 2010 and beyond is dead. There, I've said it. It is time to concentrate on alternative strategies. As the founder of the Irish Legal Immigration Reform Movement, a movement that took thousands of Irish to Capitol Hill to lobby for reform, it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to say this. I know first-hand of many Irish undocumented who live in fear that the knock on the door will come. They are very much in my thoughts as I write this. But the math does not lie. There is no chance in hell that a filibuster-proof majority exists in the U.S. Senate for most anything right now, let alone immigration reform.

The Senate is where American legislation goes to die. It might be possible to squeak a bill by the House, but there are more than enough anti-reform votes in the Senate to block any hope of passage. That will not change. For fifteen years or so, a great effort was undertaken to pass a comprehensive reform bill. It looked like the promised land when the Kennedy/McCain bill looked certain to gain passage in 2007, but a filibuster-proof majority never existed. Now, there are even fewer votes despite a Democratic majority. It is time to ditch comprehensive reform and focus on parts of immigration reform that can pass.

The Dream Act is one, which would allow undocumented people who were brought here as children to become legal. It is cruel and unusual punishment to deport such people who, through no fault of their own, were brought here often as infants, and have known no other life. Start by passing that, let's then look at what other areas we can address and adopt a piecemeal approach rather than a grand sweeping plan which has brought us nowhere. The definition of madness is that we continue to do the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. It is time to stop the madness. First, we must be honest and admit that there is no political future for comprehensive reform. Only then can we actually start to get legislation passed.

Pete King - St. Patrick's Day Fundraiser

March 13th St. Patrick's Day Celebration & Fundraiser

for

Pete King

A St. Patrick's Day Celebration & Fundraiser for Congressman King will be held on March 13th from 2-5pm at Mulcahy's Pub in Wantagh.
For more information click here.
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Brendan 'Darkie' Hughes biography eagerly awaited

The Pensive Quill

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Light From The Dark
During the Blanket protest the blanket men, most barely out of their teens or still in them, would sing a song: ‘we’ll follow the old man wherever he wants to go, wherever he wants to go.’ It was a song that was really sung from the cells, not a spoof about a song being sung in the H-Blocks before the song was ever written as one well known Walter tried to dupe us into believing a while back.

The ‘old man’ was Brendan Hughes who was in fact anything but an old man. Only 29 when he embarked upon the blanket protest, Brendan was in the prime of life and brimming over with radical vitality which he never allowed slip into fanaticism. The Dark would laugh at the thought of us who were so willing to follow him as he led us through those daunting arduous years of prison protest, no longer being as eager today to follow him – quite prepared to wait our turn or put it off for as long as possible. ‘Such is life’ would be his summing up of our sense of contentment to remain where we are. We can face death when it comes – so long as it doesn’t come for a while.

A republican icon in those heady and challenging days he possessed charisma and charm in abundance but was never flash. He had an unassuming character which saw him shun the bright neon for the quietude of ordinary people. Now dead two years, it is those same ordinary people who are flocking to his memory. On web forums, chat rooms, in bars, on the street and in the workplace Brendan Hughes and his views are discussed with more than a passing interest. An upcoming book about his role in the republican struggle by the journalist Ed Moloney is awaited with great anticipation.

Article continues, click here for full article...

Irish passports are a spook's best friend

Courtesy of 'Narrowback', Irish American GOP activist, NYC

Nice and neutral: Why Irish passports are a spook's best friend
Sat, Feb 20, 2010

http://www.irishtimes.com/

The use of Irish passports in the execution of a Hamas figure in Dubai may have surprised, but it has always been a popular document, writes TOM CLONAN

AS TRAVEL documents – fake or otherwise – Irish passports are highly prized by a wide and disparate range of groups and individuals. Col Oliver North is believed to have travelled to Iran on a forged Irish passport in 1986, during the Iran-Contra affair. It is widely acknowledged in intelligence and security circles that fake Irish passports have been used by both CIA and Mossad agents travelling throughout the Middle East and Africa. Exploiting Ireland’s reputation as a neutral state with little or no colonial baggage, it is believed that international intelligence agencies have on numerous occasions employed false Irish passports as cover for spies and agents transiting through territories otherwise hostile to powerful nations such as the United States or Britain.

International terrorist organisations are also known to have used forged Irish passports in the past. Members of the Provisional IRA are believed to have used fake passports during the 1970s and 1980s on trips to Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East as part of their endeavours to source weapons and explosives during the Troubles. More recently, as minister for justice, Michael McDowell alleged that members of the Colombia Three had travelled to South America on forged Irish passports.

Genuine or legitimately held Irish passports are also the envy of international journalists operating in hostile environments such as Iraq and Afghanistan. As foreign correspondents, Patrick Cockburn of the London Independent , Maggie O’Kane of the Guardian and Orla Guerin of the BBC have all reported from war zones while travelling on their Irish passports. Cockburn has cited at least one occasion in Iraq where the possession of an Irish passport probably saved his life. He produced it when taken at gunpoint from his car by Sunni insurgents on the outskirts of Fallujah in 2004, and was released unharmed. Many international journalists operating in war-torn countries where militant Islamism is a feature regard holders of Irish, Swiss and Swedish passports as fortunate, in that their perceived neutrality confers upon them some measure of protection. Unfortunately, many journalists acknowledge that US and British passports can often provoke hostility in parts of the Middle East and Asia, as a consequence of the US and Britain’s participation in the so-called War on Terror.

The current Irish passport is a machine-readable electronic ePassport which contains a biometric chip for security purposes. It also incorporates a range of other security features, including holograms and a greyscale digitally printed photograph of the passport holder.
It is fully consistent with the security requirements of the US visa waiver programme. The currently configured Irish passport – while considered highly desirable by legitimate users, terrorists and international security agencies alike – is no easier or more difficult to forge than other EU or US passports.

It is significant to note that the five forged Irish passports used in Dubai in January were all dated prior to 2005 – the new security-enhanced Irish passport was first issued in October 2006. The sheer volume of forged passports estimated to have been involved in the execution of Hamas’s Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month suggests that state assets – rather than criminal or terrorist elements – were employed in their manufacture and forgery.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations into the affair, one unfortunate outcome will be the closer and perhaps hostile scrutiny that Irish citizens travelling abroad on genuine Irish passports may be subjected to at foreign airports and points of entry in the coming weeks.

Dr Tom Clonan is the Irish Times Security Analyst. He lectures in the School of Media at DIT

© 2010 The Irish Times

'Hit Squad' used fake Irish passports

'Hit squad' used fake Irish passports
Tuesday February 16 2010

www.independent.ie

At least three members of a suspected hit squad blamed for the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai were using fake passports, it emerged today.
Police in Dubai released details yesterday of 11 people they believe were involved in killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, including six British passport holders and three Irish passport holders.
But the Department of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement: "We are unable to identify any of those three individuals as being genuine Irish citizens. Ireland has issued no passports in those names."

Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said yesterday an 11-strong hit squad using European passports was behind the murder of al-Mabhouh, a founder member of Hamas's military wing, in a hotel last month. The police chief also released the names and photos of the alleged gang, along with their apparent nationalities according to the passports.
It prompted a flurry of activity in London and Dublin as officials sought to clarify if nationals from the two countries were involved.

The British Government has yet to comment on the validity of the passports other than to say that it was "seeking further information". But officials in Dublin cast serious doubts that the group were travelling with bona fide documents. They said they had no record of passports being issued under the "Irish" names released yesterday in Dubai - Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron. Furthermore, the government said the passport numbers publicised by the Dubai authorities appeared to be counterfeits, as they have the wrong number of digits and contain no letters.

Al-Mabhouh died in his luxury hotel room near Dubai international airport on January 20. It is claimed he was suffocated. Hamas has pointed the finger at Israel, blaming Mossad - the country's secret service - for carrying out the hit. Lt Gen Tamim did not go as far as directly blaming Israel, but said it was possible that "leaders of certain countries gave orders to their intelligence agents to kill" the Hamas man. It is alleged that the hit squad flew into Dubai on separate planes and booked into different hotels wearing wigs and fake beards to disguise their appearances. At least two of the alleged gang watched the Hamas commander check in to the hotel and booked a nearby room, it was further claimed.

Around five hours after setting foot in the city state, al-Mabhouh was ambushed and killed. It is not known if he opened the door to his alleged killers himself. All of the suspects left the United Arab Emirates within 19 hours of their arrivals, it was claimed. All but two of the alleged gang travelled on British and Irish documents. Dubai also released details of suspects with French and German passports.

Hamas officials have so far failed to state why their commander was in Dubai amid suggestions that he was on his way to Iran. In a statement released last month, the militant group acknowledged that al-Mabhouh was involved in the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989, adding that, until his death, he had played a "continuous role in supporting his brothers in the resistence inside the occupied homeland".

Press Association

Fading Religious Ethos in Irish Schools

http://www.independent.ie/

Kevin Myers: I would entrust the teaching of my son to the 'Jesuits' of an almost Jesuitless Clongowes

I wake up each morning in the madhouse that is Ireland and wonder, what next? What insanity will the banks, or the political classes, or the liberal mob concoct today?