Northern Ireland; Truth Be Told

By Michael Cummings

What is truth? Philosophers have pondered that question for centuries. Lord Northcliffe a British newspaper baron once remarked, "The truth is what someone else didn't want you to know, everything else is advertising." While truth is not exactly the coin of the realm in journalism, it is making a comeback. 

Recently, for example, William Safire accused the French of "suppressing the truth" about their role in Iraq. Columnist Tom Friedman claimed that Saudi Arabia "needs the truth " about terrorism. Emir Saljacgic in an op-ed piece claims he is freed by "the truth of the massacres of Muslims at Srebrenica" recorded at The Hague. Amidst this fresh interest in truth, Britain released a 20-page report of a secret campaign of government murder in Ulster. Was the report the truth or was it merely advertising? Pray continue. 

The New York Times recently sacked a reporter named Blair who had consistently passed off fiction for truth. In the 1980s. one of its reporters, Ms. Jo Thomas by name, reported the truth about police death squads in Northern Ireland.

She was warned and then quickly reassigned from London for "unexceptional reporting." While there may be progress at The New York Times, another Blair has a similar difficulty handling the truth. The British Prime Minister has suppressed the truth about Britain's terror campaign in the North throughout his term but remains in office. Is it wrong if you only suppress the truth?

Consider:

• More than a generation has passed since Lord Widgery's Report told the "truth" about the killing of 13 unarmed civil rights protesters on Bloody Sunday in Derry. Today the response of the British government to a new inquiry into that slaughter has been to delay, to obstruct and to destroy evidence.
• The largest mass murder in Ireland was the 1974 terrorist bombings of the Dublin and Monaghan Town shopping districts. Thirty-three men, women and children lost their lives in an act of inexplicable cruelty. The Irish government sought six prime suspects from N. I., three of whom were British soldiers. To this day the British government delays the Irish government inquiry and refuses to cooperate with the families of the victims.
• Over a period of five years, the Sinn Féin party suffered the assassination of five elected officials and 11 candidates and workers doing such evil things as canvassing voters. A British double agent Brian Nelson was the key to that campaign to crush democracy. In the past two years, a William Stobie and another loyalist confessed to knowledge about British Army and loyalist collusion in those and other killings of Catholics. All three have died violently and suddenly in the last year. 

George Bernard Shaw once referred to assassinations by the British government to silence the truth as "an extreme form of censorship." 

The truth about truth in Northern Ireland is that it has never been very popular with the British. Censorship reached its peak during the Thatcher years and no wonder. Every part of the justice system including the scrutiny of jury trials was corrupted. 

Special rules were imposed on coroners to hide the truth about the cause of death. If there was a danger the truth might emerge from the testimony of a government witness a Public Immunity Certificate was issued to prevent such a calamity. Others in Her Majesty's employ like Stobie and Nelson were not so fortunate.

The concern of the editors of the Los Angeles Times and many Americans was the report released last month by Sir John Stevens of the London Metropolitan Police about digging for the truth of government collusion in killing innocent people in Ulster. 

The release proved Britain and Blair showed little regard for the truth. Only 20 pages of a 3,000-page report were released. It was released as the Parliament session was ending thus minimizing debate. And for good measure the government a week earlier started leaking rumors and gossip about an IRA mole called Stakenife. In short, the whole event was an advertisement. 

Prime Minister Blair demands "acts of completion" from the IRA before permitting elections but refuses to tell the whole story of these murders. He demands "real change" from the IRA but will not alter Britain's pattern and practice of deceit. President Bush should urge the Prime Minister to clear the air. But until Parliament and the English people accept responsibility and the consequences for these deeds Northern Ireland may remain one place where truth could not be found!
 
 

Michael Cummings is a member of the board of the Irish American Unity Conference. He can be reached at iauc@iauc.org