Heath in Bloody Sunday shame
Relatives of the people murdered in the Bloody Sunday massacre have
branded comments by former British Prime Minister Edward Heath,
``outrageous'' and ``atrocious''.
In radio interviews with Radio Foyle and RTE Radio on Tuesday, 20
April, Heath, who set up the Widgery Inquiry after the 1972 massacre,
questioned the motives of those who wanted a new inquiry.
Of the relatives who battled for 26 years to get at the truth, he
said: ``The reason they want to ask these questions is to damage the
whole situation, no doubt about it''.
Heath confirmed that he had submitted his views to the Saville
inquiry, set up last year, and had agreed to give evidence in person
to the new inquiry but had no more information to give.
The former British prime minister also denied claims that he had
attempted to interfere with the Widgery inquiry, despite evidence
documented in minutes of a Downing Street meeting with Lord Widgery
the day after the atrocity. The minutes show that Heath told the
inquiry boss: ``It has to be remembered that we [are] in Northern
Ireland fighting not only a military but a propaganda war''.
Family members have completely rejected Heath's claims. They said a
full and proper inquiry would prove that Widgery was both flawed and
that it was part of the propaganda war waged by the British
government. Mickey McKinney, chair of the Bloody Sunday Justice
Campaign, (BSJC) said: ``The motives of the relatives have been
consistent since the beginning - a demand for truth and justice.''
``The peace process,'' added McKinney, ``is about righting wrongs and
clearly a new properly conducted inquiry can only compliment this.''
Former chair of the BSJC, John Kelly said: ``What [Heath] is saying
flies in the face of all the evidence. The Widgery inquiry has
already been discredited.''
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the former Director of Public
Prosecutions, Sir Alan Green QC, who resigned after a kerb-crawling
scandal, will represent British Army soldier H when Saville conducts
public hearings next week, starting on Monday at Derry's Guildhall,
into requests for anonymity for British Army soldiers.
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