Loyalist fascism exposes Brits
By Laura Friel
The red lettering against a background of black dyed carnations
reads ``C18''. Combat 18 is a British neo-Nazi paramilitary group
with a history of racist attacks on Britain's Asian and West
Indian communities. A man in his thirties dressed formally
carries the wreath at the funeral of loyalist and former close
associate of Johnny Adair, Stephen McKeag. As the cortege makes
its way from the family home in Denmark Street to Roselawn
cemetery, the Lower Shankill comes to a standstill.
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The sectarian pathology at the heart of loyalism was
recruited organised, armed and deployed to meet a British agenda
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In a week in which the Stevens' investigation confirmed that the
British army regarded loyalist paramilitaries as an ``operational
arm'' and colluded in the killing of republicans and nationalist
in the North, the presence of Combat 18 at the funeral of a UDA
killer, known by his associates as `Top Gun'' further exposed the
ethos underpinning British rule in Ireland.
Stephen McKeag had once been Johnny Adair's right hand man. When
Adair was imprisoned in 1994 on charges of directing terrorism,
McKeag stepped into Adair's shoes as UDA leader on the Shankill
Road. Adair may have retained nominal control, but the day to day
operation of the UDA's notorious C Company passed into the hands
of McKeag.
In 1994 McKeag had faced murder charges, after he was accused of
shooting Catholic father of three Sean Hughes. The 40-year-old
businessman had been in his hairdressing shop on the Falls Road,
when a loyalist gang ran into the premises. Sean was shot six
times, five times in the back after he fell to the ground. The
gunmen laughed and whooped with delight as they made their
getaway.
In the immediate aftermath of the Hughes murder, Ulster Unionist
deputy leader John Taylor described the killing as ``something
which may be helpful because they (Catholics) are now beginning
to appreciate more clearly the fear that has existed within the
Protestant community.''
Taylor's comments didn't stop there. He later went on to describe
loyalist violence as having ``achieved something which perhaps the
security forces would never have achieved.'' He described loyalist
paramilitaries as ``making a significant contribution to the IRA
finally accepting that they couldn't win.''
The charges against McKeag were dropped because the judge was not
satisfied with the identification evidence, which placed McKeag
at the centre of the killing. McKeag was not convicted but his
commitment to loyalist violence has never been in doubt. For the
gunman who took part in at least a dozen sectarian killings,
wearing a gold medallion of an automatic rifle around his neck
was a small affectation.
But killing Catholics was not McKeag's only stock in trade, and
it was his other more lucrative role as a drug dealer that led to
tension between McKeag and his boss Johnny Adair. Earlier this
summer Adair and McKeag appeared together at a joint LVF/UDA
function. Their close working relationship faltered only after
McKeag cheated Adair out of his share of a £70,000 cocaine deal.
Speculation, which initially placed McKeag's death at the door of
the UVF as part of the ongoing feud, was swiftly quashed by the
UDA. A few months earlier, McKeag had been severely beaten by
Adair's men. At the time of his death, McKeag was being shunned
by his former UDA colleagues. But in the end McKeag died,
accidentally or by his own design, because of a drug overdose.
At his funeral, a representative from a British fascist group
carried a wreath bearing their insignia, which alludes to Adolf
Hitler and his Nazi reign of racial terror. Combat 18 has been
linked to violence all over Europe and has been linked to both
the UDA and LVF, most recently during last summer's Drumcree
protests.
Under British occupation, reactionary and racist forces like the
UDA and UVF have been nurtured and sustained. The sectarian
pathology at the heart of loyalism was recruited organised, armed
and deployed to meet a British agenda.
So unless Tony Blair's government is prepared to face up to the
reactionary role British forces have played in the past and may
continue to play in the North of Ireland, progressive ideals his
party adheres to will collapse into cynicism.
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