British propaganda proved wrong
By Pádraig MacDabhaid
For 30 years, the British military establishment has controlled media
coverage of the war in the Six Counties, manipulating it for its own
ends - portraying a sectarian conflict instigated by ``mindless IRA
thugs and gangsters''.
A new report carried out by academics at the University of Ulster
called `Northern Ireland's Troubles: The Human Costs', at last
disproves some of the British propaganda which has been so readily
accepted by the media.
The data contained in the study shows that Catholics comprised over
88% of those killed by British state forces and 87% of loyalist death
squad murders were of unarmed civilians.
The report shows that although pro-British forces have killed 1,066
Irish civilians they have only killed 161 Republican volunteer
soldiers, a statistic which unmasks the sectarian campaign which
loyalist death squads have carried out against the Catholic
population in this area of Ireland.
Statistics for republican activities clearly dispel the media line
that republicans have been involved in a sectarian campaign. It shows
that Republican forces were waging a war against the British state
forces, killing 1,070 of them.
This report comes as another recently released report, examining
media coverage of the conflict, shows that deaths in the crown forces
are mentioned more frequently and for longer time stretches than any
other deaths and that sectarian murders of Catholics rank fifth out
of five in frequency and duration of news coverage.
The University of Ulster report smashes the myth that the British
forces are peace-keepers by showing that pro-British forces more
often than not kill unarmed civilians (they have killed nearly 10
times as many unarmed civilians as they have republican Volunteers).
Other facts: The RUC has killed twice as many unarmed civilians as
they have republican Volunteers, with more than 80% of their victims
being Catholics. Loyalist death squads have murdered 33 times as many
unarmed civilians as they have killed republican Volunteers (This
does not include the 1997-98 loyalist killing spree).
There are many more facts which show that the British army and the
RUC has been heavily weighted in favour of the loyalist death squads
and that all of the crown forces have been involved in a war against
the nationalist population as a whole, as opposed to any specific
republican grouping.
The survey, which clearly indicates that the crown forces have killed
more civilians than republican activists, comes to light as it was
revealed on 22 April at Belfast's crown court that 5,070 members of
the British army have been discharged between 1987 and 1997.
The British army has a clause through which it can retain soldiers
who have been convicted of criminal acts if they were acting in what
it describes as ``exceptional circumstances''.
However, evidence given at the court also showed that the only
British soldiers to benefit from this clause were soldiers convicted
of criminal offences in the Six Counties, which include the shooting
of Catholic civilians such as North Belfast teenager Peter McBride.
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