Issue 183, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (July, 2002)

              uimh 183 iuil — july 2002 http://saoirse.rr.nu 1 70p stg usa 30 p.a 21st annual hunger strike commemoration bundoran co donegal saturday august 31 east end 3pm i the leaks from the stevens report during june indicating that there was institutionalized collu sion between the british crown forces and loy alist death squads creating a climate in which nationalists could be murdered with near impunity confirms what republicans have been saying for years it will also not surprise republicans that stevens con cluded that loyalists were inca pable of carrying out targeted assassinations without signifi cant help from the crown forces in addition the bbc i imrt i din investigations broadcasi in recent weeks have directly implicated the british military establishment and in implication their political mas ters in the british government in the assassination of national ists panorama obtained records of the british army's force research unit fru meetings with brian nelson known as agent 6137 one document dated november 1987 says once all the information has been gathered and checked by 6137 it will be passed on to the vari ous ljff commanders for action another dated august 1988 states " 6137's appoint ment enables him to make sure proper targeting oi pira mem bers takes place prior to any shooting i he gael thai the stevens report due to be published shortly has now been delayed until september aj the earliest indicates the sensitivity of these matters tor the english estab lishment ( toe such figu mer frl ! commander < lordon ken who described brian nelson as the jewel in the crown of the british anm intelligence unit he appeared as colonel j at nelson's trial in 1990 and described him as a courageous man gordon kerr is now the military attache to the british embassy in bejing the panorama programme has gone further than the stevens report in implicating the british military establish ment and not just the ruc special branch in the planned assassination of nationalists and repuhlicans some of the leaking of the stevens report may be to undermine the ruc/psni special branch in order to bring the sdlp and the provisional on board with the renamed british police force in the six counties the likelihood is that some lesser figures in the crown forces will be sacrificed in order to save any exposin british ministerial involvement whatever the reasons tor the lifting of the lid of britain's assassination policy in ireland republicans can use these hit ions to show that the conflict in ireland is not between catholics and protestants with the british anm engaged in a peacekeeping role \\ hat these leaks reveal is that the british armj ami ruc/psn1 are directed against republicans and nationalists as part of this war british intel ligence ami the ruc/psni special branch mainly through ex-british sol nationalists murdered with impunity did midi as brian nelson tlired here were \ ictims of eol lisi compiled b relatives lor arm agent brian nelson the directed their underground lusion between british crown justice which campaigns lor total of deaths linked to nelson wing in the loyalist death forces and loyalist death the victims ol collusion of alone could be as high i'i squads squads nalists killed on the btfis according lo mark 1 hompson • the 14 nationalists pie | heir deaths are among a of intelligence bj the british of relatives for justice