I
read the
letter in your letters page condemning Anthony McIntyre
as a hypocrite for speaking out against the murder
of Jean McConville while allegedly being involved
in murder himself. Many would say it is a fair point.
I was wondering what it was he was involved in that
merited all those years in prison, so I thought I
would take a wee look. In an interview with Liz Curtis
she tells us that McIntyre was convicted of the murder
of a UVF man in 1976. Once you have that date - 1976
- it is possible to cross-reference it with the book
'Lost Lives' and come up with the name Kenneth Leneghan.
This fellow Leneghan was shot outside Victor's bar
in Walnut Place, which is directly behind Havelock
House. He was a security guard there. Victor's bar
used to be owned by Morrison's and it is only a small
bar, for my own husband worked there in 1968 as an
apprentice bar man.
Anyway 'Lost Lives' states that the fingerprints of
one of those convicted was found on the door of the
vehicle used in this incident. On June 9th 2002 In
Pleading Guilty McIntyre writes of his trial in Jan
1977. He was offered 4 - 7 years himself with out
regard to the other two who faced life. He stuck to
what he calls Republican theology and refused to recognise
the British court. Liz Curtis tells us he served seventeen
years and 'Lost Lives' tells us he was one of the
longest serving paramilitary prisoners.
So is this fellow a hypocrite for condemning the murder
of Jean McConville in 1972? At that time the provisional
IRA had a list of legitimate targets. That is anything
which represented British interests, strategic political
or economic. The targets on this list knew they were
targets and were able to take defensive measures.
Thus we had rings of steel around our town centres,
and defensive measures were taken by people serving
British interests. This UVF man was a protagonist
in the war with Britain. He knew the risks involved
in being in an organisation such as the UVF. He was
the flip side of McIntyre.
The murder of Jean McConville did not fall into this
category. It was the cold blooded murder of an unarmed
civilian. She was also a woman, a widow, a mother
and the sole carer of ten children. Usually the punishment
for women who broke the rules of the IRA was to be
tied to a lamp post and have tar poured over them.
The fate which Jean McConville met was what the Americans
would call cruel and unusual punishment. If indeed
she broke any of the rules at all.
When Col. Collins the Northern Irish British Commander
in Iraq was accused of slapping Iraqi civilians -
this was a war crime. The mistreatment (or murder
and secret burial) of civilians is a war crime perpetrated
by war criminals. It smacks of Stalinist Russia or
Nazi Germany.
Therefore, McIntyre who is a stickler for Republican
tradition and dogma can call the murder of Jean McConville
a war crime and not be accused of being a hypocrite.
This is not semantics but a purely military way of
thinking and out look. I can see where he is coming
from. I don't think he has seen the light. No. He
is still standing where he was in 1976 and feels it
is the Republican leadership who have abandoned Republicanism
and it's ideals.
I don't think hypocrisy/insincerity is one of McIntyre's
faults, although like the rest of us I am sure he
has many. What I do think is that McIntyre is part
of an old brigade who have given much while other
hypocrites in Armani suits have benefited from their
sacrifice.
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