ITV documentary claims Gaddafi funding Irish dissidents

A source at the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, has claimed that deposed Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, was funding armed Irish dissident republican groups in the north of Ireland as recently as June 2011.

The claim featured as part of an exclusive ITV1 documentary entitled, 'Exposure: Gaddafi and the I.R.A', which aired on September 26th.

The MI6 source alleges that a Libyan government courier flew into London earlier this year with $2 million in cash during a stopover on route to the Irish Republic. The money is thought to have been on its way to an Irish businessman closely associated with one of the armed dissident republican groups.

At present, there are three armed dissident groups active in the north of Ireland, Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Continuity Irish Republican Army (C.I.R.A) and the Real Irish Republican Army (R.I.R.A). The program did not specify as to which group the money was to be allocated.

The MI6 source was also unable to confirm whether or not the money had in fact reached its destination.

Colonel Gaddafi's support for Irish unity has long been documented. Expressing his opinion on the situation in Ireland, Gaddafi once famously said, "We believe the cause of Ireland is a just cause, and we support this just cause, because we believe Ireland is Ireland and Britain is Britain, and the existence of Britain in the north of Ireland is a sense of colonisation."

The former Libyan leader supported the Provisional I.R.A campaign to varying degrees from the early 1970's through to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, lending both financial support and substantial arms shipments to aid the Irish campaign. 

The programme also obtained a copy of a video, purportedly showing an Irish dissident training camp taking place in the rural Irish countryside. Dissidents appeared to be armed with AK47 automatic rifles and pistols.

Armed insurgency is again on the rise in the north of Ireland, and there has been a steady increase in the number of attacks over the last several years.

During his decades in power, Gaddafi is believed to have funded several armed resistance groups across the world, these include the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Black September movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines, and the Japanese Red Army.

Determining the validity of the recent claim featured in the ITV documentary may prove difficult however. MI6 declined to officially confirm its authenticity.

I feel it is also important to draw attention to a number of blatant and rather worrying factual inaccuracies in the documentary. Shockingly, C.G.I footage from a popular computer game entitled 'Arma 2' was depicted in the program as having been a real life incident involving the I.R.A. On top of that, old television footage of street clashes between Irish nationalists and the R.U.C, the former police force in the north of Ireland that were dissolved in 2001, was described by the programs narrator as having occurred "earlier this year".

This shows that the standard of research behind the documentary was completely below what one would expect from a broadcaster of the caliber of ITV.

The program had quite a heavy political slant throughout, and was anything but impartial. In the sixty minutes dedicated to highlighting the evil of Gaddafi's role in sponsoring the Provisional I.R.A, there was not one single mention of the role the British government and British security forces played in sponsoring and colluding with Loyalist paramilitaries in the north of Ireland. Several reports and official inquiries have confirmed that the British state played an active role in sponsoring many violent atrocities in Ireland. To draw attention to Gaddafi's role, without so much as even mentioning the fact that the British state did the very same thing, highlights the politically biased nature of the documentary.

My own personal opinion is that the program seemed more concerned with manipulating public opinion in regards to the current situation in Libya.

There was also a strong sense of irony towards the end of the program as a member of the Libyan Transitional Council lambasted the use of violence to overthrow repressive regimes.

It remains to be seen whether or not the claim that Colonel Gaddafi has again resumed his support for Irish dissidents is true. Given the history of the situation, it is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. The poorly researched nature and obvious political agenda of the documentary, will however, lead many to question its overall validity.


Link: ITV fake I.R.A footage

Martin McGuinness to run for Uachtarán na hÉireann

It was announced earlier today that Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is set to run for Uachtarán na hÉireann, the office of President in the Republic of Ireland.

The former Provisional I.R.A leader has said that he will run on a broad progressive platform building upon his role in the peace process in the north of Ireland.

McGuinness says, "This is an opportunity for the people of Ireland to make a stand for the new Ireland, this is an opportunity for a new beginning and I do new beginnings"

McGuinness has extensive experience in the area of reconciliation having played a pivotal role in both the formation and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, and has promised that if elected Uachtarán na hÉireann he will continue to reach out to the Unionist minority on the island.

Asserting his commitment to true and progressive change, McGuinness says "it's about bridge-building on the island, it's about bringing into place a process of national reconciliation, being a unifier of all the people that live on this island"

"My vision is to be someone who inspires, someone who has a track record in bringing important change, someone who will be seen as a figurehead, representing Ireland on a world stage."

McGuinness secured his nomination with the backing of his party, Sinn Féin, as well as four Independent Teachtaí Dála, deputies Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, Finian McGrath, Michael Healy-Rae and Tom Fleming.

If elected, his term will oversee the significant 100 year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, and the prospect of a distinctly Irish Republican president for this occasion is sure to resonate resoundly amongst the republican and nationalist sections of the Irish electorate.

McGuinness' nomination is also likely to bring to the fore the debate over the extension of voting rights to Irish citizens living in the north of Ireland. At present, Irish citizens living in the north are not entitled to vote for their president, however Martin McGuinness has signaled his support for the extension of voting rights to Irish citizens in the north, as well as the Irish diaspora at large.

Expressing his thoughts on the campaign, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said “I believe that this election will give Martin the platform to continue the work which he has led in the North and in the peace process and to put it on a national footing.

“I believe he can be the people’s president. If elected he will draw the average industrial wage. He will dedicate himself to a genuine national reconciliation and the unity of our people. He will personify hope in the great genius and integrity of all the people of this island, Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters."

Adams asserts "Oileáin amháin, tír amháin, Uachtaráin amháin". That is, one island, one country, one President.

This promises to be an intriguing campaign with a few twists and turns to come yet.

Irish public outrage over illegal U.S renditions through Shannon

The Irish Government are coming under intensified pressure today to introduce new measures which would conclusively guarantee that Ireland will no longer facilitate illegal U.S rendition flights.

Newly released American courtroom documents have revealed that US authorities contracted out their illegal rendition flights to a host of private American corporations. The documents show that many such renditions en route to Guantanamo Bay and various secret CIA-run prisons and torture camps operated through Ireland's Shannon Airport over the past decade.

The revelations came as Richmor Aviation and SportsFlight Air, which acted for US government contractor DynCorp, are locked in dispute over unpaid costs from rendition flights.

Richmor Aviation operated the rendition plane N85VM/N227SV, which we now know beyond doubt passed through Shannon Airport regularly between 2001 and 2005, and was responsible for the rendition of an Egyptian cleric, Abu Omar.

The Seattle Times reports that:

    On Nov. 8, 2002, a Richmor Gulfstream, Tail No. N85VM, took off for Shannon Airport in Ireland, then to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, on a flight that paralleled the arrest that month of USS Cole bombing suspect Abd al-Nashiri.

    It was the first of a run of secret long-distance flights by the Gulfstream between 2002 and 2005 that paralleled the suspected movements of captured al-Qaida and other terrorist leaders who vanished into CIA-run black prisons after their arrests following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Recently released cables from the U.S. embassy in Dublin have also highlighted the complete disregard both the Irish and U.S governments have shown for national and international laws, Irish sovereignty and human rights. The cables show that protecting U.S. interests has been the primary concern for politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Cables from former U.S Ambassador to Ireland, James C. Kenny, state that the Irish Government have consistently acted "to ensure continued U.S. military transits at Shannon" and that "the Irish Government has repeatedly defended U.S. interests in the face of public criticism".

Such statements are of deep concern to Irish citizens.

The same cables also reveal that Ambassador Kenny sought U.S Department guidance "on any next steps regarding the Shannon Five". This is despite the Shannon Five having been acquitted on all charges by a jury in an Irish Court. Ambassador Kenny's comments come dangerously close to suggesting U.S interference in the affairs of the justice system of a sovereign state.

Unfortunately, the courtroom files and the recent cables only confirm what many people in Ireland have long known or suspected, but which the Irish Government has repeatedly refused to address. The Government has in the past claimed that it had relied on reassurances by the US that it had not operated such flights through Irish airports or airspace. However, in light of this recent evidence this argument can no longer be reasonably sustained. If such assurances were in fact given to the Irish Government by U.S authorities, we now know that the U.S was supplying false information to the Irish Government. If such assurances were in fact not given to the Irish Government, we now know that the Irish Government was providing false information to the Irish public. Either way, it does not bode well.

Those responsible must now be meaningfully held to account, and the Irish Government must take immediate action to ensure that Ireland will no longer be complicit in illegal U.S renditions, kidnap and torture.