UK1RPO
03-09-2009, 07:43 AM
Source: TimesOnline (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5873275.ece)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00500/gerry_adams__500171a.jpg
Gerry Adams went on the offensive today against the police after describing the murders as a 'mistake'
By Jenny Booth
Gerry Adams today condemned the "huge mistake" of deploying an undercover British army surveillance unit to Northern Ireland to watch dissident Republicans, as the fallout continued from the shooting dead of two soldiers outside their barracks in County Antrim.
The Sinn Fein leader stopped short of saying that sending in the covert army unit was to blame for triggering the paramilitary-style attack outside Massereene army barracks on Saturday night, in which two further soldiers and two pizza delivery drivers were seriously injured.
Mr Adams did say however that republican sensitivities had been inflamed by the Northern Ireland chief constable's request – confirmed on Friday, 24 hours before the attack – for the Special Reconnaissance Regiment to deploy to Ulster.
Meanwhile Gordon Brown arrived at the barracks this morning to pay his respects to the victims of Saturday's shootings, and to hold crisis talks with Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland's chief constable, and with political leaders at Stormont.
"I'm sorry, but you don't understand the history if you don't appreciate that the involvement of these units in the past, totally unaccountable, has led to the same kind of suffering that unfortunately is being endured at this time by the families of the two British soldiers."
Sending in the SRR risked undermining the "policing dispensation" that had laboriously been worked out in the Northern Ireland, under which Sinn Fein was able to support the work of the Northern Ireland Police Service, Mr Adams implied.
"Part of the rationale is that we can hold our police officers to an account," he continued. "But we can't hold shady, undercover British army units to account."
The killers opened fire on a small group of soldiers who had emerged from the gates of the barracks to take delivery of some pizzas, hours before their brigade was due to fly to Afghanistan.
Armed security guards stood by but did not intervene as the attackers crossed the road and stood over their victims as they lay on the ground, firing further shots.
The Real IRA, a dissident republican group, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to a Dublin newspaper. All Northern Ireland's political parties, including Sinn Fein, have called for the capture of the culprits.
Mr Adams was today asked to defend why the party failed for 14 hours to put out any statement of regret at the deaths of the two British troops, believed to be aged 20 and from London and the Midlands.
The statement that the party did finally put out, which described the killings as wrong and counter-productive and as an attack on the peace process, has been described by some analysts as cold and grudging.
Mr Adams retorted that the statement was "totally and absolutely unprecedented".
"The history – and it is a very unsettled history - is that the British Army in Ireland is not wanted by republicans, by patriots, by democrats," he said.
“I stress again that this is not to justify what occurred. Many people have suffered at the hands of the British Army and again I stress that we are in a totally peaceful and democratic phase.
“We have been very successful in how we have brought the broad republican community to where we are at this moment. I have to be the best judge of how I address this community.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00500/gerry_adams__500171a.jpg
Gerry Adams went on the offensive today against the police after describing the murders as a 'mistake'
By Jenny Booth
Gerry Adams today condemned the "huge mistake" of deploying an undercover British army surveillance unit to Northern Ireland to watch dissident Republicans, as the fallout continued from the shooting dead of two soldiers outside their barracks in County Antrim.
The Sinn Fein leader stopped short of saying that sending in the covert army unit was to blame for triggering the paramilitary-style attack outside Massereene army barracks on Saturday night, in which two further soldiers and two pizza delivery drivers were seriously injured.
Mr Adams did say however that republican sensitivities had been inflamed by the Northern Ireland chief constable's request – confirmed on Friday, 24 hours before the attack – for the Special Reconnaissance Regiment to deploy to Ulster.
Meanwhile Gordon Brown arrived at the barracks this morning to pay his respects to the victims of Saturday's shootings, and to hold crisis talks with Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland's chief constable, and with political leaders at Stormont.
"I'm sorry, but you don't understand the history if you don't appreciate that the involvement of these units in the past, totally unaccountable, has led to the same kind of suffering that unfortunately is being endured at this time by the families of the two British soldiers."
Sending in the SRR risked undermining the "policing dispensation" that had laboriously been worked out in the Northern Ireland, under which Sinn Fein was able to support the work of the Northern Ireland Police Service, Mr Adams implied.
"Part of the rationale is that we can hold our police officers to an account," he continued. "But we can't hold shady, undercover British army units to account."
The killers opened fire on a small group of soldiers who had emerged from the gates of the barracks to take delivery of some pizzas, hours before their brigade was due to fly to Afghanistan.
Armed security guards stood by but did not intervene as the attackers crossed the road and stood over their victims as they lay on the ground, firing further shots.
The Real IRA, a dissident republican group, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to a Dublin newspaper. All Northern Ireland's political parties, including Sinn Fein, have called for the capture of the culprits.
Mr Adams was today asked to defend why the party failed for 14 hours to put out any statement of regret at the deaths of the two British troops, believed to be aged 20 and from London and the Midlands.
The statement that the party did finally put out, which described the killings as wrong and counter-productive and as an attack on the peace process, has been described by some analysts as cold and grudging.
Mr Adams retorted that the statement was "totally and absolutely unprecedented".
"The history – and it is a very unsettled history - is that the British Army in Ireland is not wanted by republicans, by patriots, by democrats," he said.
“I stress again that this is not to justify what occurred. Many people have suffered at the hands of the British Army and again I stress that we are in a totally peaceful and democratic phase.
“We have been very successful in how we have brought the broad republican community to where we are at this moment. I have to be the best judge of how I address this community.”