Working within British 'law' with a vow NOT to use force against the British....... :

DANIEL O'CONNELL -1843 ;

THE PROVISIONALS -1994 TO DATE .


.......mid-19th Century Ireland : man-made 'Famine' , evictions , and 'landlords' and bailiffs adding to the misery . Then (June 1846) a change of government in London - and even more misery for the Irish people.......

In June 1846 , 'Lord' John Russell replaced 'Sir' Robert Peel as Prime Minister of England ; the new political power in London , in this case represented by Charles Trevelyan , Permanent Head of the British Treasury and a well-known 'bible-thumper' , even though he was only in his mid-thirties , was anxious to 'make his mark' and turned his attention to the Irish .

Trevelyan contacted the cargo-ship 'Sorciere' which was then on its way to Ireland with a hold full of Indian corn ; he ordered the Captain of the 'Sorciere' to abandon his mission - " The cargo of the Sorciere is not wanted . Her owners must dispose of it as they think proper . " The Brits justified that decision , and others like it , by stating (again , it was Charles Trevelyan who spoke) -

- " The only way to prevent people from becoming habitually dependent on (the British) government is to bring operations to a close . The uncertainty about the new crop (of wheat in Ireland) only makes it more necessary . Whatever may be done hereafter , these things (ie relief missions) should be stopped now , or you run the risk of paralysing all private enterprise and having this country (Ireland) on you for an indefinite number of years . "

In short - " The Irish might as well die now as later ...' A callous bastard .

(MORE LATER).


WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

SHOOTINGS.......

".......the 'abandoned' lorry was a trap ; British soldiers had fired point-blank at IRA Volunteer Liam Hegarty who still managed to turn and run . Dannie Healy and the other IRA men got away safely , as did the local children......."

" However , a young man , Michael Lynch , who lived a few hundred yards down the road to Macroom , had come out of his house on hearing the shots - he was mortally wounded by a rifle bullet . Whether the killers in the lorry aimed at him or not is unknown , but it is certain that one of the miscreants crossed the fence and shot Liam Hegarty again as he lay wounded . What was the motive for this killing ?

The enemy did not mention any motive , but we came to the conclusion that it must have been a reprisal for recent attacks on them . The last IRA action had taken place less than three weeks previously , at the Slippery Rock ; here , one British Army Officer and ten soldiers , all fully armed , had been opposed by a fewer number of the IRA , only two of whom were armed with rifles . The British soldiers had been invited to surrender before fire was opened on them - their Officer in charge had been killed and four of his men wounded .

But there had been no unnecessary shooting . Some IRA men had come out on the road and exchanged shots with the enemy , and a British soldier had struggled with one of our men to retain possession of his rifle . We had secured victory as easily as we could possibly have done , and had helped the wounded to the best of our ability . The treacherous killing of an unarmed IRA man and a civilian , and the attempted massacre of others , including children , was not far off the Cromwell 'standard' .

Whether the motive was just a vengeful one , or calculated to inspire terror , its result fell very short of the mark ......."

(MORE LATER).


THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......

Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .

Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .


First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.

Re-produced here in 21 parts .

(17 of 21).

Robert Kennedy , the U S Attorney General , ordered several of the attempts (to overthrow Fidel Castro) - it is inconceivable that his brother did'nt know what was going on . RFK was a 'covert action' buff ; he knew of the Mafia involvement in the assassination plans and did'nt blink . One of the gangsters , Sam Giancana , who had worked with the Capone organisation , had a lover named Judith Campbell . For three years , while the attempts to kill Castro were under way , Campbell also shared John F. Kennedy's bed !

The assassination attempts were called off only when Lyndon Johnson took office . Kennedy , recalled Johnson , " ... had been operating a damned Murder Inc. in the Caribbean . " JFK felt humilated by the 'Bay of Pigs' disaster and by a subsequent meeting with Khrushchev in which the Soviet leader gave him a rough dressing down : " He just beat hell out of me . So I've got a terrible problem - if he thinks I'm inexperienced and have no guts , until we remove those ideas we won't get anywhere with him . So we have to act ; now we have a problem to make our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place ......."

(MORE LATER).

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We have recently received a favourable mention on SLUGGER (much appreciated !) and , as a result , have noticed an increase in visitors , some of whom have left comments in our 'Guestbook' . One of those visitors , 'DAVROS' , wrote - " To paraphrase : I came , I saw , I pissed myself laughing . "

'Davros' was , I believe , attempting to 'rub our nose in it' by his choice of paraphrasing ie 'I came , I saw , I conquered' , re the British 'conquest' of Ireland . Apart from that , however , this 'blog' has been attacked and dismissed before by those who are politically opposed to Irish Republicanism - and fair enough ; they have their political point of view and we have ours .


We have also been attacked and dismissed by visitors as being " ...morally evil ..justifying terrorism .." etc - and again , fair enough ; we will argue our position as best we can with those visitors , as we have done in the past and will no doubt have to do in the future . BUT....
... : to find the history of this (or any) country 'funny' enough to ".. piss yourself laughing ..." is a new low for us to witness . By all means dis-agree with us politically , or morally , and dismiss us as 'propagandists' if you want to , but be human enough NOT to "..piss yourself laughing..." at the sufferings endured by other people . It's childish , immature and shows up your own failings more so than the failings forced on those you "laugh" at .
"There but for the grace of God...." , 'DAVROS' . I truly hope the sun always shines on you , because I doubt very much that you are mature enough to handle the darkness .
Sharon O'Sullibhan , '1169 And Counting .....'

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¶ 6:46 AM

  Working within British 'law' with a vow NOT to use force against the British....... :

DANIEL O'CONNELL -1843 ;

THE PROVISIONALS -1994 TO DATE .


.......The 'Famine' in mid-19th Century Ireland was nothing of the sort ; every foodstuff except the potato was available - but not for the poor and hungry . The Irish people were distraught ; the Brits and their friends in the 'landlord class' moved in to take further advantage .......

As if man-made 'Famine' was'nt enough for the Irish people to contend with , the Brits made life even more miserable for the dying ; a report in 'The Freemans Journal' newspaper (Summer 1846) gave the following description of an eviction in County Galway -

- " It was the most appalling sight I ever witnessed : women , young and old , running wildly to and fro with small portions of their property to save it from the wreck . The screaming of the children , and wild wailings of the mothers driven from home and shelter ... in the first instance the roofs and portions of the wall only were thrown down .

But that Friday night the wretched creatures pitched a few poles slant-wise against the walls covering them with thatch in order to procure shelter for the night . When this was perceived the next day the bailiffs were despatched with orders to pull down all the walls and root-up the foundations in order to prevent the poor people from daring to take shelter amid the ruins ..."

Meanwhile , as the Irish people were suffering - un-necessarily , for the most part - a different government came to power in England ; a new Prime Minister , 'Lord' John Russell , replaced 'Sir' Robert Peel at the end of June 1846 . The situation was to change for the Irish - but not for the better .......

(MORE LATER).


WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.

SHOOTINGS.......

" An 'abandoned' British military lorry ; genuine , or a trap ? If we waited too long to investigate , and the lorry was genuinely broke down , the Brits might return to tow it away . But , if we moved in too quickly ....... "

" The children had again returned to the vicinity of the lorry , and a few local IRA Volunteers had strolled along from the village and had stopped on the opposite side of the road from it . It was their intention to give it only a few moments of inspection and then move on again . But their brief scrutiny revealed nothing and they lingered on , intrigued by the mystery , and loth to leave without finding a solution .

Meanwhile , Liam Hegarty and Dannie Healy arrived at the lorry ; with little delay , Liam passed by one side to grasp the engine bonnet fastenings , while at the other side Dannie lifted a corner of the body covering . From within came a fusilade of rifle shots - Liam , whether hit or not , managed to cross a low bank which served as the road fence on his side . Then turning left he travelled in its small shelter for a short distance before he fell .

Dannie dashed to the other side of the road and , gaining some scanty cover , got away unscathed . The other IRA Volunteers and the children all escaped injury . But it was not over yet ......."

(MORE LATER).


THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......

Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .

Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .


First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.

Re-produced here in 21 parts .

(16 of 21).

U S President John F. Kennedy and the CIA made frantic efforts to get rid of Fidel Castro ; in 1959 , the CIA used their part-time agent Robert Maheu (he had made the Sukarno porn movie and in 1954 he had bugged Aristotle Onassis for the CIA in a little sting to protect American oil interests) to organise Castro's assassination . Maheu offered $150,000 dollars to three gangsters to kill Castro ; the gangsters had lost their gambling and prostitution palaces in Cuba and they wanted them back .

They were happy to oblige ; over the next three years there were several attempts to kill Castro - in February 1961 one of the gangsters , John Rosselli , got poison pills from the CIA and organised two assassination attempts . There were attempts with poison pens , bacterial powder in a diving suit and a poison dart gun !

There were lots of "whatever works" ideas floating about : like putting toxic dust in Castro's shoes which would cause his beard to fall out , so he would lose his 'charisma' and be overthrown ! Like staging a " second coming " to convince Catholic Cubans that Christ would come to Cuba if they overthrew Castro ...

... - apparently , a similar project had been mounted in the Philippines years earlier , broadcasting to 'primitive' tribes from helicopters !

(MORE LATER).

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¶ 6:45 AM