JULY-DECEMBER 1921 : Revenge Attacks on Republicans During The 'Truce' .......
....... "Sure what more do the Irish want ...?" ; thus the Brits whispered to anyone that would listen to them , as they spread 'the big lie' that the 'Truce' was the end of the 'Irish Question' . In Ireland , however , events said otherwise .......
In Belfast alone , in 1921 , the death toll was 128 ; 13 members of the 'Crown Forces' and 115 civilians (comprising 72 Catholics and 43 Protestants). Needless to say , the Brits were not publicising this part of the 'Irish Question' ...
Much was made of the fact that the British Government had started (very publicly!) to re-arrange their military forces in South , East and West Ireland - orders were issued that all British Troops , Black and Tans and Auxiliaries were to base themselves in major barracks' only , in preparation for withdrawal .
In the 'shadow' of that "major advance" , however , the Brits were arranging to strengthen 'security' in the six north-eastern Counties of Ireland ; British troops were to remain , the RUC and the 'B-Special Corps' were given 26,000 extra rifles and a consignment of First World War uniforms , dyed black .
But 'the big lie' (ie "...sure what more do the Irish want ..?") had taken root .......
(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.
THE CASTLE OF MACROOM .......
".......it was a gentleman of a British Auxie who questioned my mother as to the whereabouts of "her boys" ; we were only yards away from him , hiding and armed - had he been abusive , we would have shot him dead and suffered the consequences ......."
" We climbed over the garden fence through a narrow gap in the whitethorn hedge , at its junction with the school wall . As we stood on the fence our heads were just almost level with the heads of three Auxies who had climbed by way of a laurel tree in the corner at the other side of the wall . Another half-foot higher and they could have looked down on us , but a branch they were on gave way at that moment .With a crash they fell back in a heap into the school yard ; we slipped off our fence and stole along the wall at right angles to the one they had tried to mount . The language we heard , as they sought to extricate themselves , and the energy expended on it , would, had they thought of it in time , have lifted them to any desired height !
The castle was a veritable fortress as far as our war material was concerned ; given a reasonable time and even a single field piece we could manage it , but we had neither gun nor mortar . Even if we had , we would have had to work quickly , since Ballincollig , with its large forces of mechanised infantry , was only sixteen miles distant . For that matter , every town in the southern counties could send forces against us at short notice .
The IRA Brigade Flying Column was largely drawn from our area and never exceeded a strength of fifty rifle men : with the Macroom area included , our total strength would be about seventy , a small number , but high in quality as fighting men . Our heaviest armament consisted of two Lewis-Guns . Elsewhere I have described some clashes between the Auxiliaries from the castle and our IRA Column ; our men had proved themselves more than the equals of the " war-men of Britain " .......
(MORE LATER).
' COLONEL OLIVER NORTH WOULD'NT DO ANYTHING THAT REAGAN DID'NT APPROVE ' .......
'The chain of events that has become known as IRANGATE is circling ever tighter around President Reagan . Sean Cronin draws together some of the links in the bizarre story'
First published in 'The Irish Times' newspaper , Tuesday , February 10th , 1987 , page 14 .
Re-produced here in 12 parts.
4 of 12.
From 1982 , Israel had been arranging private deals involving the sale of U S arms to Iran . Robert McFarlane , the U S President's National Security Adviser in 1985 , did not know about this and the CIA did not tell him . Mr. McFarlane was poorly informed on many matters ; when he asked the CIA about news reports of Israeli arms shipments to Iran he was told the reports were false . Israel's then Prime Minister , Mr. Shimon Peres , reportedly told the U S there was no such trade ...
Mr. McFarlane also thought that Manucher Ghorbanifar , an Iranian arms dealer who , according to some accounts , had links with Israeli intelligence , was an adviser of the Iranian Government . The CIA distrusted Ghorbanifar and he failed a lie-detector test . But Robert McFarlane , the U S President's Security Adviser , was told none of this .......
(MORE LATER).
