JULY-DECEMBER 1921 : Revenge Attacks on Republicans During The 'Truce' .......
.......the Brits encouraged people to believe that the 1921 'Truce' was 'the beginning of the end' of 'the Irish Question' but , in that same year , 128 deaths were recorded in Belfast alone , and British troops in that part of Ireland were being strengthened .......
.....a 'tangent' here , concerning a major incident which took place in May 1921 , weeks before the 'Truce' came into operation ; in late May that year , the IRA decided to burn-down the centre of British Administration in Ireland - the Custom House in Dublin . The Dublin Brigade of the IRA (consisting of approximately 120 Volunteers) moved in on the building during working hours . Positions were taken-up around the Custom House by armed IRA Volunteers , while other (armed) members entered the building , carrying cans of petrol .
The civil servants working in the offices were told to get out , which all did , except for one woman who , having being told to leave immediately (incidentally , she was given that instruction by one of the IRA men who had been active on 'Bloody Sunday' , as the Brits called it , when Michael Collins hit out at British Intelligence operatives) replied - "You can't do that ..."
The IRA man showed the woman his revolver and the can of petrol he was carrying , and she is alleged to have said - " Can I get my hat and coat ?" to which he replied "Lady , you'll be lucky if you get your life ." She left the building immediately .......
(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 .......
".......our IRA Column consisted of fifty rifle men , with about twenty other IRA Volunteers 'on call' from Macroom ; we had no field pieces , having to make do with small arms and two Lewis-Guns....... "
" In one engagement which lasted for four hours , a section of the Column combined with the Macroom men to a total of only thirty , had put about forty out of ninty British Auxiliaries 'hors de combat' ; the intervention of overwhelming forces of the British regular Army saved the Auxies - we lost no man . Ever present in our minds was the thought that one day we would return to the Auxies the compliment of their often inopportune visits . In other words , we were anxious to give them the pleasure of playing the game of war with us on their own grounds .
Suggestions were invited from Officer and Private alike and all were examined ; the Macroom men were asked to investigate a legend we had heard about - an underground passage between the cellars of the Castle and the river bank . Such a gift was not for us , however , but we would be always welcome at the front door ! Eventually it was the front door that was decided upon , if we could get that far ...
During the second week of May 1921 , the Column left Ballyvourney to assist at the attack on a British Barracks in Kilgarvan , County Kerry ; we arrived in Kilgarvan in the afternoon to find that the Barracks had been evacuated only a few hours earlier . The Kerrymen invited us to stay in the neighbourhood for a few days as there was a prospect of meeting with a strong convoy of British military lorries - we agreed , and stayed at a small village or group of farmhouses on the southern slope of Mangerton Mountain . On Friday morning we had breakfast with these decent people , then we sat with them on the low walls outside their white-washed houses while the sun shone brightly .
We talked of many things , but one old man always brought the conversation back to earth , to the land : he would like to go with us to the good land , and fight for it too . The good land that had been taken from us - the land that would grow the big , strong men . That , the old man said , was the way to undo the conquest of Ireland , to put the people back again on the good land . Time has proved him right , but the wrong has not yet been made right . We were discussing this matter when a local IRA Volunteer arrived with a message ......."
(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.
5 of 12.
Another man who vouched for Manucher Ghorbanifar , the Iranian arms dealer , was Michael A. Ledeen , a 'Consultant' to General Alexander Haig when he was U S Secretary of State , and later attached to the National Security Council . Mr. Ledeen is a frequent visitor to Israel - in the spring of 1985 he met Mr. Peres . When George Shultz heard about it , he warned Robert McFarlane that Israel had its own interests in Iran and they were not necessarily the same as those of the United States.
Robert McFarlane replied that Mr. Ledeen was acting for himself - Ledeen went back to Israel in July 1985 and there met Mr. Ghorbanifar ; they talked about arms and hostages with the Israelis .
Also interested in arranging an arms deal was Adnan Khasshoggi , a Saudi Arabian businessman and international arms dealer .......
(MORE LATER).
