In 1974 , a mass break-out from Long Kesh prison camp had been organised , but had to be postponed after a large part of the camp was set on fire by the POW's on the night of October 16th that year......
After the trouble in the camp, and with the tunnel not having been discovered by the British , it was agreed that the escape plan should stand - early November (1974) was chosen as the time to put the plan into action. On November 6th , 1974, in Cage Five of Long Kesh prison camp, the plan was outlined ~ the tunnel led from that Cage to the fields on the camp's farm , close to the perimeter fence ; on leaving the tunnel , the escapees would have to crawl through rolls of barbed-wire and then climb over the Camp's outer wire fence . IRA units had been notified to collect the escapees at an arranged rendezvous point and drive them to safe houses where the POW's were expected .
Thirty-three men went into the Cage Five tunnel but, when the first few emerged from same in the field , they were spotted by a patrol of British soldiers in a jeep ; each escapee knew that the element of surprise was gone and their chances now of success were slim , but all those who could exit the tunel made a run for it just the same . The British soldiers immediately raised the alarm as the POW's scattered , running through a ditch and crawling through coils of barbed-wire ; the British troops in the jeep opened fire without warning , and IRA Volunteer Hugh Cooney was badly wounded .
By this time , some of the British soldiers from the jeep had made it to the mouth of the tunnel and threatened to shoot the men still emerging from same unless they lay down .
Requests for a doctor or a priest to attend the dying Hugh Cooney , who was in a ditch, were refused and, indeed, the recaptured POW's later spoke of how the British soldiers standing over Cooney had urinated over the dying man . British Army re-inforcements, with dogs, were by this time searching the area and those escapees that were found had the dogs set on them . When they were returned to the camp , the POW's were thrashed with batons , .......... (MORE LATER)>>
In the late 1960's/ early 1970's , the ' security ' of the Six Counties was left in the hands of the British Army Command in Belfast , under General Freeland ( ! ) , a veteran colonial soldier renowned for his command of the MAU MAU campaign in Kenya ~ in other words , the Brits felt it was time to get even tougher with the natives ......
In 1979 , British Army Captain Mike Biggs told listeners on BRM Radio - "Northern Ireland(sic) is a problem , a problem that we started ..... " ~ and it's not finished yet , Mike...
In 1993 , the Free State administration spent 410 million punts on on their Army , which included 135 million punts on so-called ' border security ' ~ the Brits impose it on us , and the Free Staters help pay for it ! " Take it down from the mast ........ "
Friday, March 28, 2003
One of the earliest escapes from Long Kesh prison took place in September 1973 , two years after it first opened . IRA Volunteer John Francis Green walked out of the camp dressed as a Catholic priest !
Following the introduction of internment in August 1971 , the internees were initially held in Magilligan Prison in County Derry and on the Maidstone prison ship , moored in Belfast Lough . In September that year (1971) the majority of those held were moved to Long Kesh , a disused Second World War British Army airfield near Lisburn , County Antrim . Here they were housed in nissen huts in 21 cages surrounded by a huge barbed-wire perimeter fence .
Eventually , sentenced prisoners were transferred to Long Kesh and the cages were divided between republican and loyalist internees and sentenced prisoners . On the night of October 16th , 1974 , in protest over conditions , the sentenced prisoners and internees burnt a large part of the camp , destroying sentry towers and most of the huts . After CS gas was dropped on the detainees from a helicopter , a large force of British troops entered the camp and , in the riot which followed, the POW'S were severely assaulted . They were then returned to the various cages , moving into make-shift accommodation . The burning of Long Kesh camp on that October night in 1974 meant that a plan to escape , which was by then finalised, had to be postponed - a mass break-out had been organised via a tunnel out of Cage Five , and dozens of IRA men from that cage were ready to go .........
(MORE LATER)>>
' Number-crunchers ' reading this may find the following information interesting and , hopefully, bring up the subject at their next social gathering(which could very well be their last such outing....) ~
In September 1971(after internment) a MORI Opinion Poll in Britain found that 59 per cent of those polled wanted their troops out of the Six Counties ;
In December 1975 , a GALLUP Poll found that 64 per cent wanted their troops out /
February 1977 , GALLUP 53% / May 1978 , GALLUP 53% / September 1978 GALLUP 55% /
November 1980 'WEEKEND WORLD' Poll 50% / April 1981 MARPLAN 58% /May '81 MORI 59%
August 1981 GALLUP 54% / May 1984 MORI 53% / January 1987 MORI 61% / Nov '87 MARPLAN 40%
March 1988 MORI 50%/ December 1989 HARRIS 51%/ December 1990 BRITISH SOCIAL ATTITUDES -
59% / October 1991 MORI 61% / March 1992 MORI 54% .
....and the British claim to be in the Six Counties because a majority of people want them there !
Following the introduction of internment in August 1971 , the internees were initially held in Magilligan Prison in County Derry and on the Maidstone prison ship , moored in Belfast Lough . In September that year (1971) the majority of those held were moved to Long Kesh , a disused Second World War British Army airfield near Lisburn , County Antrim . Here they were housed in nissen huts in 21 cages surrounded by a huge barbed-wire perimeter fence .
Eventually , sentenced prisoners were transferred to Long Kesh and the cages were divided between republican and loyalist internees and sentenced prisoners . On the night of October 16th , 1974 , in protest over conditions , the sentenced prisoners and internees burnt a large part of the camp , destroying sentry towers and most of the huts . After CS gas was dropped on the detainees from a helicopter , a large force of British troops entered the camp and , in the riot which followed, the POW'S were severely assaulted . They were then returned to the various cages , moving into make-shift accommodation . The burning of Long Kesh camp on that October night in 1974 meant that a plan to escape , which was by then finalised, had to be postponed - a mass break-out had been organised via a tunnel out of Cage Five , and dozens of IRA men from that cage were ready to go .........
(MORE LATER)>>
' Number-crunchers ' reading this may find the following information interesting and , hopefully, bring up the subject at their next social gathering(which could very well be their last such outing....) ~
In September 1971(after internment) a MORI Opinion Poll in Britain found that 59 per cent of those polled wanted their troops out of the Six Counties ;
In December 1975 , a GALLUP Poll found that 64 per cent wanted their troops out /
February 1977 , GALLUP 53% / May 1978 , GALLUP 53% / September 1978 GALLUP 55% /
November 1980 'WEEKEND WORLD' Poll 50% / April 1981 MARPLAN 58% /May '81 MORI 59%
August 1981 GALLUP 54% / May 1984 MORI 53% / January 1987 MORI 61% / Nov '87 MARPLAN 40%
March 1988 MORI 50%/ December 1989 HARRIS 51%/ December 1990 BRITISH SOCIAL ATTITUDES -
59% / October 1991 MORI 61% / March 1992 MORI 54% .
....and the British claim to be in the Six Counties because a majority of people want them there !
Thursday, March 27, 2003
~ all six men( the three IRA 'Gardai' and their 'prisoners' ) were admitted into Mountjoy Jail ;
Once inside , the warders were over-powered and one of their master-keys was taken . The three'Gardai' and 'prisoners' made their way un-challenged through the series of gates and passageways and freed 19 IRA prisoners . The twenty-five men , escorted by three of their number dressed in Gardai uniform, again bluffed their way past the confused jail staff and made it safely to the street ( included in those that walked to freedom that night were Jim Killeen , Michael Carolan and David Fitzgerald) .
A number of cars had been arranged to take the escapees away , but only one car turned up (driven by taxi driver Tom Finlay) and had parked on the North Circular Road , outside the prison. This car loaded-up with as many men as it could fit in and sped off ; the rest of the IRA men escaped on foot . Within less than an hour the area around the prison was sealed off by Free State military and police but it was too late - the twenty-five men were already in safe houses .
This event took place on November 25th , 1925 , and proved highly embarrassing to the Cosgrave Free State administration : it was not the only time they were to be embarrassed .........
.........the cost of loading their tenants on a ship to Canada was £4 per person , compared with a cost of £7 per person per year for tenants sent to the workhouse , a sum the ' landlord' would have been liable for ; hundreds died making the passage to Canada ....
The local Catholic Bishop claimed that another 3,060 people were evicted , and that most of those died on the roadside, trying to live on the bogland or in the workhouses . On November 2nd , 1847 , Major Mahon was shot dead because he had overseen the eviction of a whole town . The Mahon family offered to let the tenants come back if informants came forward , and two men were later hanged in Roscommon Square on the strength of fake confessions which the Mahon family had printed up . An estimated one million people died and 1.3 million people emigrated during the years of The Great Hunger .
The above is just one incident among many that the Irish people were put through during those years ...
Once inside , the warders were over-powered and one of their master-keys was taken . The three'Gardai' and 'prisoners' made their way un-challenged through the series of gates and passageways and freed 19 IRA prisoners . The twenty-five men , escorted by three of their number dressed in Gardai uniform, again bluffed their way past the confused jail staff and made it safely to the street ( included in those that walked to freedom that night were Jim Killeen , Michael Carolan and David Fitzgerald) .
A number of cars had been arranged to take the escapees away , but only one car turned up (driven by taxi driver Tom Finlay) and had parked on the North Circular Road , outside the prison. This car loaded-up with as many men as it could fit in and sped off ; the rest of the IRA men escaped on foot . Within less than an hour the area around the prison was sealed off by Free State military and police but it was too late - the twenty-five men were already in safe houses .
This event took place on November 25th , 1925 , and proved highly embarrassing to the Cosgrave Free State administration : it was not the only time they were to be embarrassed .........
.........the cost of loading their tenants on a ship to Canada was £4 per person , compared with a cost of £7 per person per year for tenants sent to the workhouse , a sum the ' landlord' would have been liable for ; hundreds died making the passage to Canada ....
The local Catholic Bishop claimed that another 3,060 people were evicted , and that most of those died on the roadside, trying to live on the bogland or in the workhouses . On November 2nd , 1847 , Major Mahon was shot dead because he had overseen the eviction of a whole town . The Mahon family offered to let the tenants come back if informants came forward , and two men were later hanged in Roscommon Square on the strength of fake confessions which the Mahon family had printed up . An estimated one million people died and 1.3 million people emigrated during the years of The Great Hunger .
The above is just one incident among many that the Irish people were put through during those years ...
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Through contacts inside Mountjoy Jail , Sean Russell, before he was arrested , had located a twenty-minute ' gap ' when internal secirity was slack , and had built the escape-plan to suit same ~
It was proposed by the escape committee that six IRA Volunteers , three disguised as Free State Gardai and the others as prisoners , would bluff their way into the prison , hold up the warders and the sentries and release their comrades . Three Garda uniforms had already been procured and false paper-work had been forged , 'stamped' and signed - transport had also been arranged . On the evening of November 25th , 1925 , George Gilmore and five IRA comrades met in a house in Drumcondra , Dublin , and held a final rehearsal of their roles ; three of them changed into Garda uniforms and , as well as the forged committal orders , armed themselves with revolvers . All six then drove to Mountjoy Jail .
At the prison gates , ' Sergeant Ryan ' ( George Gilmore) and 'Gardai Shelly' and 'Malone' informed the prison staff that their three 'prisoners' would be serving a three-month prison sentence for poaching in Wicklow ~ all six were admitted to the jail ...... (MORE LATER)>>
One of the most harrowing tales still remembered in this country from the times of ' An Gorta Mor' ('The Great Hunger') is that of British Major Denis Mahon , the 'landlord' of Strokestown Park in County Roscommon ~
Major Mahon inherited the estate after his cousin , Lord Hartland , was declared to be insane . At the time , the estate consisted of 9,000 acres on which thirteen-thousand people lived , but later , in 1847, it expanded to 27,500 acres when the Major's daughter married a Roscommon landowner . The Major employed another cousin , John Ross Mahon , as the land agent for the estate , and he drew up a memorandum saying that due to the potato blight, the growing of potatoes should be replaced by oats . But , since oats required 12 acres and potatoes only one acre per family for subsistence , he estimated that two-thirds of the tenants had to be evicted or ' made ' to emigrate . The Mahon family hired charter ships to assist the emigration to Canada of about 1,000 of their tenants - this cost £4 per person , instead of supporting those evicted in the workhouse , which would have cost over £7 a year , a sum the 'landlord' would have been liable to pay - hundreds died making the passage ....... (MORE LATER)>>
It was proposed by the escape committee that six IRA Volunteers , three disguised as Free State Gardai and the others as prisoners , would bluff their way into the prison , hold up the warders and the sentries and release their comrades . Three Garda uniforms had already been procured and false paper-work had been forged , 'stamped' and signed - transport had also been arranged . On the evening of November 25th , 1925 , George Gilmore and five IRA comrades met in a house in Drumcondra , Dublin , and held a final rehearsal of their roles ; three of them changed into Garda uniforms and , as well as the forged committal orders , armed themselves with revolvers . All six then drove to Mountjoy Jail .
At the prison gates , ' Sergeant Ryan ' ( George Gilmore) and 'Gardai Shelly' and 'Malone' informed the prison staff that their three 'prisoners' would be serving a three-month prison sentence for poaching in Wicklow ~ all six were admitted to the jail ...... (MORE LATER)>>
One of the most harrowing tales still remembered in this country from the times of ' An Gorta Mor' ('The Great Hunger') is that of British Major Denis Mahon , the 'landlord' of Strokestown Park in County Roscommon ~
Major Mahon inherited the estate after his cousin , Lord Hartland , was declared to be insane . At the time , the estate consisted of 9,000 acres on which thirteen-thousand people lived , but later , in 1847, it expanded to 27,500 acres when the Major's daughter married a Roscommon landowner . The Major employed another cousin , John Ross Mahon , as the land agent for the estate , and he drew up a memorandum saying that due to the potato blight, the growing of potatoes should be replaced by oats . But , since oats required 12 acres and potatoes only one acre per family for subsistence , he estimated that two-thirds of the tenants had to be evicted or ' made ' to emigrate . The Mahon family hired charter ships to assist the emigration to Canada of about 1,000 of their tenants - this cost £4 per person , instead of supporting those evicted in the workhouse , which would have cost over £7 a year , a sum the 'landlord' would have been liable to pay - hundreds died making the passage ....... (MORE LATER)>>
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
On November 25th , 1925 , an event took place in Dublin which was highly embarrassing to the Free State ( Cosgrave) administration , and a spectaculat propaganda coup for the IRA ; six IRA Volunteers disguised as Gardai (police) and prisoners managed to free 19 of their comrades from Mountjoy Jail ~
After the Civil War ended in May 1923 , republican prisoners were led to believe that their release was imminent - however , they soon realised that that was not the case , and a mass hunger-strike by republican prisoners and internees in camps and jails throughout the island began . In December that year (1923) , the internees and the women political prisoners were released and , by the end of 1924 , all of the sentenced IRA prisoners had been set free .
The IRA began to re-group in 1925 , and the Free State regime once more began to imprison large numbers of republicans . David Fitzgerald and Jim Killeen , two IRA Officers , were arrested and put in Mountjoy Jail ; the O/C of the Dublin Brigade , Mick Price, and the IRA's Director of Intelligence , Michael Carolan, along with Sean Russell , set about organising a jail-break from Mountjoy but , before the plan could be finalised , both Carolan and Russell were arrested .
Mick Price and George Gilmore took over the operation ; they were aware that Mountjoy Jail was now more or less being run as a ' civilian' jail , but also knew that there was a light contingent of armed Free State military present . Through contacts inside the jail , Russell, before he was arrested, had located a twenty-minute 'gap' when internal security was slack , and had built the escape-plan to suit same ........ (MORE LATER)>>
Khalid succeeded Faisal to the throne as ruler of Saudi Arabia , and ruled from 1975 to 1982 . King Fahd once lost £8 million in one evening's 'play' in Monte Carlo , in 1962 . He has seven huge palaces in Saudi Arabia worth at least $11 billion , and also has a 100-room palace in Marbella , another fitted out for 18th century French kings outside Paris , a third with 1,500 telephone lines in Geneva and a huge house near London which cost £30 million to refurbish ! He has a flying palace , a Boeing 747 fitted with a sauna , a lift , chandeliers , gold bathroom fixtures and gold tooth-brushs .....
When he travels , his Boeing 747 is followed by another for his entourage , and three 707's to carry the 'Royal' party's luggage . No fewer that fifty members of the ruling family are billionaires . Political parties are illegal in Saudi Arabia , as is the right to peaceful assembly .
So - Bush , Blair and our own lap-dog Ahern ~ if corrupt regimes are in your sights ............
After the Civil War ended in May 1923 , republican prisoners were led to believe that their release was imminent - however , they soon realised that that was not the case , and a mass hunger-strike by republican prisoners and internees in camps and jails throughout the island began . In December that year (1923) , the internees and the women political prisoners were released and , by the end of 1924 , all of the sentenced IRA prisoners had been set free .
The IRA began to re-group in 1925 , and the Free State regime once more began to imprison large numbers of republicans . David Fitzgerald and Jim Killeen , two IRA Officers , were arrested and put in Mountjoy Jail ; the O/C of the Dublin Brigade , Mick Price, and the IRA's Director of Intelligence , Michael Carolan, along with Sean Russell , set about organising a jail-break from Mountjoy but , before the plan could be finalised , both Carolan and Russell were arrested .
Mick Price and George Gilmore took over the operation ; they were aware that Mountjoy Jail was now more or less being run as a ' civilian' jail , but also knew that there was a light contingent of armed Free State military present . Through contacts inside the jail , Russell, before he was arrested, had located a twenty-minute 'gap' when internal security was slack , and had built the escape-plan to suit same ........ (MORE LATER)>>
Khalid succeeded Faisal to the throne as ruler of Saudi Arabia , and ruled from 1975 to 1982 . King Fahd once lost £8 million in one evening's 'play' in Monte Carlo , in 1962 . He has seven huge palaces in Saudi Arabia worth at least $11 billion , and also has a 100-room palace in Marbella , another fitted out for 18th century French kings outside Paris , a third with 1,500 telephone lines in Geneva and a huge house near London which cost £30 million to refurbish ! He has a flying palace , a Boeing 747 fitted with a sauna , a lift , chandeliers , gold bathroom fixtures and gold tooth-brushs .....
When he travels , his Boeing 747 is followed by another for his entourage , and three 707's to carry the 'Royal' party's luggage . No fewer that fifty members of the ruling family are billionaires . Political parties are illegal in Saudi Arabia , as is the right to peaceful assembly .
So - Bush , Blair and our own lap-dog Ahern ~ if corrupt regimes are in your sights ............
Monday, March 24, 2003
In 1941 , a ' witness ' was beaten by Free State detectives into agreeing to give incriminating statements against two Irish Republicans who were being charged with the execution of an informer ( George Plant was one of the men) but , on the day of the ' trial ' , in the Special Court , the 'witness' refused to co-operate with the system and the 'trial' collapsed . George Plant was , as expected, immediately re-arrested and Gerry Boland(the Fianna Fail Justice Minister) transferred the case from the Special Court to the Special Military Court , where the only sentence was death and the verdict could not be appealed .
De Valera , like the good vindictive Free Stater he was , wanted to ensure the demise of his former comrades and , in an unprecedented manipulation of the legal system , issued an ' Emergency Powers Order' in December 1941 , which was retrospective and provided for the acceptance of ' witness ' statements in evidence even if they had been withdrawn and even though the people who had originally made them were not present in court !
At his second ' trial ' , George Plant was found guilty , sentenced to death and executed in March 1942 . Today , courtesy of the 1998 Stormont Treaty (' Good Friday Agreement ') , those convicted of 'offences' similar in nature to those of George Plant and his comrades , are denied political status and labelled as ' dangerous criminals' by Free State administrations . Those that signed-up , supported and campaigned for that Treaty in 1998 knew that those still fighting against the British presence would be thus labelled but , like Dev , were prepared to turn on their former comrades ......
.......one of Ibn Saud's sons , the Crown Prince, built a palace for $10 million , knocked it down when it was finished because he did'nt like it , and built a second one on the same site for $30 million ! Another son drove a Cadillac until it ran out of petrol , gave it away and bought another one which had a full tank ......
Ibn Saud's eldest son and heir , Saud , ruled from 1953 for eleven years , and squandered ten's of millions of dollars on trivialities such as the use of 25,000 light bulbs in the garden of his palace . In the early 1960's , Saud's palace was using 4,000 eggs , 200 chickens and 30 lambs daily . In 1964 , Saud was replaced by his younger brother , Faisal , who ruled for eleven years until he was assassinated by an irate nephew for non-political reasons , in 1975 . Khalid succeeded Faisal to the throne , and ruled from 1975 to 1982 .......... (MORE LATER) >>
De Valera , like the good vindictive Free Stater he was , wanted to ensure the demise of his former comrades and , in an unprecedented manipulation of the legal system , issued an ' Emergency Powers Order' in December 1941 , which was retrospective and provided for the acceptance of ' witness ' statements in evidence even if they had been withdrawn and even though the people who had originally made them were not present in court !
At his second ' trial ' , George Plant was found guilty , sentenced to death and executed in March 1942 . Today , courtesy of the 1998 Stormont Treaty (' Good Friday Agreement ') , those convicted of 'offences' similar in nature to those of George Plant and his comrades , are denied political status and labelled as ' dangerous criminals' by Free State administrations . Those that signed-up , supported and campaigned for that Treaty in 1998 knew that those still fighting against the British presence would be thus labelled but , like Dev , were prepared to turn on their former comrades ......
.......one of Ibn Saud's sons , the Crown Prince, built a palace for $10 million , knocked it down when it was finished because he did'nt like it , and built a second one on the same site for $30 million ! Another son drove a Cadillac until it ran out of petrol , gave it away and bought another one which had a full tank ......
Ibn Saud's eldest son and heir , Saud , ruled from 1953 for eleven years , and squandered ten's of millions of dollars on trivialities such as the use of 25,000 light bulbs in the garden of his palace . In the early 1960's , Saud's palace was using 4,000 eggs , 200 chickens and 30 lambs daily . In 1964 , Saud was replaced by his younger brother , Faisal , who ruled for eleven years until he was assassinated by an irate nephew for non-political reasons , in 1975 . Khalid succeeded Faisal to the throne , and ruled from 1975 to 1982 .......... (MORE LATER) >>
Sunday, March 23, 2003
....the ' Emergency Powers Act' of September 1939 gave the new Free State justice Minister Gerry Boland powers to intern suspected members of the IRA and suspected republican sympathisers .
However , the 53 internees held in Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin had to be released in December 1939 when ' Part Six ' of the June 1939 'Offences Against the State Act' was found to be unconstitutional in the Free State High Court and , in an attempt to remedy that situation and to close -off what the Free Staters considered to be a 'loop-hole' in the legislation, the Fianna Fail administration used the excuse of the Magazine Fort raid , which took place just before Christmas 1939 , and the fatal shooting of a garda in Cork at the beginning of January 1940 , to justify the introduction of even more draconian legislation ~ in early January 1940 , the Free State administration rushed through the 'Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act 1940' giving them the power to intern without trial . Because of the "state of emergency" which existed , the new legislation could not be challenged in the courts !
Hundreds of republicans were arrested and interned in a new internment camp , ' Tin Town' , at the Curragh in County Kildare . Three detectives were shot in Dublin in August 1940 , two fatally, and the 'Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act' was altered with the right to appeal against the findings of the military tribunals removed . Within a month , Paddy McGrath and Tom Harte , who had been arrested in the raid in which the two detectives were killed , had been convicted and executed in Mountjoy Jail . Between the years 1940 and 1944 , a further four prisoners were to meet the same fate .......... (MORE LATER)>>
Saddam Hussein lives a life of luxury and , should he survive his present troubles , will no doubt continue to do so ; meanwhile , his people scratch an existence on rubbish-tips and hand-outs from Hussein's local gangsters ~it is a life-style which he probably picked-up from his near neighbours :
In Saudi Arabia , in 1946 , a mere $150,000 was spent on building schools , while $2Million was spent on the 'Royal' garage ! Ibn Saud , the first King and founder of today's Saudi Arabia , once turned down a request from his son Tallal to build a hospital , telling him to " do something useful instead" ....
In 1950 , the funds for development projects (roads , bridges etc) were held up so that the family could spend the money on a lavish simultaneous wedding for six of Ibn Saud's sons. Ibn Saud personally owned hundreds of slaves and has hundreds of wives who , between them , have given him 42 sons and , it is said , 125 daughters ! On a state visit to Egypt , he said ~ " This country is full of pretty women . I would like to buy some of them and take them back home . How about $100,000 worth of them ?" ....... (MORE LATER)..........
However , the 53 internees held in Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin had to be released in December 1939 when ' Part Six ' of the June 1939 'Offences Against the State Act' was found to be unconstitutional in the Free State High Court and , in an attempt to remedy that situation and to close -off what the Free Staters considered to be a 'loop-hole' in the legislation, the Fianna Fail administration used the excuse of the Magazine Fort raid , which took place just before Christmas 1939 , and the fatal shooting of a garda in Cork at the beginning of January 1940 , to justify the introduction of even more draconian legislation ~ in early January 1940 , the Free State administration rushed through the 'Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act 1940' giving them the power to intern without trial . Because of the "state of emergency" which existed , the new legislation could not be challenged in the courts !
Hundreds of republicans were arrested and interned in a new internment camp , ' Tin Town' , at the Curragh in County Kildare . Three detectives were shot in Dublin in August 1940 , two fatally, and the 'Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act' was altered with the right to appeal against the findings of the military tribunals removed . Within a month , Paddy McGrath and Tom Harte , who had been arrested in the raid in which the two detectives were killed , had been convicted and executed in Mountjoy Jail . Between the years 1940 and 1944 , a further four prisoners were to meet the same fate .......... (MORE LATER)>>
Saddam Hussein lives a life of luxury and , should he survive his present troubles , will no doubt continue to do so ; meanwhile , his people scratch an existence on rubbish-tips and hand-outs from Hussein's local gangsters ~it is a life-style which he probably picked-up from his near neighbours :
In Saudi Arabia , in 1946 , a mere $150,000 was spent on building schools , while $2Million was spent on the 'Royal' garage ! Ibn Saud , the first King and founder of today's Saudi Arabia , once turned down a request from his son Tallal to build a hospital , telling him to " do something useful instead" ....
In 1950 , the funds for development projects (roads , bridges etc) were held up so that the family could spend the money on a lavish simultaneous wedding for six of Ibn Saud's sons. Ibn Saud personally owned hundreds of slaves and has hundreds of wives who , between them , have given him 42 sons and , it is said , 125 daughters ! On a state visit to Egypt , he said ~ " This country is full of pretty women . I would like to buy some of them and take them back home . How about $100,000 worth of them ?" ....... (MORE LATER)..........
Saturday, March 22, 2003
In March 1932 , with the help of the IRA , De Valera's Fianna Fail party was voted into power in the Free State - it was a decision which not all IRA activists were to live to regret .......
.......the ' Treason Act ' was introduced by De Valera's administration in May 1939 ~ this called for the death penalty for what the Free Staters described as " acts of treason " (which , of course, those same Free Staters would know nothing about ....) but was not their triumph card - within weeks , an even more draconian piece of legislation which was to be used almost exclusively against republicans during the following decades was in place ; the ' Offences Against the State Act ' ( still operational today) allowed for imprisonment and internment without trial (Part Two of same) and gave the Leinster House administration the power to set up Special Military Courts . Over fifty republicans were quickly interned .
In August that same year (1939) the military courts were established and were to remain in operation until the end of the European war in 1945 . The following month ( after the outbreak of war in Europe) the Free Staters declared a " State of Emergency" (which stayed in place for 37 years , only to be replaced by an updated version , in 1976!) and passed 'The Emergency Powers Act' , which supplemented the ' Treason Act' and ' The Offences Against the State Act' ~ the 'EPA' gave the new Free State Justice Minister , Gerry Boland, powers to intern suspected members of the IRA and suspected republican sympathisers ...... (MORE LATER)>>
Until November 8th , 1988 , in the Six Counties, a suspect had an absolute right to remain silent while being questioned by the RUC, and at his/her 'trial' . On that date , an ' Order in Council' approved by the British House of Commons removed that right - in December 1993 , that same ' Order in Council' was extended to include Britain .
The British , like all colonisers, used a captive country and its population to ' field test ' new legislation before introducing same on what they referred to as the ' mainland' ; today , the British and their fellow war-mongers are testing new weapons in Iraq ~ tomorrow............ ?
.......the ' Treason Act ' was introduced by De Valera's administration in May 1939 ~ this called for the death penalty for what the Free Staters described as " acts of treason " (which , of course, those same Free Staters would know nothing about ....) but was not their triumph card - within weeks , an even more draconian piece of legislation which was to be used almost exclusively against republicans during the following decades was in place ; the ' Offences Against the State Act ' ( still operational today) allowed for imprisonment and internment without trial (Part Two of same) and gave the Leinster House administration the power to set up Special Military Courts . Over fifty republicans were quickly interned .
In August that same year (1939) the military courts were established and were to remain in operation until the end of the European war in 1945 . The following month ( after the outbreak of war in Europe) the Free Staters declared a " State of Emergency" (which stayed in place for 37 years , only to be replaced by an updated version , in 1976!) and passed 'The Emergency Powers Act' , which supplemented the ' Treason Act' and ' The Offences Against the State Act' ~ the 'EPA' gave the new Free State Justice Minister , Gerry Boland, powers to intern suspected members of the IRA and suspected republican sympathisers ...... (MORE LATER)>>
Until November 8th , 1988 , in the Six Counties, a suspect had an absolute right to remain silent while being questioned by the RUC, and at his/her 'trial' . On that date , an ' Order in Council' approved by the British House of Commons removed that right - in December 1993 , that same ' Order in Council' was extended to include Britain .
The British , like all colonisers, used a captive country and its population to ' field test ' new legislation before introducing same on what they referred to as the ' mainland' ; today , the British and their fellow war-mongers are testing new weapons in Iraq ~ tomorrow............ ?
Friday, March 21, 2003
...... the convoy in which the English viceroy Lord French was travelling was alerted to the IRA presence and did not slow down , as the road was only partly blocked ......
..... with the convoy now travelling at high speed and the British military escort with the convoy expecting a gun-battle , they were prepared when the IRA opened fire . The Volunteers concentrated their fire on the second car and hurled grenades and mills bombs in its direction . Fire was returned and a fierce gun battle took place , in which IRA Volunteer Martin Savage , 21 years of age, was fatally wounded by the machine-gun and rifle fire from the British Army escort ~ he had taken up position behind the cart with Dan Breen and Tom Kehoe .
The British military kept driving towards the Phoenix Park , leaving two wounded DMP men on the road - the Volunteers ignored them and instead carried Savage's body into Kellys Pub and then vacated the area , as they knew British re-inforcements were on the way .
After an inquest , Martin Savage's body was handed over to his relatives and he was buried with full military honours in his native Ballisodare , County Sligo .
Lord French lived through that December morning , partly due to the fact that he had been travelling in the first car , and remained as viceroy until after the Truce in July 1921 . He was rarely seen in public , and spent most of his time in England .
However , he was never allowed to forget the episode , as his sister was the prominent Irish Republican and feminist , Charlotte Despard ......
When he was President of the United Stated , Henry Kissinger was associated with the brutal coups in Chile and the secret bombing of Cambodia . If one studied what he meant by ' realpolitik' it becomes clear that his analysis and formulation of foreign policy ruthlessly excluded ethnic or moral considerations . He stated - " Ronald Reagan knew next to no history , and the little he did know he tailored to support his firmly held preconceptions " . ... the kettle calling the pot black !
Kissinger stated that the details of foreign policy bored Reagan , and that analysis of substantive issues was " not his forte" ~ he describede Reagan as " unintellectual " ....
When future generations look back on George W.Bush Junior's term(s) in Office , they might just be kind enough to quote John Dewey's verse , and leave it at that -
" Open-mindedness is not the same as empty-mindedness . To hang out a sign saying ' come right in; there is no one at home ' is not the equivalent of hospitality ".
..... with the convoy now travelling at high speed and the British military escort with the convoy expecting a gun-battle , they were prepared when the IRA opened fire . The Volunteers concentrated their fire on the second car and hurled grenades and mills bombs in its direction . Fire was returned and a fierce gun battle took place , in which IRA Volunteer Martin Savage , 21 years of age, was fatally wounded by the machine-gun and rifle fire from the British Army escort ~ he had taken up position behind the cart with Dan Breen and Tom Kehoe .
The British military kept driving towards the Phoenix Park , leaving two wounded DMP men on the road - the Volunteers ignored them and instead carried Savage's body into Kellys Pub and then vacated the area , as they knew British re-inforcements were on the way .
After an inquest , Martin Savage's body was handed over to his relatives and he was buried with full military honours in his native Ballisodare , County Sligo .
Lord French lived through that December morning , partly due to the fact that he had been travelling in the first car , and remained as viceroy until after the Truce in July 1921 . He was rarely seen in public , and spent most of his time in England .
However , he was never allowed to forget the episode , as his sister was the prominent Irish Republican and feminist , Charlotte Despard ......
When he was President of the United Stated , Henry Kissinger was associated with the brutal coups in Chile and the secret bombing of Cambodia . If one studied what he meant by ' realpolitik' it becomes clear that his analysis and formulation of foreign policy ruthlessly excluded ethnic or moral considerations . He stated - " Ronald Reagan knew next to no history , and the little he did know he tailored to support his firmly held preconceptions " . ... the kettle calling the pot black !
Kissinger stated that the details of foreign policy bored Reagan , and that analysis of substantive issues was " not his forte" ~ he describede Reagan as " unintellectual " ....
When future generations look back on George W.Bush Junior's term(s) in Office , they might just be kind enough to quote John Dewey's verse , and leave it at that -
" Open-mindedness is not the same as empty-mindedness . To hang out a sign saying ' come right in; there is no one at home ' is not the equivalent of hospitality ".
Thursday, March 20, 2003
The English viceroy in Ireland , Lord French , was on a train due to arrive at Ashtown railway station at 11.40am on December 19th , 1919 ; an IRA unit was waiting for him ........
Three of the eleven IRA volunteers pretended to be farm labourers and entered Kellys ' Halfway House' Pub at the crossroads , from where they had a good view of the main road which led in the direction of the Phoenix Park . The rest of the unit , armed with revolvers , mills bombs and grenades , took cover in the ditches along the road leading to the railway station . The three men in the pub were to place a cart across the narrow road leading from the station to the park-road in order that Frenchs' convoy would slow down as it approached the obstruction ; when this happened , the Volunteers in hiding at the side of the road were to open fire on the second vehicle in the convoy , as the IRA Intelligence Department had learned that it was that second car which would be carrying French .
When they heard the train arriving , the three Volunteers left the pub to block the road with the cart and had almost done so when they were challenged by a DMP Officer (British policeman) - the DMP man was fired on by one of the IRA men but the damage had been done ~
the delay meant that the road to the Park was only partly blocked and the convoy , alerted by the gunfire , now knew not to slow down . (MORE LATER)>>
....... only one per cent of the land of Belarus remained unscarred by radioactvity , which will stay in the soil for a mimimum of one thousand years . In a further offshoot of the disaster , it later emerged that large quantities of heroin reaching the United States drugs market came from the Chernobyl region , the product of over-large mutated poppies which were highly radioactive . The radioactivity came from Strontium-90 , which enters the bone tissue through dairy products and causes tumours and leukaemia ; Plutonium , taken into the blood system ; Caesium-137 , which the body mistakes for potassium and concentrates in the muscles ; and Iodine-131 , which concentrates in the thyroid glands which control growth .
Chernobyl was not done on purpose :
how far is Bush prepared to go in his quest for cheaper oil and a friendly puppet administration in an oil-rich country ?
how far will Hussein go to protect his ill-gotten empire and life of luxury ?
and how much will the rest of us pay for either man's decision ?
ADDENDUM to yesterdays apology ~
My guestbook (bottom of page) has been 'taken over' by ' Cathy and band ' and/or ' Leslie and Dakota ' ; don't know how or why : I don't even like rock'n roll (more of a 'jitter-bug' man meself....) So leave the guestbook alone for now .
Thanks , man.......
Three of the eleven IRA volunteers pretended to be farm labourers and entered Kellys ' Halfway House' Pub at the crossroads , from where they had a good view of the main road which led in the direction of the Phoenix Park . The rest of the unit , armed with revolvers , mills bombs and grenades , took cover in the ditches along the road leading to the railway station . The three men in the pub were to place a cart across the narrow road leading from the station to the park-road in order that Frenchs' convoy would slow down as it approached the obstruction ; when this happened , the Volunteers in hiding at the side of the road were to open fire on the second vehicle in the convoy , as the IRA Intelligence Department had learned that it was that second car which would be carrying French .
When they heard the train arriving , the three Volunteers left the pub to block the road with the cart and had almost done so when they were challenged by a DMP Officer (British policeman) - the DMP man was fired on by one of the IRA men but the damage had been done ~
the delay meant that the road to the Park was only partly blocked and the convoy , alerted by the gunfire , now knew not to slow down . (MORE LATER)>>
....... only one per cent of the land of Belarus remained unscarred by radioactvity , which will stay in the soil for a mimimum of one thousand years . In a further offshoot of the disaster , it later emerged that large quantities of heroin reaching the United States drugs market came from the Chernobyl region , the product of over-large mutated poppies which were highly radioactive . The radioactivity came from Strontium-90 , which enters the bone tissue through dairy products and causes tumours and leukaemia ; Plutonium , taken into the blood system ; Caesium-137 , which the body mistakes for potassium and concentrates in the muscles ; and Iodine-131 , which concentrates in the thyroid glands which control growth .
Chernobyl was not done on purpose :
how far is Bush prepared to go in his quest for cheaper oil and a friendly puppet administration in an oil-rich country ?
how far will Hussein go to protect his ill-gotten empire and life of luxury ?
and how much will the rest of us pay for either man's decision ?
ADDENDUM to yesterdays apology ~
My guestbook (bottom of page) has been 'taken over' by ' Cathy and band ' and/or ' Leslie and Dakota ' ; don't know how or why : I don't even like rock'n roll (more of a 'jitter-bug' man meself....) So leave the guestbook alone for now .
Thanks , man.......
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
[3/19/2003 6:40:29 PM | John Horan]
In 1919 , an IRA unit planned to assassinate the English viceroy in Ireland , Lord French :
This unit , led by Dan Breen and Sean Treacy , had established that French made his way from his residence in Dublin's Phoenix Park to attend 'official' functions in Dublin Castle in the city centre but was cautious enough to vary his route each trip - however , in early December 1919 , the IRA Intelligence Department received information on the English viceroy's proposed movement for a function to be held on the 19th of that month and the IRA unit set in train a plan to ambush him .
A few days before the 19th , it was reported in the media that French was in England on a week-long business trip , but the IRA were aware that he was actually at the family home at French Park in Roscommon ; they also knew that he was to return to Dublin by train to Ashtown Station on the 19th of December from where he would travel by road to the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park . On that date , the assassination plan was put into place ~ eleven Volunteers took up position near the railway station at Ashtown and waited for the train carrying French to arrive - it was due at 11.40am ........ (MORE LATER)>>
On April 26th , 1986 , 1,900 tonnes of highly radioactive uranium and graphite exploded : the people of Chernobyl and surrounding areas were exposed to radiation ninty times more intense than from the Hiroshima bombing . For those in the Republic of Belarus , immediately North of the border region where the reactor was located , the effects were , and remain, devastating ~
of the then 2.2 million population , over 70 per cent were contaminated by nuclear fallout . Only one per cent of the land of Belarus remained unscarred by radioactvity , which will stay in the soil for a minimum of one thousand years ........ (MORE LATER)>>
Apologies for the way this page has repeated itself in some posts in the last few days , but it appears to be out of my control ; within the last week I have had trouble in trying to even access the Blogger site itself , and major trouble in opening the ' Edit/Post and Publish' page of ' 1169....' ~ and now my posts are apparently being returned to me and sent out again and again and .....
It's probably just gremlins connected to the 'Google/Pyra Labs' issue , although I am aware that there are those 'out there' with a better knowledge of computers than me (I am an old dog trying to learn new tricks!) and better operating units than the petrol-driven system I have (thanks to my 14-years young son for that description......) .
However , I shall persist and , if the explanation for the trouble is not as simple as just gremlins somewhere in the new/changed Blogger network , then watch out , Big Brother -
you're gonna need to do more than you're doing now ........
(HOPEFULLY MORE LATER)>>
In 1919 , an IRA unit planned to assassinate the English viceroy in Ireland , Lord French :
This unit , led by Dan Breen and Sean Treacy , had established that French made his way from his residence in Dublin's Phoenix Park to attend 'official' functions in Dublin Castle in the city centre but was cautious enough to vary his route each trip - however , in early December 1919 , the IRA Intelligence Department received information on the English viceroy's proposed movement for a function to be held on the 19th of that month and the IRA unit set in train a plan to ambush him .
A few days before the 19th , it was reported in the media that French was in England on a week-long business trip , but the IRA were aware that he was actually at the family home at French Park in Roscommon ; they also knew that he was to return to Dublin by train to Ashtown Station on the 19th of December from where he would travel by road to the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park . On that date , the assassination plan was put into place ~ eleven Volunteers took up position near the railway station at Ashtown and waited for the train carrying French to arrive - it was due at 11.40am ........ (MORE LATER)>>
On April 26th , 1986 , 1,900 tonnes of highly radioactive uranium and graphite exploded : the people of Chernobyl and surrounding areas were exposed to radiation ninty times more intense than from the Hiroshima bombing . For those in the Republic of Belarus , immediately North of the border region where the reactor was located , the effects were , and remain, devastating ~
of the then 2.2 million population , over 70 per cent were contaminated by nuclear fallout . Only one per cent of the land of Belarus remained unscarred by radioactvity , which will stay in the soil for a minimum of one thousand years ........ (MORE LATER)>>
Apologies for the way this page has repeated itself in some posts in the last few days , but it appears to be out of my control ; within the last week I have had trouble in trying to even access the Blogger site itself , and major trouble in opening the ' Edit/Post and Publish' page of ' 1169....' ~ and now my posts are apparently being returned to me and sent out again and again and .....
It's probably just gremlins connected to the 'Google/Pyra Labs' issue , although I am aware that there are those 'out there' with a better knowledge of computers than me (I am an old dog trying to learn new tricks!) and better operating units than the petrol-driven system I have (thanks to my 14-years young son for that description......) .
However , I shall persist and , if the explanation for the trouble is not as simple as just gremlins somewhere in the new/changed Blogger network , then watch out , Big Brother -
you're gonna need to do more than you're doing now ........
(HOPEFULLY MORE LATER)>>
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
A number of attempts were made during the Tan War to assassinate the English viceroy in Ireland , Lord French : The English viceroy was a member of the French family from French Park in County Roscommon and , in 1874 , he began his career in the British Army . He was made a ' Viscount ' in 1915 for his services to the British Crown a year earlier as Commander of the British expeditionary force in France and , no doubt as a ' Thank You ' gesture to his employers , proposed that conscription be introduced in Ireland . At the height of the anti-conscription campaign in Ireland , French was promoted to Lord Lieutenant (May 1918) and immediately ordered the arrest of Irish Republicans ~ over 70 members of Sinn Fein and some IRA Volunteers were arrested within days and imprisoned in England . Not long after the Tan war began in January 1919 , Sir Neville Macready was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Ireland , having being recommended and proposed for the position by his friend , Lord French , who, under the ' Defence of The Realm Act ' awarded himself extensive powers with which to 'subdue the natives' . That same year (1919) IRA leaders Dan Breen and Sean Treacy were in charge of a group of IRA Volunteers who had been specially chosen to form Michael Collins' "hit squad" , and the two men decided to assassinate senior English government officials in Ireland ; it was felt that the publicity ensuing from such an assassination would generate worldwide interest in the Irish struggle and would make other British 'statesmen' think twice before using Ireland as a stepping-stone for their own career .......... (MORE LATER)>> William Craig was the British 'Home Affairs' Minister in the Six Counties when he stated ~ " When you have a Catholic majority you have a lesser standard of democracy " !! The same man banned the 1968 civil rights march - his comments and actions were obviously noted and approved by his superiors , as he was nominated by the British Government , in 1977, to a legal committee of the Council of Europe where he was assigned the task of reporting on human-rights legislation ! The words 'fox' and 'hen-house' spring to mind ......
Monday, March 17, 2003
The Four Courts garrison surrendered on June 30th , 1922 , after two days bombardment by the British-armed Free State forces ; Dick Barrett and over 100 other republicans were arrested and imprisoned in Mountjoy jail in Dublin where , over the next few months, they planned future republican policy and actions .
Sean Hales , a Free State deputy ( Leinster House member) was assassinated in Dublin on December 7th , 1922 , and his companion Padraic O Maille , deputy speaker of the Free State parliament , was seriously injured . ~ the reaction of the administration was swift and ruthless:
it was agreed to execute four of the republican prisoners being held without charge or trial in Mountjoy jail. The following morning , December 8th , 1922, at dawn, Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were summarily executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail .
The Free State declared that the four men were executed - ".... as a reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Sean Hales and as a solemn warning to those who are associated with them who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people " .
The four men were the first of the Free State administration's executions of it's former comrades ~
but the struggle continued .....
After signing the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty , Garret Fitzgerald (Fine Gael Taoiseach at the time) told Leinster House that it was "the first clear affirmation in any binding Anglo-Irish agreement since 1921 that Britain had no interest in the continuing division of this island " ~ however , to his embarrassment , in addressing the House of Commons one week later , the then British P M , Margaret Thatcher , stated ~" Far from representing any threat to the Union of Northern Ireland(sic) with the U K , the agreement reinforces the Union " .
Some of the Irish claimed it was a "Brits Out" treaty , while the Brits claimed it re-inforced their jurisdictional claim in this country ~ and the whole thing was run again 13 years later with a new name !
Sean Hales , a Free State deputy ( Leinster House member) was assassinated in Dublin on December 7th , 1922 , and his companion Padraic O Maille , deputy speaker of the Free State parliament , was seriously injured . ~ the reaction of the administration was swift and ruthless:
it was agreed to execute four of the republican prisoners being held without charge or trial in Mountjoy jail. The following morning , December 8th , 1922, at dawn, Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were summarily executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail .
The Free State declared that the four men were executed - ".... as a reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Sean Hales and as a solemn warning to those who are associated with them who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people " .
The four men were the first of the Free State administration's executions of it's former comrades ~
but the struggle continued .....
After signing the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty , Garret Fitzgerald (Fine Gael Taoiseach at the time) told Leinster House that it was "the first clear affirmation in any binding Anglo-Irish agreement since 1921 that Britain had no interest in the continuing division of this island " ~ however , to his embarrassment , in addressing the House of Commons one week later , the then British P M , Margaret Thatcher , stated ~" Far from representing any threat to the Union of Northern Ireland(sic) with the U K , the agreement reinforces the Union " .
Some of the Irish claimed it was a "Brits Out" treaty , while the Brits claimed it re-inforced their jurisdictional claim in this country ~ and the whole thing was run again 13 years later with a new name !
The Four Courts garrison surrendered on June 30th , 1922 , after two days bombardment by the British-armed Free State forces ; Dick Barrett and over 100 other republicans were arrested and imprisoned in Mountjoy jail in Dublin where , over the next few months, they planned future republican policy and actions .
Sean Hales , a Free State deputy ( Leinster House member) was assassinated in Dublin on December 7th , 1922 , and his companion Padraic O Maille , deputy speaker of the Free State parliament , was seriously injured . ~ the reaction of the administration was swift and ruthless:
it was agreed to execute four of the republican prisoners being held without charge or trial in Mountjoy jail. The following morning , December 8th , 1922, at dawn, Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were summarily executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail .
The Free State declared that the four men were executed - ".... as a reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Sean Hales and as a solemn warning to those who are associated with them who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people " .
The four men were the first of the Free State administration's executions of it's former comrades ~
but the struggle continued .....
After signing the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty , Garret Fitzgerald (Fine Gael Taoiseach at the time) told Leinster House that it was "the first clear affirmation in any binding Anglo-Irish agreement since 1921 that Britain had no interest in the continuing division of this island " ~ however , to his embarrassment , in addressing the House of Commons one week later , the then British P M , Margaret Thatcher , stated ~" Far from representing any threat to the Union of Northern Ireland(sic) with the U K , the agreement reinforces the Union " .
Some of the Irish claimed it was a "Brits Out" treaty , while the Brits claimed it re-inforced their jurisdictional claim in this country ~ and the whole thing was run again 13 years later with a new name !
Sean Hales , a Free State deputy ( Leinster House member) was assassinated in Dublin on December 7th , 1922 , and his companion Padraic O Maille , deputy speaker of the Free State parliament , was seriously injured . ~ the reaction of the administration was swift and ruthless:
it was agreed to execute four of the republican prisoners being held without charge or trial in Mountjoy jail. The following morning , December 8th , 1922, at dawn, Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were summarily executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail .
The Free State declared that the four men were executed - ".... as a reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Sean Hales and as a solemn warning to those who are associated with them who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people " .
The four men were the first of the Free State administration's executions of it's former comrades ~
but the struggle continued .....
After signing the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty , Garret Fitzgerald (Fine Gael Taoiseach at the time) told Leinster House that it was "the first clear affirmation in any binding Anglo-Irish agreement since 1921 that Britain had no interest in the continuing division of this island " ~ however , to his embarrassment , in addressing the House of Commons one week later , the then British P M , Margaret Thatcher , stated ~" Far from representing any threat to the Union of Northern Ireland(sic) with the U K , the agreement reinforces the Union " .
Some of the Irish claimed it was a "Brits Out" treaty , while the Brits claimed it re-inforced their jurisdictional claim in this country ~ and the whole thing was run again 13 years later with a new name !
The Four Courts garrison surrendered on June 30th , 1922 , after two days bombardment by the British-armed Free State forces ; Dick Barrett and over 100 other republicans were arrested and imprisoned in Mountjoy jail in Dublin where , over the next few months, they planned future republican policy and actions .
Sean Hales , a Free State deputy ( Leinster House member) was assassinated in Dublin on December 7th , 1922 , and his companion Padraic O Maille , deputy speaker of the Free State parliament , was seriously injured . ~ the reaction of the administration was swift and ruthless:
it was agreed to execute four of the republican prisoners being held without charge or trial in Mountjoy jail. The following morning , December 8th , 1922, at dawn, Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were summarily executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail .
The Free State declared that the four men were executed - ".... as a reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Sean Hales and as a solemn warning to those who are associated with them who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people " .
The four men were the first of the Free State administration's executions of it's former comrades ~
but the struggle continued .....
After signing the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty , Garret Fitzgerald (Fine Gael Taoiseach at the time) told Leinster House that it was "the first clear affirmation in any binding Anglo-Irish agreement since 1921 that Britain had no interest in the continuing division of this island " ~ however , to his embarrassment , in addressing the House of Commons one week later , the then British P M , Margaret Thatcher , stated ~" Far from representing any threat to the Union of Northern Ireland(sic) with the U K , the agreement reinforces the Union " .
Some of the Irish claimed it was a "Brits Out" treaty , while the Brits claimed it re-inforced their jurisdictional claim in this country ~ and the whole thing was run again 13 years later with a new name !
Sean Hales , a Free State deputy ( Leinster House member) was assassinated in Dublin on December 7th , 1922 , and his companion Padraic O Maille , deputy speaker of the Free State parliament , was seriously injured . ~ the reaction of the administration was swift and ruthless:
it was agreed to execute four of the republican prisoners being held without charge or trial in Mountjoy jail. The following morning , December 8th , 1922, at dawn, Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were summarily executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail .
The Free State declared that the four men were executed - ".... as a reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Sean Hales and as a solemn warning to those who are associated with them who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people " .
The four men were the first of the Free State administration's executions of it's former comrades ~
but the struggle continued .....
After signing the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty , Garret Fitzgerald (Fine Gael Taoiseach at the time) told Leinster House that it was "the first clear affirmation in any binding Anglo-Irish agreement since 1921 that Britain had no interest in the continuing division of this island " ~ however , to his embarrassment , in addressing the House of Commons one week later , the then British P M , Margaret Thatcher , stated ~" Far from representing any threat to the Union of Northern Ireland(sic) with the U K , the agreement reinforces the Union " .
Some of the Irish claimed it was a "Brits Out" treaty , while the Brits claimed it re-inforced their jurisdictional claim in this country ~ and the whole thing was run again 13 years later with a new name !
Sunday, March 16, 2003
On December 8th, 1922 , Dick Barrett , Rory O'Connor , Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey were executed by firing squad in the yard of Mountjoy jail in Dublin .
The executions took place at the height of the Civil War and aroused revulsion and anger at home and abroad. Dick Barrett was born at Hollyhill, Ballineen , County Cork during the 1890's , and was educated at the local national school and later qualified as a teacher . He was an IRA Brigade Staff Officer and occasionally acted as Brigade Commandant of the West Cork Brigade during the Tan War 1919 - 1921 .
He continued his teaching job despite being heavily involved in IRA operations , as this helped him to avoid British suspicion . Barrett also managed to organise fund-raising activities for comrades 'on-the-run' . In 1920 he was appointed Quartermaster of the West Cork Brigade ;
after the Crossbarry ambush ( in which a company of over 100 IRA Volunteers ambushed nine lorries of British troops and killed a large number of them ) Dick Barrett was arrested (March 1921) and imprisoned in Cork jail and later on Spike Island , off the Cork coast .
He rejected the Treaty of December 1921 and played a leading part in the establishment of the republican headquarters in the Four Courts in Dublin , in April 1922 ; on June 28th that year , the Four Courts were attacked by Free State forces armed , in part , by the British ....... (MORE LATER)..
In an attack on partition in March 1941 , a Cardinal McRory , in writing to a Colonel Donovan ( U S President Roosevelt's representative , I think) described the Irish situation as existing because of partition - " The whole miserable state of affairs rises from an un-natural division of a natural unit . Being artificial , partition can be upheld only by unjust measures , of which the incitement of religious bigotry and sectarian prejudice has a main place " .
It would be a pleasure to listen to a sermon like that any day in Church , but it won't happen ~ the Catholic Church in this country , while not as powerful as it once was , has fixed itself firmly to the coat-tails of the Establishment and abides by the same rules and regulations as the political ' elite' etc .
When the Establishment changes , so will the Church ......
The executions took place at the height of the Civil War and aroused revulsion and anger at home and abroad. Dick Barrett was born at Hollyhill, Ballineen , County Cork during the 1890's , and was educated at the local national school and later qualified as a teacher . He was an IRA Brigade Staff Officer and occasionally acted as Brigade Commandant of the West Cork Brigade during the Tan War 1919 - 1921 .
He continued his teaching job despite being heavily involved in IRA operations , as this helped him to avoid British suspicion . Barrett also managed to organise fund-raising activities for comrades 'on-the-run' . In 1920 he was appointed Quartermaster of the West Cork Brigade ;
after the Crossbarry ambush ( in which a company of over 100 IRA Volunteers ambushed nine lorries of British troops and killed a large number of them ) Dick Barrett was arrested (March 1921) and imprisoned in Cork jail and later on Spike Island , off the Cork coast .
He rejected the Treaty of December 1921 and played a leading part in the establishment of the republican headquarters in the Four Courts in Dublin , in April 1922 ; on June 28th that year , the Four Courts were attacked by Free State forces armed , in part , by the British ....... (MORE LATER)..
In an attack on partition in March 1941 , a Cardinal McRory , in writing to a Colonel Donovan ( U S President Roosevelt's representative , I think) described the Irish situation as existing because of partition - " The whole miserable state of affairs rises from an un-natural division of a natural unit . Being artificial , partition can be upheld only by unjust measures , of which the incitement of religious bigotry and sectarian prejudice has a main place " .
It would be a pleasure to listen to a sermon like that any day in Church , but it won't happen ~ the Catholic Church in this country , while not as powerful as it once was , has fixed itself firmly to the coat-tails of the Establishment and abides by the same rules and regulations as the political ' elite' etc .
When the Establishment changes , so will the Church ......
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Returning to Cork after her release , Mary MacSwiney virtually ran the republican headquarters in the city, but had to leave Cork in a hurry as the Free Staters were looking for her . She was arrested in Dublin on November 4th that year (1922) and was imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail - she immediately went on hunger-strike for release and was eventually freed on the 25th day of her fast , due to the huge international publicity her case received .
She was elected to the Executive of Cumann na mBan in 1926 and , in October that same year, was also elected as Vice-President of Sinn Fein at that organisations Ard Fheis , which was held six months after the split with de Valera . Along with other prominent republicans, including Brian O'Higgins , she resigned from the party in 1934 over the decision of Sinn Fein to allow members to receive IRA pensions from the new Fianna Fail administration .
( There can be no doubt of how she would react to the salaries , offices, perks and holiday-homes that the Adams Family are in receipt of , and not only from the Free State....)
Mary MacSwiney was one of the last surviving loyal members of the Second Dail who transferred their authority to the Army Council of the IRA in December 1938 .
She supported the IRA bombing campaign in England but poor health prevented her from playing her usual active part in the Movement.
Mary MacSwiney died in March 1942 , at 70 years of age, thirty-four of which she devoted to socialism and republicanism - the MacSwiney name will live on as part of the Irish struggle.
" Occasionally , I'm afraid , something has gone wrong, a bomb has landed in the wrong place " ~ British commander General Sir Peter de la Billiere , on civilian casualties in the 1990 Gulf War. ( You mean the damn civvies were in the wrong place , eh, Peter...?)
" Warfare is not that precise a business " ~ U S Commander in the Gulf War , Norman Scwarzkopf . (Translation= ' The bombs may be smart , but we're not ')
" It is difficult to look at the ground and tell what a civilian target is and what a military target is " ~ Lt. General Thomas Kelly , Operations Director of the U S Joint Chiefs of Staff .
( Translation= 'The bombs may be ...............................).
(Above three quotes taken from page 40 of ' The Sunday Tribune' , February 10th , 1991) .
She was elected to the Executive of Cumann na mBan in 1926 and , in October that same year, was also elected as Vice-President of Sinn Fein at that organisations Ard Fheis , which was held six months after the split with de Valera . Along with other prominent republicans, including Brian O'Higgins , she resigned from the party in 1934 over the decision of Sinn Fein to allow members to receive IRA pensions from the new Fianna Fail administration .
( There can be no doubt of how she would react to the salaries , offices, perks and holiday-homes that the Adams Family are in receipt of , and not only from the Free State....)
Mary MacSwiney was one of the last surviving loyal members of the Second Dail who transferred their authority to the Army Council of the IRA in December 1938 .
She supported the IRA bombing campaign in England but poor health prevented her from playing her usual active part in the Movement.
Mary MacSwiney died in March 1942 , at 70 years of age, thirty-four of which she devoted to socialism and republicanism - the MacSwiney name will live on as part of the Irish struggle.
" Occasionally , I'm afraid , something has gone wrong, a bomb has landed in the wrong place " ~ British commander General Sir Peter de la Billiere , on civilian casualties in the 1990 Gulf War. ( You mean the damn civvies were in the wrong place , eh, Peter...?)
" Warfare is not that precise a business " ~ U S Commander in the Gulf War , Norman Scwarzkopf . (Translation= ' The bombs may be smart , but we're not ')
" It is difficult to look at the ground and tell what a civilian target is and what a military target is " ~ Lt. General Thomas Kelly , Operations Director of the U S Joint Chiefs of Staff .
( Translation= 'The bombs may be ...............................).
(Above three quotes taken from page 40 of ' The Sunday Tribune' , February 10th , 1991) .
Friday, March 14, 2003
In 1917 , Mary MacSwiney joined Sinn Fein following the adoption by the party of a more republican separatist policy . Following the death of her brother Terence , who died on hunger-strike in October 1920 (at the height of the Tan War) Mary MacSwiney visited America and gave evidence before the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland regarding the campaign of terror being waged against all sections of the nationalist population by the British forces of occupation .
Elections to the Second Dail were held in May 1921 , and Mary MacSwiney was elected a TD for Cork ; in December that year she spoke in opposition to the Treaty which she described as " the grossest act of betrayal that Ireland ever endured " and stated that if the Treaty was passed she would use her influence as a teacher to spread rebellion against the proposed Free State .
In the Civil War that followed , Mary MacSwiney was a formidable and unyielding opponent of the Free State and made no secret of her support for the republican side . She was imprisoned for a brief period in July 1922 , following the surrender of the Four Courts garrison in Dublin . Returning to Cork after her release ...... (MORE LATER)>>
This month , in 1976 , the first appeal for the ' Birmingham Six' was held under Judges Widgery , Lawton and Thompson . These three judges found that the ' forensic tests' used to convict the men were not "of great importance" ( ! ) ~ however , only a year earlier , Judge Nigel Bridge ruled that the tests were one of the two " absolutely critical " parts of the prosecution case .
Widgery and his two buddies gave those that cared to listen a taste of what was to come .....
The Austrian journalist , Guenther Nenning , claimed that Hitler could have been stopped by political means , or at least by minimal force if used in time : he could have been stopped if democratic parties had united against him , if the French had blocked the re-occupation of the Rhineland , or if the 'Allies' had stood up for Austria or launched an offensive in 1939 when Hitler had his hands full with Poland .
Will our children look back and say " Hussein could have been stopped by political means if only ..." ?
Elections to the Second Dail were held in May 1921 , and Mary MacSwiney was elected a TD for Cork ; in December that year she spoke in opposition to the Treaty which she described as " the grossest act of betrayal that Ireland ever endured " and stated that if the Treaty was passed she would use her influence as a teacher to spread rebellion against the proposed Free State .
In the Civil War that followed , Mary MacSwiney was a formidable and unyielding opponent of the Free State and made no secret of her support for the republican side . She was imprisoned for a brief period in July 1922 , following the surrender of the Four Courts garrison in Dublin . Returning to Cork after her release ...... (MORE LATER)>>
This month , in 1976 , the first appeal for the ' Birmingham Six' was held under Judges Widgery , Lawton and Thompson . These three judges found that the ' forensic tests' used to convict the men were not "of great importance" ( ! ) ~ however , only a year earlier , Judge Nigel Bridge ruled that the tests were one of the two " absolutely critical " parts of the prosecution case .
Widgery and his two buddies gave those that cared to listen a taste of what was to come .....
The Austrian journalist , Guenther Nenning , claimed that Hitler could have been stopped by political means , or at least by minimal force if used in time : he could have been stopped if democratic parties had united against him , if the French had blocked the re-occupation of the Rhineland , or if the 'Allies' had stood up for Austria or launched an offensive in 1939 when Hitler had his hands full with Poland .
Will our children look back and say " Hussein could have been stopped by political means if only ..." ?
Thursday, March 13, 2003
On March 27th , 1872 , a baby girl was born in London , was moved to County Cork and reared and educated there , at Queens College : that baby was Mary MacSwiney , who grew up to be an uncompromising republican and one of the most outstanding republican personalities of the 1920's and 1930's .
The young Mary MacSwiney trained as a teacher and returned to London for work until a suitable post was available in Dublin . A supporter of the suffragette movement , she joined the Munster Womens Franchise League (MWFL) in 1908 and , during the following years, campaigned for the franchise to be extended to women . She left the MWFL in 1914 as a result of that organisations support for Britain in the first ' World War' . After its formation in April 1914 , Mary MacSwiney joined Cumann na mBan and was appointed to its Executive Committee ; at the same time , she was a member of a number of other Nationalist organisations , including the Gaelic League .
After the 1916 Rising , she was arrested and imprisoned , and was dismissed from her teaching post ; after her release some months later , she founded a school , St Ita's , modelled on Padraig Pearse's school , St Enda's . Her sister Eithne and her brother Terence were also involved in the setting-up of the school . In 1917 , Mary MacSwiney joined Sinn Fein ...(MORE LATER)>>
A United States General , Norman Schwarzkopf , made his name in the 1990 Gulf War ("Stormin' Norman") ~
His father , a former New Jersey detective who rose to the rank of General in the U S Military Police in the 1940's , helped put the Shah of Iran on his throne and trained the Shah's police forces in the fine art of keeping a despot in power . The Shah's secret police , the ' Savak' , tortured and killed hundreds of opponents while Iran functioned as the U S's closet ally in the Gulf , policing the oil-rich region for a quarter century before the Shah was toppled in 1979 by his own people .
The U S magazine ' Newsweek' reported that Stormin' Norman wanted to start the Gulf War by exploding a nuclear device over Iraq , but Bush Senior would not allow it !
( " Aww go on , George- just a small one......)
The bould Norman stated on the last day of the war that " there is a lot more purpose to this war that getting the Iraqi's out of Kuwait" , but did not elaborate.
The war ended on February 28th , 1991 - 210 days after the invasion and 43 days after Bush Senior ordered military action " to liberate Kuwait" : on that same Thursday , the first full day of ' freedom' in Kuwait , an opposition leader was gunned down by masked men " unbothered by Kuwait Army patrols "--
lawyer Hamed Al-Jouaan had been an outspoken critic of the Sabah(ruling) family .
How many more critics of the establishment will die this time , and which U S Army 'hard-man' will make his name on the strength of those killed ?
The young Mary MacSwiney trained as a teacher and returned to London for work until a suitable post was available in Dublin . A supporter of the suffragette movement , she joined the Munster Womens Franchise League (MWFL) in 1908 and , during the following years, campaigned for the franchise to be extended to women . She left the MWFL in 1914 as a result of that organisations support for Britain in the first ' World War' . After its formation in April 1914 , Mary MacSwiney joined Cumann na mBan and was appointed to its Executive Committee ; at the same time , she was a member of a number of other Nationalist organisations , including the Gaelic League .
After the 1916 Rising , she was arrested and imprisoned , and was dismissed from her teaching post ; after her release some months later , she founded a school , St Ita's , modelled on Padraig Pearse's school , St Enda's . Her sister Eithne and her brother Terence were also involved in the setting-up of the school . In 1917 , Mary MacSwiney joined Sinn Fein ...(MORE LATER)>>
A United States General , Norman Schwarzkopf , made his name in the 1990 Gulf War ("Stormin' Norman") ~
His father , a former New Jersey detective who rose to the rank of General in the U S Military Police in the 1940's , helped put the Shah of Iran on his throne and trained the Shah's police forces in the fine art of keeping a despot in power . The Shah's secret police , the ' Savak' , tortured and killed hundreds of opponents while Iran functioned as the U S's closet ally in the Gulf , policing the oil-rich region for a quarter century before the Shah was toppled in 1979 by his own people .
The U S magazine ' Newsweek' reported that Stormin' Norman wanted to start the Gulf War by exploding a nuclear device over Iraq , but Bush Senior would not allow it !
( " Aww go on , George- just a small one......)
The bould Norman stated on the last day of the war that " there is a lot more purpose to this war that getting the Iraqi's out of Kuwait" , but did not elaborate.
The war ended on February 28th , 1991 - 210 days after the invasion and 43 days after Bush Senior ordered military action " to liberate Kuwait" : on that same Thursday , the first full day of ' freedom' in Kuwait , an opposition leader was gunned down by masked men " unbothered by Kuwait Army patrols "--
lawyer Hamed Al-Jouaan had been an outspoken critic of the Sabah(ruling) family .
How many more critics of the establishment will die this time , and which U S Army 'hard-man' will make his name on the strength of those killed ?
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
...it was agreed to commence the ' S-Plan ' campaign in January 1939 and to stage 'tester' attacks along the border before the January deadline ~ on November 28th ad 29th , 1938, a number of British customs posts along the border were demolished but , on the eve of the attacks, three IRA Volunteers-Jimmy Joe Reynolds(Leitrim) , John James Kelly(Donegal) and Charlie McCafferty(Tyrone) were killed when a mine exploded prematurely in a house at Castlefin , County Donegal .
In late December the Stormont regime introduced internment but many of the northern leaders escaped arrest. Also , that same month, Sean Russell announced in the ' Wolfe Tone Weekly ' that Count Plunkett , J J O'Kelly('Scelig') , Mary MacSwiney , Brian O'Higgins , Cathal O'Murchadha , Tom Maguire and Professor William Stockley , the last surviving faithful members of the Second Dail Eireann elected in 1921 and usurped by the Treaty of Surrender , had transferred their authority as the legitimate government of Ireland to the Army Council of the IRA . This was to be held in trust for the nation making the Army Council the de jure government of the Irish Republic and thereby giving the IRA the right to use force and levy war . The surviving members of the Second Dail Eireann signed over their authority to the IRA Army Council on December 8th , 1938 ~ thirty-one years later , in 1969 , the IRA split and the last and still faithful survivor of the All-Ireland Dail stated that the Provisional IRA was the successor of the 1938 body ; similarly , following the 1986 division , Tom Maguire nominated the Continuity IRA as the legitimate IRA . Comdt. General Tom Maguire died in 1993 , aged 101 .
The PIRA has existed since 1986 as the military wing of a Leinster House-registered political party - if they return to their military campaign it will only be to obtain better conditions from the British ie a better Stormont ! Not " Brits Out " anymore ~ the slogan now is " stay if you want just treat us better" . It was never about that - never about so-called ' civil rights' only .......
" In front of us a curious figure was standing , a little crouched, legs straggled , arms held out from his sides . He had no eyes and his whole body , nearly all of which was visible through tatters of burnt rags, was covered with a hard black crust , speckled with yellow pus . He had to stand because he was no longer covered with a skin , but with a crust-like crackling which broke easily " ----
Journalist Rene Cutforth , describing his first sighting of a Napalm victim in Korea .
That was then , this is now ~ how have the military ' improved ' their chemical weapons.... ?
In late December the Stormont regime introduced internment but many of the northern leaders escaped arrest. Also , that same month, Sean Russell announced in the ' Wolfe Tone Weekly ' that Count Plunkett , J J O'Kelly('Scelig') , Mary MacSwiney , Brian O'Higgins , Cathal O'Murchadha , Tom Maguire and Professor William Stockley , the last surviving faithful members of the Second Dail Eireann elected in 1921 and usurped by the Treaty of Surrender , had transferred their authority as the legitimate government of Ireland to the Army Council of the IRA . This was to be held in trust for the nation making the Army Council the de jure government of the Irish Republic and thereby giving the IRA the right to use force and levy war . The surviving members of the Second Dail Eireann signed over their authority to the IRA Army Council on December 8th , 1938 ~ thirty-one years later , in 1969 , the IRA split and the last and still faithful survivor of the All-Ireland Dail stated that the Provisional IRA was the successor of the 1938 body ; similarly , following the 1986 division , Tom Maguire nominated the Continuity IRA as the legitimate IRA . Comdt. General Tom Maguire died in 1993 , aged 101 .
The PIRA has existed since 1986 as the military wing of a Leinster House-registered political party - if they return to their military campaign it will only be to obtain better conditions from the British ie a better Stormont ! Not " Brits Out " anymore ~ the slogan now is " stay if you want just treat us better" . It was never about that - never about so-called ' civil rights' only .......
" In front of us a curious figure was standing , a little crouched, legs straggled , arms held out from his sides . He had no eyes and his whole body , nearly all of which was visible through tatters of burnt rags, was covered with a hard black crust , speckled with yellow pus . He had to stand because he was no longer covered with a skin , but with a crust-like crackling which broke easily " ----
Journalist Rene Cutforth , describing his first sighting of a Napalm victim in Korea .
That was then , this is now ~ how have the military ' improved ' their chemical weapons.... ?
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