Martin Ingram is a former military intelligence officer with the secret
British Army outfit the Force Research Unit. During his time in the forces
he served in Northern Ireland and co-handled a number of spies inside the
Provisional IRA.
It never ceases to amaze me how unionists react when there is talk of
inquiries into the injustices of the past.
Before you know it there are the usual questions about 'their'victims in
what has become known as the Troubles.
I would agree. What about 'their' victims?
I don't believe that it is any coincidence that more than 1,800 murders
carried out in Northern Ireland and elsewhere remain unsolved.
Perhaps it is because paramilitary organisations were so riddled with
informants that to pursue the killers would have led to the detention of
state agents.
It is now clear from the Cory Reports published this week that the very top
of the security force apparatus DID put the lives of agents above those of
ordinary citizens.
Take, for example, two of the cases.
Firstly the threats to the life of the solicitor Patrick Finucane, one of
which was a full eight years before his murder. Mr Finucane, Cory
discovered, was never warned of those threats because 'it was decided that
no action be taken because intervention would compromise the security of
the agent' (see Page 60 of the Report).
Furthermore, the Security Service decided not to act on information
received in December 1988 - presumably either informant Tommy Lyttle or
Brian Nelson - that Mr Finucane was again a very real target. This does not
surprise me.
There is also the case of the LVF leader Billy Wright. It seems to me that
the security services had on their payroll a leading member of the Irish
National Liberation Army who warned his handlers that Wright was a definite
target.
Cory's conclusions on the prison service and senior NIO officials is
damning.
Some important material has been redacted from the report, but any fair
reading of it would indicate that information on this threat was withheld
to protect the role of that agent.
It is now four years since I gave evidence to the Stevens Inquiry about
what happened in the Finucane case.
That the British Government has effectively put another delay on the airing
of the truth of the case is no suprise to me.
I withdrew cooperation from Stevens because I believed then, and I believe
now, that the British Government is only interested in vehicles of delay.
The latest excuse is the ongoing criminal case involving a former UDA
member who has been accused of the killing.
Should that case go to Appeal, there will be more delays. The Secretary of
State ominously also refers to prosecutions, in the plural.
This opens the scenario of someone else being charged in relation to Mr
Finucane's murder at some future unspecified date.
It may be no coincidence that Ken Barrett, the man currently charged with
the murder, was moved to a prison in England last Thursday on the day the
reports were released.
Has Ken decided to tell all on those with him in the death squad that
killed Mr Finucane?
He has been offered deals in the past by the Stevens team. Perhaps there
is another one on the table. Perhaps there will be more prosecutions.
The British government has in essence put off a proper inquiry into the
Finucane murder until well into the reign of the next government.
Should the Tories win - and the opinion polls show that they are closing in
on the Blair administration - the Finucane family had better prepare
themselves for an inquiry never taking place.
Remember, the murder took place when the Conservatives were last in
government.
Pat Finucane never stood a chance. We make that clear in the Stakeknife
book. The FRU described him as 'PIRA' as did senior police officers at the
highest levels, as did Box 500, the Security Service.
Most of those involved in the actual killing were working for one or other
branches of the security forces.
In essence the State let him die and now 15 years on the State will do
everything in its considerable powers to make sure the truth of what
happened is never aired in a public inquiry.
For the record, Patrick Finucane was NOT a member of PIRA.
There were three terrorists involved in the Troubles - loyalist and
republican and state. Freddie Scappaticci was a 'republican' but he was a
state-sponsored terrorist.
To unionists I say this - if you had a loved one murdered and no-one was
caught for killing your loved one, then you should follow the dignified
lead of the Finucane family. Demand answers.
Ask Special Branch if any of your relatives' killers were working for the
State.
I'm afraid that many of you may find that your loved ones were 'sacrifices'
to save other lives.
Finally, to David Trimble and his cheerleading blinkered newspaper
columnists, it is time you stopped duping the unionist people of Northern
Ireland by trying to out-do the DUP.
All killings in the Troubles were controversial.
All those who don't have answers should be given them.
But in order to get answers you must start asking the questions of those
ultimately responsible. To sit back, wave the Union flag and refuse to take
on those with the answers is no future at all.
