The early indications are that national security is going to be the shield
behind which the British government is going to hide the truth behind the
murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Human rights organisation Amnesty
International has already warned that the government look set to put
national security ahead of public interest. No doubt the prominence of the
former over the latter will be used to stop the truth coming out.
The Finucane family have been struggling ever since the appalling murder of
Pat in February 1989 to get at the truth of who was behind the murder. Three
investigations by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens over a
14 year period resulted in the eventual charging of former Loyalist
paramilitary Ken Barrett for the murder. A further 20 individuals have been
recommended for prosecution by Sir John but whether any of them will now
ever see the inside of a court room seems doubtful.
The Finucane family grew tired of Sir John's efforts some time ago. They
seemed to be going nowhere and following the time honoured damage limitation
methods of the British state, namely to buy time and convict the expendible
low level operatives while diverting attention from those further up the
chain of command who gave the orders. The conviction of Ken Barrett,
particulary if he turns out to be the only conviction fits well into this
modus operandi.
The British state has been particularly keen to avoid any deep probe into
the Finucane murder because of the number of security agencies involved and
how far the collusive lines lead up into government. MI5, the army and
police are all implicated at some level in the murder or its cover up. In
terms of the politicians only former Conservative Home Office
minister Douglas Hogg has so far been publically rebuked over his comments
three weeks before Finucane's murder to the effect that some solicitors in
Northern Ireland are "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA. His comments came
after a briefing from senior RUC officers. Sir John has described Hogg as
"compromised" by this comment. Hogg has never admitted any responsibility or
even apologised for the comments. But how much higher did it go? Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher was known to take a personal interest in Northern
Ireland affairs, so how much did she know about the murder and when?
The implications are that if the policy of collusion was not sanctioned by
senior politicians then it must have been a policy implemented by the
security services operating beyond their political masters. Either
conclusion will be grave news for democracy in the UK but it will only be by
getting to the bottom of what has gone on that a line can be drawn under it
and measures can be put in place to ensure that it never happens again.
There are many who believe that a proper public inquiry into the murder of
Finucane will help shine a light into the web that is collusion in Northern
Ireland. There was concern from the Finucane family and supporters at the
time that the appointment in 2001 of Canadian Judge Peter Cory to
investigate the murder of Pat and six others on either side of the border
was simply another delaying tactic. In the event, Judge Cory did a good job
sticking to the timetable set and coming up with comprehensive reports that
recommended public inquiries in all but one of the cases. It was Judge Cory
who came out publically and said he could not see why a public inquiry into
the death of Finucane was being delayed in order that criminal trials could
be completed relating to the Stevens investigation. The fact that the
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has changed course now, ordering an inquiry
while there are still a possible 20 prosecutions pending has raised
suspicions among many.
What the intervention of Judge Cory really has underlined is the importance
of an open transparent internationally led investigation into the murder of
Pat Finucane. It can only be an adequately resourced internationally led
inquiry that can get anywhere near to the full truth of the collusive web in
operation that led to the death of Pat Finucane.
Whatever the make up of the inquiry they can expect to face intransigence
from many of those agencies caught up in the web that is collusion. There is
a track record in Northern Ireland going back to John Stalker of blocking
those seeking to get at the truth. Sir John Stevens has been constantly
frustrated over the years as he sought to establish the truth of what had
gone on in Northern Ireland.
Remember the constant frustration suffered by the Saville inquiry into the
murder of 14 civilians on Bloody Sunday. The propensity of the Ministry of
Defence to lose vital evidence and fail to make other material
available. Then there was the unco-operative attitude of both the Ministry
of Defence and Northern Ireland Office regarding the investigation conducted
by Judge Henry Barron into the deaths of 33 people in the Dublin/ Monaghan
bombings. At an early stage, the British government indicated there were
68,000 files of relevance at the Northern Ireland Office and millions of
files at the MOD, but it finally produced a mere 16 page letter.
There needs to be a full public inquiry carried out into the murder of Pat
Finucane as well as Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill, Billy Wright and Bob
Buchanan and Harry Breen. Once the truth has been established in those cases
it will be time to move onto a proper truth and reconciliation process based
upon the South African model. The cases of the past need to be investigated
by a truth commission with proper public hearings and comprehensive report
delivered at the end.
There will be much heartache and pain during the public inquires and the
truth commission hearings but it will only be through such processes that
there can be any reconciliation regarding what has gone on in the past. Only
then will the society be able to move on with any hope of a truly peaceful
future.
The importance of the Finucane case in unlocking the whole collusive web as
to what went on in Northern Ireland over the past 30 years is that every
security agency is implicated at some level. The police, the army, MI5 and
the Northern Ireland Office all shoulder some degree of responsibility. It
is important to get to the root of how such a web of illegal activity came
to be established. The antecedents of collusion no doubt lie with internment
and the shoot to kill policy. Nationalists believe the collusive structure
is still in place and can be turned on and off at will by those who
ultimately make the decisions.
The truth is that ultimately those making such decisions could well be
elected politicians. If it were not the politicians then there were people
in the army, intelligence and police who regarded themselves as above the
politicians.
The death of Pat Finucane was an horrendous event for all concerned but
sadly it was not the only such murder. The reason Finucane's murder is so
significant is that it reaches into all the corners of the illegal collusive
network that operated in Northern Ireland . Many believe that the
unpalatable conclusion of any properly constituted public inquiry will be
that an elected British government ran death squads in Northern Ireland to
kill its own citzens. It then sought to cover up the truth from the public.
The alternative scenario is that those running the death squads were above
and beyond the control of the politicians. Either conclusion has grave
implications both for the past and future of democracy in Britain and
Northern Ireland.
