Niall O'Dowd: Round up the usual suspects

Irish Voice , April 27th, 2002

Round up the usual suspects

By Niall O'Dowd

For the past two weeks a steady stream of stories have been hand fed to the compliant Northern Irish media alleging that the IRA is back and set to create more problems for the peace process.

The evidence of all this? None whatsoever that would stand up in any court of law, yet the fevered nature of the coverage has meant that the power sharing arrangement itself is now under pressure.

It began with the break in at Castlereagh Police Station, home of the most secret files on the Troubles on March 17. Initially the finger of suspicion was squarely pointed at rogue elements in British intelligence who had reason to believe that many of the files contained incriminating information on them.

Then in a classic bait and switch, the security forces in Northern Ireland began insisting it was the IRA who carried out the whole thing - a charge the IRA has denied.

This was highly unlikely on a number of levels - the uncanny knowledge that the perpetrators had of what exact files they were looking for, for one thing, and the way they gained such easy access.

But wait! The British produced a mysterious chef that they hinted darkly was working with the IRA from the inside. Amidst a blaze of publicity the man, an American, was questioned - but then nothing.

To likely cover up the theft the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) - yes, the new police unit sworn to upkeep a neutral stance in the North - smashed down the doors of numerous leading Republicans and arrested them.

Again, nothing. They were all released, and one man was charged with a minor offense not relating to the break in.

So what do we have so far? Most likely a corrupt and secret institution covering up for itself by aiming suspicion and innuendo at the IRA to cover up the extent of the robbery.

Then the PSNI acting chief constable announced that among the files they found when they made their arrests was a list with the names of leading Tory Party grandees.

Shock, horror! Was it a hit list? The obliging media speculated it was. Alas, it looks like now it has turned out to be information that was utterly available in the public domain.

There's more. The English Sunday newspapers trumpeted a new charge last weekend that IRA is buying arms from Russia - super rifles no less. They must be because the British Secret Service said so even though, once again, not a whit of evidence was revealed.

It seems remarkable that a passive media could accept such obvious manipulation without asking the kind of pointed questions that would be immediately asked here - such as, where is the evidence of any of this?

There is a clear effort to undermine Sinn Fein at a critical time, with elections in the Irish Republic due and next year's Assembly elections in the North which will determine the future of the power sharing government.

What is disturbing is the role of PSNI in all of this. The supposedly neutral police force finds time to break down doors of leading Republicans, but mysteriously never seems to arrest any Loyalist in North Belfast where there is rioting almost every night.

British Northern Secretary John Reid was in New York recently talking about the opportunities for all in the new post-Troubles era. Perhaps he should look to putting his own house in order to help achieve that. His intelligence services are out of control.