Andersontown News, 1. October 2001,  http://www.irelandclick.com/

Editorial on the murder of journalist Martin O'Hagan - WE SAY:

Hierarchy of the dead

The appalling murder of investigative journalist Martin O’Hagan has been matched only by the appalling indifference of his media colleagues in Britain to his death.

On the much-vaunted BBC news station, Five Live, the slaughter of one of our most courageous newspapermen only made it to third position in the news ranking.

In fact, by Sunday morning, the arrest of a British journalist in Afghanistan had virtually erased the murder of Martin O’Hagan from the news running schedule.

The hierarchy of the dead, where a dead Catholic is always at the bottom of the heap, is alive and well? So is bad journalism. Though described frequently at the weekend as the first journalist to be shot in the Troubles, Martin O’Hagan is the second. Polish journalist Zbigniew Uglik was shot dead by the British Army during the Falls Curfew of July 1970. Convenient of the British media to forget that!

And where, in the wake of Martin O’Hagan’s killing, has the British PM been?
It seems that threatening a lot of madmen holed up in an Afghani tent is a more attractive option to the British than standing up to our own bloodthirsty zealots.

And make no mistake about it the UDA-LVF gang behind this latest murder believe they are engaged in their very own jihad. For them, this is a holy war, where pipebombs are blessed by pastors before being launched and where every Catholic is the enemy.
Yet, rather than bring these pyscopathic killers to justice, the British Secretary of State tells us that the UDA had no involvement in the murder of Martin O’Hagan.

Handy conclusion that when the same Mr Reid had made a poltroon of himself doing the hokey-pokey with the UDA ceasefire as he guested on the Late, Late Show. Mr Reid shakes a warning finger at the UDA and they call off their North Belfast pogrom for a night; proof, if it were needed, that they were behind the violence all along. But at the same time, they cock a snoop at the Secretary of State by unleashing their madmen in Lurgan to wipe out a man whose very job was to expose the cant and double standards which have been so evident over the past 72 hours.

Shame on you, Mr Reid.

(Some Explanations: Mr. Reid is the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, UDA and LVF are loyalist death squads, the UDA is responsible for the ongoing pogroms in North-Belfast. Both are said to have links to the police force RUC and the British Army)