-Caveat Lector-
>From The Irish Times
www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/0312/norht2.htm
>>Or, Bill Jeff strikes (out) again? Oh. Accounting for retirement of individuals
in a very permanent way. <<<
}}>Begin
Monday, March 12, 2001
Expanding 'Real IRA' now the major threat
Some senior security figures suggest the republican faction responsible for the
Omagh bombing has reached 80 per cent of the operational capacity of the Provisional
IRA before its last ceasefire, writes Jim Cusack, Security Editor
According to Garda and RUC figures, the "Real IRA", the group which carried out the
Omagh bombing on August 15th, 1998, killing 29 people and injuring 300 others, has
achieved a level of support that may make it impossible to defeat using conventional
antiterrorist policing.
It is now known that the group has established an operational base in Britain,
enabling it to carry out attacks in London. It was the "Real IRA" and not the
Continuity IRA, as stated in The Irish Times last week, which carried out the bomb
attack on the BBC, according to Garda sources.
It had been believed previously that the Continuity IRA had infiltrated a terrorist
unit into London which was being supplied with explosives by the "Real IRA".
However, it is now believed the "Real IRA" may have developed into the most advanced
terrorist group in either the Republic or Northern Ireland.
The momentum of its attacks is also increasing. Since the start of the year it has
carried out or attempted landmine attacks in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Armagh and
Claudy, Co Derry; a heavy mortar attack in Derry; and the bombing in London.
It is not now thought responsible for the small explosion at a Territorial Army base
in north London when a 14-year-old cadet lost his eyesight and a hand. It is thought
this was the result of an accidental explosion of a stun grenade.
The most serious attack by the "Real IRA" since Omagh was the mortar assault on
Ebrington Barracks in Derry on January 22nd. The mortar struck its intended target,
the junior officers' mess, where 20 young soldiers were socialising. Only a minor
fault in the mortar prevented carnage.
Both RUC and Garda antiterrorist Special Branch units are devoting most of their
resources to countering the spread of the "Real IRA". However, it appears the group
has improved its defences against infiltration by the police.
Garda Special Branch work has been reduced since the Provisional IRA ceasefires. The
RUC Special Branch has also been hit by early retirements as part of the Patten
reforms and natural wastage. It is anticipated that, by the end of this summer, the
RUC Special Branch will be more than 40 per cent below strength.
Some senior gardaí and RUC officers believe the opportunity to eliminate the "Real
IRA" in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing, when there was widespread antipathy
towards it, has been lost. The group has attracted disaffected Provisional IRA
figures, who are believed to include a number of activists regarded by security
forces as among the world's leading improvised bomb and mortarmakers.
A Newry man suspected of leading some of the Provisional IRA's most deadly
operations against the security forces in the North is believed to have defected to
the "Real IRA". It is thought his experience and leadership abilities are beginning
to be reflected in the increased professionalism of recent "Real IRA" attacks.
The group is also said to be very focused on its aims, delineated in court by a
senior Garda Special Branch officer as achieving by "violent and criminal means . .
. to bring down the present peace process and return Northern Ireland to a state of
conflict".
Gardaí have also stated in evidence that the group's "political wing" is the 32
County Sovereignty Committee.
According to senior Garda sources, the group's main problem is finance. The
Provisional IRA has kept its fund-raising organisation intact and is resisting
attempts by the "Real IRA" to muscle in on activities such as the sale of smuggled
cigarettes in Belfast.
The shortage of funds in the "Real IRA" means it is unable to provide wages for its
key figures. Its principal bomb-maker, a west Dublin man who was formerly a full-
time bomb-maker for the Provisional IRA, now has a day job.
The group has been carrying out robberies and is also raising funds through social
functions and collections here and among the expatriate communities in the United
States and Britain.
End<{{
T' A<>E<>R
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational
tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the
State among its hapless subjects. His task is to demonstrate
repeatedly and in depth that not only the emperor but even the
"democratic" State has no clothes; that all governments subsist
by exploitive rule over the public; and that such rule is the reverse
of objective necessity. He strives to show that the existence of
taxation and the State necessarily sets up a class division between
the exploiting rulers and the exploited ruled. He seeks to show that
the task of the court intellectuals who have always supported the State
has ever been to weave mystification in order to induce the public to
accept State rule and that these intellectuals obtain, in return, a
share in the power and pelf extracted by the rulers from their deluded
subjects.
[[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N. Rothbard,
Fox & Wilkes, 1973, 1978, p. 25]]
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
