-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
------- Note from Euphorian: So ... after Iraq there's Iran then ... NoIreland? ------- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Crucified man brands attackers as cowards Rosie Cowan, Ireland correspondent Monday November 04 2002 The Guardian A young Catholic man subjected to a barbaric "crucifixion" by loyalist vigilantes spoke from his hospital bed yesterday to brand those who attacked him as "animals and cowards". The gang beat Harry McCartan, 23, from Poleglass in west Belfast, to a pulp, breaking his legs in several places. He was left nailed by his hands to a wooden stile, bleeding profusely from his eyes, ears and mouth in the early hours of Saturday. His face was so badly cut and bruised that his father, also called Harry, only recognised him from a tattoo of his five-year-old daughter's name, Chloe, on his arm. Loyalist sources said the attack was a "reaction to car crime", but Mr McCartan senior, 55, condemned it as sectarian. His son wept when he saw newspaper photographs of his horrific injuries. The victim was taken to hospital semi-conscious, with his hands still attached to bits of wood, and had to undergo a five-hour emergency operation. He is receiving injections of painkillers every four hours. His family said it could be weeks before doctors would know whether he would regain full use of his hands. Yesterday, struggling to speak through his pain, he said: "Nobody should be treated like this. They are just cowards. I was on my own and it must have taken more than four people to do this. They're just animals." Mr McCartan remembered little about his ordeal. He said he woke up in hospital with a terrible ache in his hands and knees and saw the blood running down his face. "I thought it was a dream," he said. "Then I saw my father and brother and asked them what had happened." An Ulster Defence Association source claimed that the attack was not orchestrated by the UDA but was carried out by loyalists in response to car crime in the area where he was found, the staunchly Protestant Seymour Hill area of Dunmurry, on the outskirts of south Belfast. The victim admitted he had previously been beaten with hammers over joyriding allegations. But although he was released from prison a few weeks ago after serving 15 months in connection with car theft, Mr McCartan senior believed his son was attacked this time because he was a Catholic. "He was getting his life back together, seeing the daughter he hadn't seen in months, and we think he was alone in his own car on the Stewartstown Road when he was attacked," he said. "May they burn in hell," added Sharon McCartan, 29, one of the victim's sisters. Mr McCartan senior said the police came to his door just before 5am on Saturday. "When I got to the hospital he was that disfigured I couldn't make him out and I had to pull back the sheet to see the tattoo on his arm. I didn't even notice his hands at first because I had to go out and be sick. "This is because he is a Catholic, yet this is supposed to be a free country. If these animals are caught, they'll serve a couple of years in jail while my son suffers for the rest of his life." Paramilitaries routinely carry out so-called "punishment attacks" within their own communities, and less commonly outside their communities, for "anti-social behaviour", including car theft and drug dealing not authorised by them. Victims are usually beaten, sometimes with nail-studded baseball bats, which Mr McCartan's attackers are thought to have used, or kneecapped - shot in the legs - the severity of the punishment reflecting the perceived seriousness of the offence. Occasionally, a particularly vicious assault is inflicted as a warning to others, and crucifixion techniques have been used in previous incidents, but police said Mr McCartan's ordeal was brutal in the extreme. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <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. 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