There has been talk recently of a 'Truth and Reconciliation'
Commission being set up in Northern Ireland to seek to establish
the facts behind the killings in the Province since the start
of the 'Troubles'.
There is a very real chance that such a Commission could
be hijacked by the republican movement and turned into yet
another means of blackening the Unionist community and seeking
to make it feel guilt-ridden.
Ulster Unionist security spokesman Ken Maginnis was right
to warn of such a commission being a 'circus' when he was
questioned on the B.B.C. Newsnight programme. The apparent
astonishment of Jeremy Paxman who put the question will not
impress most Ulster people - they will be aware of the ability
of republicans to use propaganda in the most skilful manner
to cloud issues and also to throw the vast amount of the blame
on Unionists.
South Africa was used by those in favour of this course as
an example of how such a commission works. Interesting isn't
it how South Africa so often figures in comparison to Northern
Ireland, yet the analogy is far off the mark. In South Africa
a white minority of less than 20 per cent held power for nearly
50 years. In Northern Ireland, a two-thirds Unionist majority
is denied the right to run its own affairs in a devolved government.
However, back to the original point, regarding a commission.
In South Africa all the available evidence so far points to
most of those being examined as being Afrikaners and security
force personnel in the former ruling Government. Winnie Mandela
is the outstanding exception, but one wonders how many of
the 'necklace' burners - those who put lighted tyres around
the shoulders of their victims - will be in the dock.
In Northern Ireland people are well aware of how the media,
often inspired by republicans, can be used to vilify Protestants
and Unionists. Crimes carried out by loyalist groups or individuals
are banner-headlined, books are written about the 'Shankill
Butchers' and there is a real queue of witnesses about 'Bloody
Sunday' in Londonderry, as well as in-depth studies.
How many in-depth studies and books have been written exposing
who was behind the atrocity of Bloody Friday in Belfast, or
who were the men who murdered the Orangemen at Tullyvallen
Orange Hall, those who perpetrated the Kingsmills and Teebane
massacres, the murders of Sir Norman Stronge and his son James,
the Rev. Robert Bradford, and a long catalogue of republican
murders?
Protestants and Unionists are notoriously reluctant to go
before the cameras and tell their story, and it could prove
to be the same with a 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission'.
It could prove to be a means of lambasting the British Army,
the R.U.C., and loyalists without the essential balancing
on the other side - a 'come clean' on how all the I.R.A. and
I.N.L.A. murders were carried out, and the planning which
went into the same.
Who for example was commander of the Belfast I.R.A. units
who slaughtered so many people on Bloody Friday? Who was the
I.R.A. chief in Londonderry when that city was pounded with
bombs throughout the I.R.A. bombing campaign of the 1970's
and 80's?
Who took the decision to detonate a bomb at the War Memorial
in Enniskillen on Remembrance Sunday? Who were the men who
butchered innocent worshippers in the Darkley gospel hall
in South Armagh?
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