Given how disgusted we are when we encounter double standards, it’s odd that the Irish Examiner took the attitude it did to a recent TV programme.
The programme in question was SAS: Who Dares Wins on Channel 4 and the reviewer had a pile of fun with it. We got a sketch of the rigorous training these men have so they become truly effective killing machines. This was interspersed by screen-grabs from tweets about how hot some women considered the trainees and particularly their barking, not to say barking-mad instructor.
The whole tone of the review was comparable to the It’s A Knockout series, as commented on by Stuart Hall. While the contestants crawled through mud and wiggled through tunnels, ol’ Stuart said funny things and went Ho, ho, ho about the undignified activities demanded of the contestants. And who can forget It’s a Royal Knockout?
So too the Irish Examiner tone to the training of these wonderfully lethal men. To mention that the job of these men frequently involved tracking down and killing people the authorities decided needed killing didn’t enter into it. An SAS unit watched the house of Bernadette McAliskey and didn’t intervene until a loyalist gang had shot her and her husband multiple times? An SAS unit kills eight IRA men and an innocent passerby at Loughgall? The SAS killed John Boyle, an innocent 16-year-old in Dunloy? Ach sure, that’s up there. After all, there were no SAS men operating in the Cork or Munster region. At least as far as we know. And if a woman can’t express what an SAS instructor does for her nether regions, what’s the point of a TV review? Or free speech, for that matter?
You can savour the delights of the review for yourself here: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/sas-who-dares-wins-on-channel-4-made-us-all-feel-very-inadequate-701492.html
At long last you are getting the message that the Republic of Ireland has moved on if only Northern Nationalists could do the same if only.
Oh Neill, if only we could be like you Unionists, who find it so easy to move on, eh?…
yes indeed
It beggars belief that references to the Irish Republican Army have dominated the media for months. Not to be outdone, James Bond departed for Mexico and Rome recently, where he met the widow of an infamous criminal. After infiltrating a secret meeting, 007 uncovered the existence of a sinister organization called SPECTRE and then the “goodies” sorted out the “baddies”, with some high tech equipment, bombs and a few murders.
Our local ‘secret’ agents have not been quite so adept with their listening devices recently, the buggers will have to do better. Perhaps Peter Wright’s book, ‘Spycatcher’ will be back on the recommended reading list for the military reaction force. Wright was a man who knew where to plant bugs. On second thoughts, probably not, his book has hard covers and no pictures. Stick to the red tops lads.
Tony Blair’s spin doctor is less than impressed with his most recent initiative, with ‘Taigs’ burned out in Ballycastle and members of an ethnic minority forced to flee east Belfast and that was just this week. In spite of all that has happened, political unionism has not been shakened or stirred by recent criminality or by the men and women who planned, directed and resourced murders in Ballymurphy, Derry, Belturbet, Monaghan and Dublin.
“no SAS men operating in the Cork or Munster region” Not since Tom Barry and his men wiped the floor with them at Kilmicheal their predecessors the Auxiliary regiment !!! Nothing surprises me how unfortunately too many in our wee state glorify British murder gangs. Indeed when you look at how the chorus got behind the Brit dirty tricks dept MI5 this week says it all.
Joe
By ‘wiped the floor’ I take it you mean killed. Were some of them trying to surrender?
A good job you don’t approve of glorifying that sort of thing!
I think the clash you’re referring to, gio, was when some British forces raised a white flag of surrender, then used it to attack again, following which they were all killed. Context is important as I’m sure you’d agree.
Jude
Of course we have to take the word of the IRA men for that! Perhaps some attempted a false surrender perhaps others really wanted to surrender.
But the point I was making to Joe was about his term ‘wiping the floor’ which seems a bit like glorifying those brutal (and they were undoubtedly brutal) killings.
I would agree with you, gio – ‘wiping the floor with’ is a pretty callous term. Although it’s the kind of language some people use – particularly soldiers. The British army is on record as having held celebratory parties when they ‘wiped out’ republican enemies.
Jude
Sometimes there is a long delay in posts appearing, leading to me thinking they are lost and reposting.
You don’t need to put the repeat posting up as well, unless you think it is so good it is worth repeating!
Be patient, gio. I put up everything that’s not unalloyed abuse or libellous. As the Chinese philosopher said: ‘If you stand by the bank of the river for long enough, you will eventually see the bodies of your enemy float past’…Hope that doesn’t sound callous – not meant to… Anyway, hold your fire in future, gio. I sometimes spot the duplication and dump one; and I sometimes don’t. NY was so good they named it twice but not too many posts…
Jude
Thanks I know you are not censoring me.
Its more of a case of me starting to doubt that I hit send the first time!
Regarding the ‘wiped the floor’ remark yes it probably is the way soldiers talk.
I was responding to Joe’s use of it in the same breath as condemning glorification of murder gangs, which seemed a mite hypocritical.
tom barry and his men wiped the floor with them..but if somebody wiped the floor with them today they would be traitors to ireland,ime sure peoples confused.
Joe
By ‘wiped the floor’ I take it you mean killed? I believe some were trying to surrender.
Its a good job you don’t approve of glorifying that kind of thing, eh?
Those SAS men are also victims of the cruel British state. Most of them end up completely warped and unable to operate in a normal society. They aren’t able to form healthy relationships. They really do sacrifice a lot, they probably give up their humanity. They become so desensitised to brutality they are too dangerous to have around normal people. It is sad the media doesn’t highlight the dangers of training people to become serial killers.
Have to disagree with you Emmet.
The selection process in the British army does character checks to find the psychopaths (who in a peaceful society would spend most of their lives in jail), but the Brits realise that they will make the most efficient killers – no qualms, conscience or reservation about cold blooded killing.
So naturally when their military service is over they are thrown out on the street to fend for themselves, and for their neighbours to fend for themselves, without having been told there is a dangerous psychopath living next door to themselves.
And of course by hen were social misfits, but the army had no more use for them and took no further part in their welfare.
Maybe you’re right, but even if they started off as mentally disturbed I think it is worse that the British use them. In my eyes, I would still see them as victims even if they don’t have the sense to see they are being further warped and used.
Part of last night’s ‘Primetime’ looked into the background of Adrian Creven Macken who murdered Garda Golden and attempted to murder his (Creven’s) partner Siobhán Phillips before committing suicide.. the programme revealedwas in all probability an MI5 spy. So an Irish policeman was murdered by an agent of the British state. The reaction on this morning’s RTE news – statements from the Taoiseach? Thunderous editorials from The Irish Independent, Examiner, Times etc.? Micheál Martin foaming at the mouth. Nope! Zilch! Diddley squat! The previous morning most of ‘What the Papers Say’ was dedicated to most of the aforesaid organs demanding ‘answers from SF’ about their connection to illegal activity. None so blind or deaf….
I wouldn’t be so certain that those mercenaries were not operating in Munster…they were certainly operative in Monaghan,Louth ,Donegal Leitrim and Dublin.Robert Niarac was very fond of Castleblaney and was observed in Monaghan town also.The British army aslo frequently crossed the border unopposed. The untold saga of the Littlejohns ( spys and probable SAS ) and their convenient “escape” from Mountjoy Gaol leaves a bitter taste in the mouth ….Kenneth Littlejohn lived for a while in Cahersiveen in Co Kerry on the auspices of looking for a potential factory site for his bogus company ” Whizz Kids ,Ireland “…..(.Remember the “Four Square Laundry “and the Military Reaction Force.) After his escape Kenneth Littlejohn lived in Birmingham ,England with a Mr Thomas Watt ,prosecution witness in the infamous framing of The Birmingham Six.It’s my ardent belief that the Free State Government connived with the British ,turning a very blind eye and only occasionally paying mediocre and ineffectual lip service to the injustices here…..hence the lacklustre and apathetic attempt to apprehend the murderers behind the biggest loss of life in the “Troubles”….the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. I maintain that if the people knew the extent of the collaboration and complicity between the two governments Ireland would be reunited tomorrow in a wave of consummate revulsion
You are definitely onto something Seamus. I have told this story before but while I was at university in England I met a person with a lot of knowledge on Mi5 and Mi6. He said if the Irish knew the level of infiltration in Irish society there would be a violent revolution.
Had the asSASsins been operating (openly) in the twenty six county statelet you can bet the reaction to a steaming pile of crap programme like that would be rather different. To be an SAS killer, all you have to do is surround a man/woman with twenty heavily armed men and open fire until all your rounds have been used up.
I tend to agree with you Emmet,
It is the british state that was responsible for the troubles here, and not any individuals sent over.
It is also the british state that chooses to cover up and deny justice for those who suffered for their activities here.
It is also up to the british state to help repair the damage caused to the population in the north and to mend the relationship with all parts of this island.
The SAS were following orders. It is who gave those orders that needs to pay.
There are three dear little broadsheets on sale on the streets of the Free Southern Stateen, Esteemed Blogmeister, and even the dogs on same wonder why they bother with this Triplication.
For they all share a similar philosophy: ‘Who Doctrinaires Wins’.
Could be of course to do with the national symbol – the dear little shamrock. A cute little once-a -year plant which also, as it happens, adorns the greener than green gansey of the Oirish rugby team and which re-emphasies the first syllable of the symbol, in particular.
Which team is aptly maintained by the I.R.F.U. the same sporty organisation which said F.U. to Amhran na bhFiann and de facto replaced The Soldiers’ Song with The Shoulder to Shoulders’ Song.
In the Irish Examiner its columnist, the ubiquitous 4F (Fungus Faced Fergus Finlay – who actually still takes credit for spin doctoring Mrs. Robinson into the White House of the Phoenix Park) was urging as far back as 2007 that the national anthem/ antrim/ tanrum be ‘retired with honour’.
To judge by his recent uber-blubbering about the untimely ascension into Alickado Heaven of St. Paulie, it would be reasonable to assume that 4F is a rugger-loving tree-hugger. Time, one wonders, if it is opportune now for ‘The Shoulder to Shoulders’ Song’ to be ‘retired with honour’.
After all, Fergus Finlay, Dick Springlock, Conor Cruise O Ship, Uncle TMO McGurk, Des O Malleycat, Mary Harness, Captain George Hooknose, Triple Crown O’Thornley, Michael Corkaccent…your boys took a hell of a beating !
Not least because, perhaps, of the presence of two Kearneys who stood shoulder to s. on the Oirish team, neither of whom (as far as is known) a descendant of Peader Kearney, lyricist of The Soldier’s Song. Mention of Mrs. Robinson above, btw, reminds one that it wasn’t actually Dustin Hoffman who captained the Scots to narrow defeat but bonny Craig Laidlaw heself.
The S.A.S. is a soldiery outfit which has been suspected of standing shoulder to shoulder with the MI5. Last Saturday, the second leaf of the dear little broadsheet published a somewhat less than disembowelling obituary of a MI6 agent, wee Scottish laddie name of Brian Stewart. Whose principal point of contact with The Land of the Dear Little Shamrock may well have been with, och aye, The Tartan Gangs.
(By the way, MI5 plus MI6 equals M31, the same number as the M for Massive 31 who made up the Oirish Rugga Panel, sadly tailored between the legs. But that it but a sidebar item of mere mirabile dictu).
In The Unionist Times of today its distinguished Man Friday columnist and serial failure as a Fianna Failure candidate, Noel Whelan did what this alickado does best. He staked yet another powerful claim for F.F. to be recognised as the Real Republican Party.
Under the heading ‘Fears about West Belfast influence over Sinn Fein gain credence’ this clear-water revivalist harangue is based on its author’s swallowing the disinterested intelligence-gathering capabilities of MI5 ‘lock, stock and Tell me, Sean O Farrell’.
(Hush, a bhuachaill, hush and listen but said Sean O’Farrell was present at many a bad moon rising).
As well as gerrymandering Adams this Nelsonian columnist simultaneously reminds one that the Free Southern Stateen is now a de facto Cahillphate by genuflecting in the direction of Blessed Mairia. Such genuflections are obligatory five times on a Friday.
Not to be outdone, the third and final dear little broadsheet, the (don’t laugh) Irish Independent came up today with what must one of the more disarmingly charming examples of stereotypical sectarianism. At least this week.
James Downey, it was, who penned this uplifting piece, as a prelude to spotlighted the tip top IQs of MI5. As always the august Mr. Downey’s Friday column is akin to a one-man Good Friday: it never fails to be in agreement with the prevailing received opinion.
‘Several years ago, a member of the Sinn Fein inner circle took part in a series of discussions with a group of Presbyterian clergy. These were very serious people who liked clarity and straight answers. The discussions ended with the Presbyterian clergypersons, using polite language, telling the Sinn Feiner that they did not believe what he had told him. In other words, he was lying’.
Larf ? Just as well Perkie had brought along a change of y-fronts. It must be the way old Jembo tells ’em.
(Incidentally, it is reliably reported by the usual suspects that what the Shinner told them was, erm, ‘that the Giant’s Causeway was in the Phoenix Park and that it was in Killarney’s lakes that Noah built his Ark’).
To conclude: it is one thing, the easy thing, to knock something. (cf The Shoulder to Shoulders’ Song) but another thing entirely to replace it with something durable. Not least a duracell bunny.
One thing Perkie’s inner collector of bestial pornography is definitely not, is a knocker. Hence, he would like to propose the following stirring song, even as a holding operation till the next gnashional anthem is agreed upon.
Its composer was an unique individual who combined all that was best in the agreed Irish identikit: he fought, and gallantly so, in the army of His Majesty, thereby hastening the end of the Art School dropout, Adolf Schicklegruber. He also opted to have his epitaph to be etched in leprechaun:
-Duirt me libh to raibh me tinn / I told you I was ill.
He was the one, the only Spike Milligan the Fourth. And his deathless composition was, of course: The Ying Tong Song.
Even a Presbyterian clergyperson would hardlly object to that.
Quite correct Emmet, as my mother used to say when she was alive, “they are more to be pitied”.
Brainwash into believing that any opponents or people who associated with them were less than human and their lives there to be extinguished with impunity.
It is easy to see why this phsychological imprint is carried into civilian life and often goes on to blight the lives of those who loved them the most.
They give up their sanity more than anything else, Emmet. As you mentioned, they are completely unable to adopt to normal society and that doesn’t just go for SAS men/women but also a lot of normal British soldiers. I believe a large chunk of all the homeless in Britain are ex-British Army, with mental health issues, issues with alcohol and drug abuse. They are simply used and then spat out when of no further use by their own government.
I think I mentioned before on this blog that my brother joined the French Foreign Legion, renowned as the “toughest army in the world”. My brother joined because he always wanted to be a soldier since childhood and seen no future for himself in our little corner of Ireland (Could you blame him?…). My brother left Ireland and came home from France a different person. He said the training was extremely tough, a lot of it amounted to mental torture. He wouldn’t recommend it.
I remember reading about an SAS squad that went secretly undercover into the 26 counties. They were soon caught by, I think, the Irish Rangers and arrested. The British government then threatened economic sanctions (which they admitted would hurt the UK’s economy as well as the South’s) if the men were not released. They were later on. So there’s no question that the SAS/British Soldiers were in the 26 Counties. The Dublin/Monaghan bombings are enough proof of that.
Ah the gallant British army. Can anyone tell me which one of these brave battalions is the best? We have the Gurkhas who are known for their ‘prowess’;the SAS for being the ‘best in the world’;the paras for being the ‘elite’ blah blah blah. Can anyone tell me what these braves are like when the shoe is on the other foot? I sincerely hope these wingnuts don’t champion the Geneva conventions when captured? Bad ass motherfxxkers like these soldiers wouldn’t dream of it I am sure.