As I write this, it looks likely that the remains of Seamus Ruddy, one of the “disappeared”, have been found in northern France. His family certainly appear to believe that his body has been located. They were on television last evening, their reactions that now-familiar mix of sorrow and delight.
There is a unique sadness about cases where relatives don’t have a body to grieve over. I thought of that in the recent flurry of attention focused once again on Madeline McCann. Her parents Gerry and Kate McCann have not given up hope of finding her. Yet they’re left with a gaping hole in their lives and not even a grave at which to grieve.
Sixteen people were listed as “disappeared” by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR); if the body found in France is indeed Seamus Ruddy, that’ll mean just three outstanding cases – the others have been located.
Why were the bodies “disappeared” in the first place? Some may choose to think it was because those who killed them wanted to add to the torment and grief of the bereaved. They may, but I doubt that was the case. It’s more likely that those who killed them saw burial in a remote area as meaning less evidence linking their deaths with them. I’d say it was less malice and more self-preservation that was behind these nightmarish burials.
How have almost all of the bodies been located? Almost certainly through members of the IRA (or, in the case of Ruddy, the INLA) passing on information, sometimes mistaken, sometimes vague, about where digging should be done. This is a factor that’s rarely given emphasis in reports on the “disappeared”, including that of Ruddy. Just as the burying of the bodies in remote areas is seen as gratuitously cruel, so too the location of the bodies is seen as the work of the investigators, rather than the information provided by those who’ve been involved in the killing. And when soil removal in the search proves unsuccessful, the implication is that a cruel hoax has been perpetrated , rather than the more likely explanation that, after a period of almost fifty years, it’s more likely the memories of the killers are muddled.
I sincerely hope that the remaining three bodies are located and their relatives can have the consolation of taking their loved one home. I also hope that the authorities aren’t timing their digging so that these grisly images are thrown up just as an election is underway. To be aware of the possibility of that, and its intended impact on the election, in no way diminishes the sympathy and support which the families need. We can give every emotional sympathy for the families while remaining aware that the dead are often used for political ends.
I never heard those unfortunate people mentioned until after the GFA. Undoubtedly some political opportunists have used them to bash the Republican movement. Everything is political. Especially here. I hope they find all their remains and I hope nothing like that ever happens again. Rest in peace.
This is a grim business all ways around.
I suppose the first thing to acknowledge is that The Disappeared has become an issue that has been politicised and used to batter Republicanism over the head with.
We certainly don’t hear the same outrage, if any, from Unionist politicians about the fate of Lisa Dorrian.
Similarly it was news to.me that the UDA had buried 3 unfortunate men, still to be recovered, post-GFA in a forest outside Carrickfergus.
It’s long overdue to give these families some sort of closure.
Similarly, given.the level of penetration of the IRA by agents(s), I agree with Anthony McIntyre that they as an organisation in particular need to revisit their records with a view to restoring the reputations of innocent volunteers.
Did his killers reveal the motive for murdering Duddy?
I believe it was due to a internal Republican feud gendjinn.
Something to do with wanting to find out the location of a weapons dump.
I don’t think I can be accused of wanting to bash the Republican Movement(s). I would much prefer to bash the British Government and the British Establishment. Nevertheless it has to be said that the ‘disappeared’ is a shameful episode in the history of the troubles and like the Abercorn, Bloody Frida, Le Mon, Kingsmills Sammy Llewelllen is a stain on the Republican Movement. Particularly disgusting was the killing of 17 year old Columba McVeigh, never accused of being a tout, but killed and disappeared because he was ” fuckin’ nuisance’ by so-called hard men, some of whom could well have been touts or British agents. As well as its inherent evil the policy of “disappearing” victims allowed Britain to capture and hold the one piece of territory it has coveted most -The High Moral Ground.
So you think their was a deliberate policy to ‘disappear’ people rather than ad hoc decisions to hide evidence/bodies?
No one can argue against the fact that some distasteful things happened- it’s a shame the British don’t want the truth about many of these events.
I don’t think the British ever did claim the moral high ground, it is just that a lot of people don’t really know what went on.
Yes it was a shameful episode and everything possible should be done to put as much right as possible.
I don’t know whether it was deliberate policy or ad-hoc. It makes little difference to the deceased or their relatives. And it was equally shameful whether deliberate, ad hoc or a mixture of both.
I have long been troubled with the Ruddy case.
I first came across Seamus Ruddy in some writing I read in the early 1990’s, this stated he had been involved in the importing of arms and semtex, through Turkey, into Greece. Stopped by Greek border officials, they discovered the explosive in the doors of a campervan. Convinced the passenger/driver were smuggling drugs, both were imprisoned and, as should be done to drug smugglers, received a good kicking. The substance when tested revealed it was not drugs but a form of PE.
The mood to the two men changed dramatically, pictures of Seamus with the governor/guards were taken, all smiling.
In what Iread, mention was made that this INLA member, while teaching in France, was eliminated by Military Intelligence five, it is only in the last few years this story has changed to state members of the Erp’s, specifically one ‘old’ member, killed Seamus Ruddy.
My long held beliefe is, if you were an agent for the enemy forces, you deserved to be shot but, I have had serious concern about the case of Seamus Ruddy, and others.
Were they shot by MI5 through use of their existing agents within the Republican armies and had the handy lable ‘tout’ attached to remove suspicion from those responsible?
In the case of the Erp’s member whom, allegedly, killed Ruddy, I doubt that but, who knows?