Why did the British Prime Minister Theresa May endorse the 2016 BREXIT referendum result —claiming BREXIT means BREXIT—without any idea of the consequences or a plan to achieve the break away from the EU. One explanation is the Prime Minister embraced the Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh mythology of colleague Boris Johnson and other Brexiteers. They claim, without evidence, that an exit from the EU and the burden of its regulations/ obligations would permit the UK to show the British people and world how trade is done. This despite the fact that the EU…a rules based commercial compact…is the world’s third largest trade market and for 40 years been the foundation of English prosperity and European peace.
Of course, the British people are free to leave the EU whenever and for whatever reason. But there are contracts and rules which require negotiation.
A customs border in Ireland has proved to be a thorny issue. Why not? Every economist, banking, trade and business group has predicted the short term harm and disruption BREXIT will bring particularly to Ireland.
Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, observed when the BREXIT referendum passed “ this means the end of the United Kingdom.” And rightly so! The people of Ireland North and South are happy with the EU. NI voted 56% to remain. Scotland also voted to remain. In the past year, major academic studies and models have spelled out the financial, trade and political benefits to ending Britain’s partition of Ireland. Of course, if re-unification was initiated it would radically simplify BREXIT and ease some of the financial impact on Ireland. But economics, rational thought and what is right and just are no match for those who pine for Empire days.
This Conservative Government is more about domination than the common good having practiced on Ireland for many centuries. While 90% of the ‘divorce’ text has been agreed to, Ireland remains the stumbling block. Why? The 600 km partition wall rightfully requires customs enforcement and the freedom of movement for EU citizens. So now the British are the ones complaining that “EU proposals would carve up the UK.” The political partners of the Prime Minister, the Democratic Unionist party (NI), also claim the EU is tampering with the “constitutional integrity of the Kingdom.” Anyone see the irony here? No nation had the courage to oppose Britain’s carving up Ireland or tampering with its constitutional integrity 100 years ago! A divided Ireland suits Britain’s political and economic ends and that’s all that has ever mattered.
A more plausible explanation for the embrace of BREXIT has received less attention but requires an American response. What passes for leadership in Britain’s Conservative Party loathes the 1998 Belfast Treaty (so-called Good Friday Agreement or GFA). Why? Well for starters it was the result of protests from Americans and politicians like Speaker Tip O’Neill and Ted Kennedy and other Members of Congress who were tired of the misery and violence inflicted on the Catholic/Nationalist minority. Up until 1996 the Dept of State covered up and minimized UK excesses of violence and corruption of justice in NI. But the visa intervention of President Clinton changed all that. The result was the 1998 Treaty. At that time both Britain and Ireland were in the EU and those Treaty provisions were governed and guaranteed by the European Commission, European Parliament and the European Convention of Human Rights. Included in the Agreement are things the Brexiteers hate like the human rights obligations, minority language requirements, in this case Gaelic, and the Court of Justice which resolves commercial disputes. The latter is a bitter pill for the British. Their idea of entrepreneurship is somewhat dismissive of rules, standards, and concerns for health and safety.
Specifically, the GFA has investigation obligations (referred to as legacy stipulations) which, if conducted properly would and have undermined Britain’s narrative of the Irish conflict as a crime wave. How? Those few investigations that have been completed reveal the UK’s true disdain for justice and the rule of law in NI. It becomes clearer with every passing day. To prevent that from happening, Conservatives are now claiming the Agreement “…has outlived its usefulness!” The Conservative governments have spent more than a decade obstructing these legacy investigations and covering-up the crimes of the Army, the police and MI-5.
But it took 40 years for the truth of the Bloody Sunday murders to be confirmed. Britain’s Ministry of Defense has refused to cooperate with the intent and the spirit of the GFA provisions regarding the 1974 bombings of Dublin and Monaghan and the 1989 murder of attorney Patrick Finucane and hundreds of others whose deaths have been improperly or poorly investigated or given a Coroner’s Inquest. If the British don’t obstruct the investigations and rid themselves of the GFA, their corruption of law and justice slowly emerges.
The Conservatives may not know how BREXIT is going to IMPROVE the lives of British subjects. But they are certain that ending the GFA will make life SIMPLER for all those who have had any role in the misrule in NI!!
In short, getting rid of the GFA and keeping a lid on the chaos and carnage inflicted on NI, is almost as important to Ms. May as the terms of the EU withdrawal.
So here is where America comes in. No matter what EU-UK deal is struck, if no deal is struck or no matter who is PM or if a “hard” BREXIT looms, England will be counting on a rescue trade package from the US. The Prime Minister’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has been crisscrossing the U. S. and camping out in Washington to cut deals and take advantage of President Trump’s offer for a “great trade deal” once the EU divorce is final.
There is no dispute that Ireland will be the first and hardest hit economically as a result of British post-BREXIT policies. As evidence of British corruption and lawlessness in NI mounts, are they deserving of special favors and deals from the US? In the latest edition of FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Secretary of State Pompeo quoted President Reagan’s observation about Soviet leaders. I believe this quote could readily apply to the imperial wing of the Conservative Party. “The only morality they recognize ,” said Pompeo, “ is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve to themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie and to cheat.” This is the present state of affairs with the British Conservative leaders and BREXIT.
Does a a solution to these Treaty deficiencies lie with Secretary Pompeo? I think not. The State Department, along with the WALL STREET JOURNAL generally represent England’s voice in America and still consider Ireland part of the Empire.
Yes –OUR– Department of State would rather Americans remember the violent suppression of protests in Tiananmen Square than Bloody Sunday or the Ballymurphy killings. Many Americans, certainly many Irish-Americans, know that when Britain is invoking the “special relationship” it is a code word. It represents hundreds of military and intelligence contracts and special privileges the UK has been granted. It is intended to underscore the British myth that our freedom, democracy and rule of law are an inheritance from England. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ireland is exhibit A.
Our State Department claims to be shocked by the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But will it demand accountability from Saudi Arabia? Hardly! They have ignored Britain’s collusion with the loyalist death squad that murdered attorneys Patrick Finucane and with the Royal Ulster Constabulary who blew up attorney Rosemary Nelson.
The State Department and Congress has imposed sanctions on Russian officials thought responsible for the Magnitsky killing and the assassination attempt on the Russian spy Skirpal in England. But there is no call from our State Department to sanction former British Minister for Defense Liam Fox. He played his part in managing the cover-ups of security services killings in NI and guided the full scale obstruction of legal demands from the Irish government seeking information on the single largest loss of life in the entire conflict, the bombings of Dublin & Monaghan Towns killing 33 shoppers, mostly women and children.
The imprisonment of political dissidents, human rights activists , lawyers, religious and elected officials elsewhere in the world frequently prompts our State Department to publicly rebuke such actions or cut off aid to nations involved. However, the assassination of 6 elected Sinn Fein Councilors and 11 campaign workers by SAS units of the British Army did not even merit a footnote in the Dept. of State’s annual U. S. Human Rights Report.
Our Dept of State refused to grant visas to Sinn Fein elected officials including Gerry Adams. This was not done to protect American interests but to protect British interests in keeping a lid on what Americans will find out about their violence in NI.
So it is not the Department of State but Congress which must be the focus of an American response to Britain’s Brexit impact on Ireland and the GFA. All we ask is that votes on UK trades and contracts await Congressional exploration of the harmful effects of BREXIT on Ireland and for hearings on Britain’s failure to comply with both the spirit and intent of the Good Friday Agreement (et al).
England’s necessity for a BREXIT bail-out is our opportunity. Exactly how?
All U. S. trade deals, contracts, special waivers and exemptions involving foreign nations and foreign nationals must be approved by the Ways & Means Committee of the House of Representatives as well as by Foreign Affairs and Foreign Relations Committees’ of the House and Senate respectively. We simply request that such items be deferred for review. These deals, contracts etc. may have great merit for the American taxpayer and economy so this is not a suggestion to defeat them. Let these items remain on the agenda until hearings are held and hard questions asked of Britain’s Brexit policies impact on Ireland and their failure to comply with the GFA.
This effort begins with requests to certain Members of Congress on Ways & Means and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Relations Committees in the House and Senate respectively. We will ask for a listing of all UK or British national trade deals, contracts and other commercial favors for the past three federal fiscal years publicly voted on by the House Ways & Means Committee. In addition, we will ask for a listing of those same types of transactions that are NOW pending before that Committee.
It is about time to enter on the congressional record just what Britain will do to fully respond in a timely matter to their GFA deficiencies. Second, there is the matter of the Brexit impact on the 26 counties. There is nothing exceptional or difficult about this tactic. In fact, the Senate and House are currently in dispute with this Administration over military sales and financial aid to Saudi Arabia.
Why do I think that for the first time in many years Americans may have a chance to hold Britain accountable for their lying and crimes in Ireland? First, the House Majority is now Democratic. It is likely two Representatives Eliot Engel (NY) at Foreign Affairs and Rich Neal (MA) at Ways & Means who are very knowledgeable about Ireland will become Chairman. Second, Britain is entering uncharted territory leaving the EU. US generosity and cooperation is critical to making it work for them. Third, Ireland is also a U.S. ally and if Britain’s BREXIT policies unduly burdens the Republic, Americans are right to ask why the UK is deserving of support and not Ireland.
Then there is the matter of what diplomats call ‘leverage’ and ‘timing’.
Two recent events may justify Members of Congress inquiry and response to Britain’s actions. First, Prime Minister May’s Conservative Party is working hard now to grant amnesty to all British Army and security services personnel involved in the killing of civilians in NI. The British Army Chief of Staff Nick Carter supports this effort claiming “the British Army has done a remarkable job in Northern Ireland.” Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadker stated that the GFA does not permit such a unilateral move. But that is not likely to stop the British. If that doesn’t work Minister of Defense Gavin Williamson has just announced he is setting up a special unit to formally obstruct legal inquiries and to explore how the murdering soldiers might be absolved. Perhaps the leverage of deferring these trade deals would cause the British to reconsider such arrogance.
Anyone wishing to inform themselves about the British Army and security services in NI and the Republic should read the Saville Report on Bloody Sunday, books on the no-warning 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings, or read Lethal Allies and State of Denial and the Summary of Sir John Stevens Report, the full report being too explosive to be released.
I recently listened to Carmel Quinn the spokesperson for the families of the 11 victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre Committee. Forty-seven years after those killings a Coroners Inquest has finally begun. The Ministry of Defense came prepared by mockingly telling the Coroner that many records have gone missing. Of course that’s the whole point of obstructing legal inquiries isn’t it? Yet another slap in the face for those seeking justice and truth from the British.
Members of Congress are justified taking action in response to the this UK obstruction of legal inquiries and destruction of evidence issues in NI as they consider a Congressional response to Saudi Arabia’s savage butchering of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It is timely to protest the UK’s murder of Patrick Finucane and to demand the independent public inquiry the British government promised but ignored to cover up for those who organized the assassination.
All of this is what former U. S. diplomat, Dennis Ross, indicated makes diplomacy work. Britain’s BREXIT begging bowl is a point of leverage to achieve change and accountability in Ireland and to weigh if Britain’s malign Brexit policies undermine the peace and prosperity of the Republic. Now is the moment of truth for America; to stand up and defend the GFA and to question the impact of Brexit policies on Ireland.
Michael J. Cummings, Secretary
American Brexit Committee
Cranston, RI December 7, 2018
Michael J. Cummings, a native of Springfield, Mass., is a graduate of St. Anselm’s College (B. A., 1968) and New York University (M. P. A., 1970) and a former member of the National Boards of the Irish American Unity Conference (1996-2013), the Ancient Order of Hibernians (2001-2008), and the Irish Northern Aid Committee (1988-1996). He served six National AOH Presidents, 5 IAUC National Presidents and two National Chairman of INA primarily in public relations capacities. He is the only person to serve on the national policy making bodies of all three major Irish American organizations. He also served on the Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. He served 36 years with the State of New York including as Assistant Deputy Comptroller.
Cummings has appeared on American, English and Irish television and radio and his commentary and letters and those of the organizations’ Presidents have appeared in major American, Irish-American, and Catholic print media. He is a columnist for the weekly IRISH ECHO newspaper
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