The British government is hellbent on drawing a line on its past shadowy escapades in the North. I wonder why that is? The Conservative Party’s ‘Legacy Bill’ or ‘Legacy and Reconciliation Bill’ was engineered to do just that while attempting to pacify the victims and relatives of paramilitary killings by setting up the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) which takes over from the Historical Enquiries Team (HET).
This bill was engineered to grant amnesty to anyone who co-operates with investigations run by the (ICRIR). However, straight off the bat all sections of society in NEI, from Loyalist to Republican, Unionist to Nationalist, and everyone in between including Alliance (who apparently, are all and none) were opposed to the Bill as it affords an amnesty to those who committed killings during the conflict.
What has become apparent, however, is that under the Legacy Bill, anyone who took part in the conflict here, whether that be Loyalist, Republican or other can be compelled to give evidence. The ICRIR page itself states, and I quote – “The ICRIR will be fully equipped with the necessary expertise and full policing powers so that they can carry out robust investigations for the primary purpose of information recovery, as well as being able to refer cases directly to prosecutors if there is evidence of an offense for which someone has not been granted immunity.” The page also states, again I quote – “The ICRIR will also be given full disclosure from UK Government departments, agencies, and devolved bodies, ensuring it has all the evidence it needs to establish what happened in each case.”
If this is the case, and Sir Declan Morgan is so good at his job (as we have been told repeatedly), how are MI5, Special Branch, and other intelligence agencies able to use ‘neither confirm nor deny’ (NCND) policy to stop critical intelligence and information being used by the ICRIR? At times intelligence files are so redacted that the ICRIR is literally looking at a black page and when intelligence sources are compelled to give evidence they pull out the NCND policy.
Additionally, the Secretary of State has the power to halt evidence being provided on the grounds of not only national security, but also a person’s life being endangered should the information be provided. Surely, after the decades of bloody war here the British government owes us the truth. At the very least it owes the victims and families the unfiltered truth.
Where the British intelligence agencies have run into an obstacle on this tactic is that John Boucher, the new PSNI Chief Constable is having none of it. Speaking to the Policing Board he said – “Saying that you can’t investigate a crime any further because there’s an agent involved, that’s poppycock. That’s not right. It’s like an anchor that holds us back. Nobody who commits murders should be protected by the policy of NCND.”
The Legacy Bill was and is designed to allow the British government, the RUC, and British intelligence agencies to wipe their hands of the conflict here. A conflict in which it was and is complicit in so many murders and killings and in which it instigated shootings and bombings, supposedly on behalf of the British people. It is clear now, that the British government assumes victims deserved to be killed, even if they were innocent civilians because it refuses to divulge its movements and operations of agents and special forces in the North (and South). What has also become abundantly apparent, is that the bill denies victims the right to truth and justice rather than championing it. It gives state agents and agencies cover to deny all, either through the Official Secrets Act 1989, the NCND policy, or directly through the Secretary of State.
The Legacy Bill is, simply put, the British government hiding its footsteps and crimes in NEI legally (or illegally) throughout the conflict here through legislation. Imagine that, a government so steeped in Irish and British blood that it has to legislate in its own Parliament to hide the truth from the people and families it murdered. Think about it.
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The sad thing is the people in Britain have no idea of what went on in their name. They don’t care.