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UK leader: We are 'deeply sorry' for Bloody Sunday
The Times of India ^ | 15 June 2010 | The Times of India

Posted on 06/15/2010 1:39:06 PM PDT by James C. Bennett

LONDON: British prime minister David Cameron apologized on behalf of his country Tuesday for the 1972 slaughter of 13 Catholic demonstrators in the Northern Ireland town of Londonderry, an outrage that became known as "Bloody Sunday."

In a solemn statement to the British House of Commons, Cameron said that a mammoth, 12-year investigation into the killings left no doubt that the soldiers confronting crowds of Catholic demonstrators in Londonderry's hard-line Bogside district mowed down unarmed protesters without provocation.

"What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong," Cameron said, as a crowd watching him from Londonderry burst into cheers and applause.

Cameron prefaced his remarks by saying he was a patriot and a strong supporter of the British Army, but said "you do not defend the British Army by defending the indefensible."

He said the 190 million pound ($280 million) report contained "shocking conclusions to read" and that he was "deeply sorry" for what happened.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: basque; britain; catholic; ireland; irish; irishlist; scot; scotchirish; scoti; scotland; scots; slaughter
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To: grand wazoo

You don’t think the Catholics and the Irish government would take care of that themselves? Seriously, how long would the “protestant paramilitaries” last in a united Ireland? How long did the IRA really last in Ireland after the civil war? Not very long - and the Protestants would have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, nowhere to get arms or equipment, etc.


21 posted on 06/17/2010 6:22:24 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: vladimir998

I don’t think the protestant paramilitaries will last very long, but when a group is cornered they will either fight or roll over. The paramilitaries have shown that they will fight; and the violence that they have inflicted in the past is greater than anything the IRA ever did, albeit they had police and British military backing and that won’t exist to the same degree this next time around.


22 posted on 06/17/2010 8:26:24 AM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: James C. Bennett; Jack Hydrazine

Not while the people of Northern Ireland want to be part of the UK.


23 posted on 06/24/2010 7:22:10 AM PDT by Vanders9
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To: Natural Law

Little known fact. The hops that go into guinness are grown in England. Always have been.


24 posted on 06/24/2010 7:24:28 AM PDT by Vanders9
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To: vladimir998
Not a perfect analogy, but you took land from the Mexicans, as a result of the 1848 war. Quite a lot of land actuall. And you took land from the native americans. The fact that they're all dead doesnt alter the principle.

Anyway, it wasnt the British who invaded Ireland. It was the Normans. Right?

25 posted on 06/24/2010 7:30:27 AM PDT by Vanders9
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To: grand wazoo
This is not a dead issue. As a result, quite a lot of people could get very dead if things start to turn nasty again. As evidence... The Ulster Covenant BEING CONVINCED in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V., humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn Covenant, throughout this our time of threatened calamity, to stand by one another in defending, for ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom, and in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland. And in the event of such a Parliament being forced upon us, we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognize its authority. In sure confidence that God will defend the right, we hereto subscribe our names. And further, we individually declare that we have not already signed this Covenant.

The Declaration (for women) We, whose names are underwritten, women of Ulster, and loyal subjects of our gracious King, being firmly persuaded that Home Rule would be disastrous to our Country, desire to associate ourselves with the men of Ulster in their uncompromising opposition to the Home Rule Bill now before Parliament, whereby it is proposed to drive Ulster out of her cherished place in the Constitution of the United Kingdom, and to place her under the domination and control of a Parliament in Ireland. Praying that from this calamity God will save Ireland, we here to subscribe our names.

Nearly half a million Irish people signed that declaration when the British Parliament voted to grant independence (home rule) to Ireland in 1912-3. Some of them signed it in their own blood. One of the few good things about WWI is that it forestalled a full scale civil war in Ireland.

26 posted on 06/24/2010 7:42:05 AM PDT by Vanders9
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To: Vanders9

You wrote:

“Not a perfect analogy, but you took land from the Mexicans, as a result of the 1848 war.”

I’ve never taken a single inch of land from anyone.

“Quite a lot of land actuall. And you took land from the native americans.”

Again, I’ve never taken a single square inch of land from anyone, ever, anywhere.

“The fact that they’re all dead doesnt alter the principle.”

What principle? The Brits recognized Irish independence. Is that not a principle? How then could they keep a major Irish population ON THE ISLE OF IRELAND from being part of that nation on their own island?

“Anyway, it wasnt the British who invaded Ireland. It was the Normans. Right?”

No. The Normans were merely first. The English (English and Scots really) came in the 16th and 17th centuries and brutalized the Irish.


27 posted on 06/24/2010 7:44:58 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: Vanders9

Is it because the welfare and other government bennies are too good to pass up for those Irish that want the UK to stay in N. Ireland?


28 posted on 06/24/2010 8:32:23 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Vanders9
The majority of the population in the northern counties of Ireland will choose to join the Republic. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but sometime in the not too distant future.

That will be the end of British rule.

If the protestant paramilitaries don't have the support of the British military, they will be finished. They were always hooligans anyways and the British will be glad to be rid of them.

29 posted on 06/24/2010 3:38:58 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: Jack Hydrazine
If the Brits were truly apologetic they would get out of N. Ireland.

Northern Ireland is part of Britian, and the majority wants it that way . . . at least for now.

I wonder if the Irish Republic really wants to add all those Unionists to its citizenry?

30 posted on 06/24/2010 3:42:15 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Mah-tovu 'ohaleykha, Ya`aqov; mishkenoteykha, Yisra'el!)
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To: vladimir998
Let the Brits live in Britain.

There are no 'Brits', they're English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish.

31 posted on 06/24/2010 3:43:39 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
There are no 'Brits', they're English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish.

All of which are British people

32 posted on 06/24/2010 3:52:08 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: grand wazoo

But some Irish are Brits, so you’re going to kick them out of their own country?


33 posted on 06/24/2010 3:57:17 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Zionist Conspirator

The Irish could always encourage the Unionists to move to back to to Britain.


34 posted on 06/24/2010 4:18:23 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: dfwgator
There are no 'Brits', they're English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish.

But some Irish are Brits, so you’re going to kick them out of their own country?

They would all cease to be "British" and would be citizens of Ireland. If they wanted to remain "British", they could move to a country that is ruled by the crown. The same deal they made with the Irish.

Why don't you want the Irish to have the same right to self rule as everyone else?

35 posted on 06/24/2010 4:30:17 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: Jack Hydrazine
The Irish could always encourage the Unionists to move to back to to Britain.

The point being that the majority in Northern Ireland want to remain part of the UK. Well, that and the IRA being nothing but a bunch of Communist terrorists, of course.

36 posted on 06/24/2010 6:14:55 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Mah-tovu 'ohaleykha, Ya`aqov; mishkenoteykha, Yisra'el!)
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To: Zionist Conspirator

And when the IRA made peace with the UK the IRA received government jobs.


37 posted on 06/24/2010 6:17:38 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: grand wazoo

The Irish have their own country, I think allowing Northern Ireland was a good compromise.


38 posted on 06/24/2010 8:03:33 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
And when the entire island is united under the Republic of Ireland, things will be as they should.

Call it Manifest Destiny.

39 posted on 06/24/2010 8:21:08 PM PDT by grand wazoo
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To: Jack Hydrazine

The IRA are a bunch of Commies.


40 posted on 06/24/2010 8:24:02 PM PDT by dfwgator
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