Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/29/2002 10:46:54 PM PDT by MadIvan
Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, formed a special unit within the IRA which was responsible for the execution of a mother of 10 in 1972 and it was "inconceivable" that he was unaware of the order to kill her, a book claims.
Mr Adams has always distanced himself from the "disappearances" of 10 people by the Republican terrorists in the 1970s, victims who were snatched from their homes or off the streets of Belfast, killed and buried in locations kept secret from their families for more 20 years.
According to the revelations in A Secret History of the IRA, by the journalist Ed Moloney, Mr Adams told the family of Jean McConville, who disappeared in 1972, that he could not have been involved because he was interned at the time.
Moloney writes, however, that Mr Adams was "very much at large at the time" as leader of the IRA in Belfast and it would have been "inconceivable" that the order to kill her would have been issued without his knowledge.
According to Moloney, Mr Adams had become the commander of the IRA in November 1972, a month before Mrs McConville disappeared from her home in the Divis Flats, Belfast, leaving her 10 children orphaned.
During the autumn of that year the policy of executing and secretly burying anyone suspected of informing, was initiated at the highest level of the Belfast leadership, the book says.
Moloney writes that it was Mr Adams who set up the unit, which was known within the IRA as "the unknowns" that was responsible for carrying out the execution and burial of the 10 victims from Belfast.
"The death and disappearance of Jean McConville was made possible by another important military innovation pioneered by Gerry Adams," he says.
According to the book, which is published today before he became Belfast commander Mr Adams got approval from the then commander, Seamus Twomey; "to set up two secret cells in the city to carry out special operations on behalf of the Belfast Brigade".
"These cells reported directly to Mr Adams and received their instructions only from him."
Mrs McConville was a Belfast Protestant who married a Catholic from west Belfast. By the early 1970s she had been widowed and was bringing up 10 children alone.
According to Mr Moloney, she had been caught informing for the British Army by the IRA and was warned. But she began informing again and was subsequently caught by the IRA.
It was, the book claims, the "unknowns" who were given the job of "disappearing her", an order that was given by a senior member of the Belfast brigade.
"Whether, as alleged by one well-informed source, or not the order was given by Adams himself, it was inconceivable that such an order would have been issued without his knowledge," Moloney writes.
For years Sinn Fein and the IRA denied all knowledge of what had happened to the missing men and women. But in the 1990s a campaign by the families drew huge public interest and the attention of then President Bill Clinton.
It was Mrs McConville's son-in-law Seamus McKendry, who coined the phrase the "disappeared" to draw parallels with the plight of families of people tortured and murdered in South American dictatorships.
After President Clinton's intervention the IRA finally admitted in the late 1990s that it had been behind the disappearances. But there were strenuous attempts to distance Mr Adams from the affair, according to Moloney.
Mr McKendry, who is married to Mrs McConville's daughter, Helen, said: "If it comes out that he was involved in Jean's abduction or gave the order, he would be rubbished as a politician.
"I have always believed that Adams must have known what went on. After denying it for so many years he eventually said to Helen: 'We killed your mother.' When my wife asked him if he was going to say that publicly, he replied: 'I'm not the IRA."'
Paul Bew, professor of Irish politics at Queen's University, Belfast, said the book could harm the reputation of Mr Adams in the eyes of nationalists.
"Its significance is greater for Adams personally than for the peace process," he said. "Most Unionists will not be surprised to hear these revelations; but it will damage his public persona with nationalist voters."
On a visit in Belfast yesterday, Mr Adams denied membership of the IRA and of having anything to do with the McConville murder.
Regards, Ivan
...and Bubba did not have sex with that woman...Miss Lewinsky.
Anybody know the Irish Gaelic for "lying sack of crap"?
the infowarrior
No it won't. Does the author of this article think that the Nationalist community are not very well aware of Adams past?
WHAT?
Tell me you are joking?
None whatsoever. Adams is Irish Catholic,and there are too many "professional Irishmen" living in America who would go ballistic. Not to mention other Catholics who support the "cause". Bubba-2 ain't about to take a chance on losing all those votes.
I live in London. We'd be the likely target of such an attack. Pardon me if I don't share your enthusiasm for this idea.
At least then the government would be forced to act, most likely by wiping out every last one of the vermin. God, I wish that assassination squad who tried to kill Adams in 1985 had succeeded.
He has no place in the government of a civilised nation, either Britain or Ireland. And that's the real point.
Regards, Ivan
I think it is fair to say that all voters, to some extent, suffer from amnesia, mo mhúirnín bán. Adams has benefitted more than most from this, I think.
Best Regards, Ivan
JUNE 6, 2002 (CLINTON, IRA, SEIN FEIN) A Bizarre veil of secrecy and iron-clad security last night shrouded an "achievement summit" in Dublin attended by former US president Bill Clinton and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. Scores of gardai, backed up by a Secret Service-type personnel equipped with earpieces, sleeve microphones and polite smiles, ringed the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge, where the summit was being held. The event, organised by the US-backed Academy of Achievement, was hosted by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and attended by "200 of the world's most outstanding graduate students".
Anyone have any more details on this get-together?
Spare me the patronising. Thanks.
Adams has benefitted more than most from this, I think.
I don't have any time for Adams...but for some Catholics living in Northern Ireland he is a God, an icon...and a hero. A charismatic leader...despite his past. Many of them don't care, particularly now since he has aligned himself made a 'break' from the past and aligned himself with the 'respectable' wing of SF.
I wasn't trying to be, just trying to put forward a point. I apologise if I gave off that impression.
Sincere apologies, Ivan
Further, bubba was the first president ever to invite Adams into the US where he continued his fundraising for terror right out in the open under bubba's proud face.
I didn't suggest he disappear. Making a martyr out of him is likely to be a really bad idea. He should be thrown out of government however.
Oh, and another thing. If, by some miracle, Ireland is reunited, and they get their politcal and religious life in order (not holding my breath), what are these revolutionaries going to do? What will they have to live for? They're not ready to quit yet.
I refer this to the lovely, charming and brilliant Happygal who is much more qualified than I to answer.
Regards, Ivan
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