The case for criminal proceedings

There is something weak and craven in the statements from the half- apologists for the Bloody Sunday killings. In the assertion from Sir Michael Rose that it was British soldiers who brought peace in Northern Ireland, not Tony Blair. In the right wing press showing photographs of British soldiers serving in Afghanistan and insisting look, these are good people and we ought to remember that. In the statements from my old mate Patrick Mercer MP who says that the Saville Inquiry will only make things worse in Ulster.

These are pretty cheap and specious arguments, non-sequiturs. The obvious truth, much though it might hurt, is that the army, on that day, behaved abominably and our own government, over the years, even more so in refusing to face the facts and dissembling when questioned. It’s not enough simply to say that generally we were in the right and trying to do our best while that vicious little weasel Martin McGuinness was wandering around with a submachine gun. Cameron’s apology is a good start, but even with 36 years distance, there is surely a case for criminal proceedings.