I'm eagerly waiting for the suspected perpetrators of the Birmingham and Manchester IRA bombings to face trial in the near future.
@Ric and @bluethrunthru do you think this will be happening any time soon?
Probably not. They should do though.
I'm eagerly waiting for the suspected perpetrators of the Birmingham and Manchester IRA bombings to face trial in the near future.
@Ric and @bluethrunthru do you think this will be happening any time soon?
There are inquests due on the Birmingham bombings which the Govt seems to be handling with its usual grace and sensitivity.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/17/birmingham-ira-pub-bombs-families-threaten--boycott
I'm not sure the Government have any say in what the inquest can cover.
However, the fact that the inquest will not look at who was responsible for this atrocity (even though it's fairly well known who did actually commit this act) is again, another example of the hypocrisy surrounding the whole Soldier F episode.
I was referring to the legal aid support for the bereaved families.
With regard to Soldier F it is also ‘well known’ from the second inquiry into Bloody Sunday who fired the fatal shots and yet the majority of soldiers are also not being prosecuted. Why this one soldier is being prosecuted and the rest are not will eventually be known and until we do know we cannot judge why this prosecution is taking place.
Mate, my brother survived an I.R.A. bombing, can’t explain the anger he is feeling right now, went for a pint with him yesterday, one of his old fellow soldiers was in the pub, The pair of them are fuming to say the leastBut they won't will they?
And the reason why....... politics. It would be seen as a move jeopardising the 'peace' in NI.
As you know, I served in the Armed Forces. I'm in touch with many of my former colleagues and you wouldn't believe the level of anger over this hypocrisy.
Agree on the legal aid matter.
I'm not questioning (at least on this occasion) why Soldier F is being prosecuted.
I'm questioning why people who are known to have committed terrorist acts aren't being prosecuted.
I get that some people think Soldier F should be prosecuted but what I don't get is that some of these same people do not see the hypocrisy on show and are seemingly not bothered about it.
Presumably they are not being prosecuted for the same reasons most of the soldiers are not being prosecuted in that the bar for achieving a successful prosecution is very high given the length of time involved and difficulties getting the necessary evidence etc.
This also presumes the evidence against soldier F does reach this high bar and I’ll say it again for the thousandth time until we know exactly why and on what basis/evidence he is being charged it is impossible to reach a judgement.
Right now one soldier is being charged. Not the dozen or so involved in the shootings. Nor, as far as I am aware, are we we prosecuting other soldiers involved in other shootings including those involved in the shooting of unarmed IRA members so personally I am inclined to dial back on the outrage especially as we are still unaware of the circumstances and evidence involved in the soldier F case.