Distretto Nord

Ex-parà criticano il Rapporto Saville sul Bloody Sunday

Ex-paratroopers criticise findings of Saville report

A GROUP of former paratroopers from the battalion involved in Bloody Sunday have described the Saville Report as “fundamentally flawed”.

Bloody SundayThe report said the men from Support Company, 1 Para, “lost their self-control” on January 30, 1972 and then “put forward false accounts to justify their firing” when they gave evidence.

But an open letter signed by 35 former members of the Paratroop regiment, which was published yesterday, accused Lord Saville of coming to “subjective and inaccurate conclusions”.

The group said Lord Saville “chose one position and cherry-picked his evidence to support it”.

The letter read: “(Tony) Blair and Lord Saville knew, or should have known, that the non-participation of the Provisional IRA in the inquiry would mean that the complete truth could never be established.

“That facts are difficult to establish after 30-plus days let alone 30-plus years was also given scant regard.

“Clear and consistent eye witness accounts were discounted and all these people branded as liars.

“There has always been pressure upon Saville to produce something which would meet with the approval of the relatives and the wider republican family else they would protest that his report was but another Widgery and demand another, this time international inquiry.”

The former Paras also attacked deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness saying: “a more untruthful and unreliable witness would be hard to find”.

Mr McGuinness was found to have been “probably armed with a Thompson submachine gun”, although he had since denied he was in possession of a machine gun at that time.

The letter also criticised the lack of reference to the role of the IRA on that day in Londonderry but said it was “not surprising” as “to do so would be to highlight to the British taxpayer that the inquiry was ill-conceived and incapable of establishing the facts before a single pound coin had been spent, let alone well over £200 million of them”.

While it admitted “mistakes” were made on the day, it asked why, out of the “hundreds” of riots 1 Para had witnessed, did soldiers use live rounds on Bloody Sunday?

“We submit that it was because the hostile firing by elements of the Provisional IRA triggered a sequence of events which ultimately proved tragic.”

But it added: “Those who broke the law and brought disgrace fully deserve to be punished.”

Lieutenant Colonel Wilford was criticised by Lord Saville of disobeying orders by sending his men into the Catholic Bogside area of Londonderry.

But the soldiers countered that the attack on their commanding officer was a “cynical exercise to head off the possibility of criticism that the inquiry might condemn only lowly ranking officers and men”.

The men, who were not involved in the shootings, added: “The qualities Col Wilford has shown over these past years are but a few of the reasons his officers and men would have followed him anywhere”.

A copy of the Bloody Sunday report has been passed to Northern Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions.

Pagina precedente 1 2
Tags

René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

Related Articles

Close