Such is the feeding frenzy that anything in the water looking remotely like one of the headhunters is regarded as food to be dissected and devoured, their own heads hunted.
Last week in the space of a few days, allegations emerged against two people reported in the media as having previously plied their counterintelligence trade in the ISU. One, Paddy Monaghan, is deceased. The allegations against him appeared in Sunday Life which claimed he had been outed. Yet the content of the article does not substantiate the outing. It was a string of suspicions expressed by people who either were, or claimed to be, former colleagues of Monaghan. Oddly, there was nobody from the British intelligence services cited in support of the supposed outing.
The other was said by the Irish News to have fled his home in West Belfast. This was later disputed by the man’s solicitor. The journalist Allison Morris also reported that he had been seen drinking with friends in West Belfast.
Unfortunately for the person alleged to have upped sticks, Danny Morrison weighed in to cast doubt on the claims made in the Irish News, accusing the paper of inventing the story. To the man at the centre of the allegations this was as helpful as the kiss of death, immediately giving rise to a surge of suspicion in the already active whisper world. Morrison had previously covered up for Scappaticci’s role in the British state’s Dirty War when he was first outed so, to many, it prompted the thought of here we go again, same old, same old.
The accused man, by now, must be sitting in his abode terrified in case Adam O’Toole of An Phoblacht wades in to back him. O’Toole’s cover-up for Scappaticci was described by the journalist Suzanne Breen as holding “pride of place in all the tripe trundled out … it’s unbelievable that anybody took the garbage it printed seriously.”
Morrison and his ilk, because they were “willing participants” in Britain’s dirty war, using their influence to deflect people away from what it actually was, have diminished the likelihood of a queue forming this time around to buy anything that even smells like cover-up. Their dissembling has fueled an equal and opposite reaction whereby people will be inclined to believe the opposite of whatever Danny Morrison tells them.
Last week in the space of a few days, allegations emerged against two people reported in the media as having previously plied their counterintelligence trade in the ISU. One, Paddy Monaghan, is deceased. The allegations against him appeared in Sunday Life which claimed he had been outed. Yet the content of the article does not substantiate the outing. It was a string of suspicions expressed by people who either were, or claimed to be, former colleagues of Monaghan. Oddly, there was nobody from the British intelligence services cited in support of the supposed outing.
The other was said by the Irish News to have fled his home in West Belfast. This was later disputed by the man’s solicitor. The journalist Allison Morris also reported that he had been seen drinking with friends in West Belfast.
Unfortunately for the person alleged to have upped sticks, Danny Morrison weighed in to cast doubt on the claims made in the Irish News, accusing the paper of inventing the story. To the man at the centre of the allegations this was as helpful as the kiss of death, immediately giving rise to a surge of suspicion in the already active whisper world. Morrison had previously covered up for Scappaticci’s role in the British state’s Dirty War when he was first outed so, to many, it prompted the thought of here we go again, same old, same old.
The accused man, by now, must be sitting in his abode terrified in case Adam O’Toole of An Phoblacht wades in to back him. O’Toole’s cover-up for Scappaticci was described by the journalist Suzanne Breen as holding “pride of place in all the tripe trundled out … it’s unbelievable that anybody took the garbage it printed seriously.”
Morrison and his ilk, because they were “willing participants” in Britain’s dirty war, using their influence to deflect people away from what it actually was, have diminished the likelihood of a queue forming this time around to buy anything that even smells like cover-up. Their dissembling has fueled an equal and opposite reaction whereby people will be inclined to believe the opposite of whatever Danny Morrison tells them.
Moreover, we might wonder why Morrison would challenge the Irish News story no matter how correct he might have been in his assertions that the 'well known West Belfast republican' had not fled his home. He had to know that his contribution, given his role in the Scappaticci cover-up, rather than exonerate the individual in the eye of the storm, would have made him a person of interest to many observers.
Ahead of the Kenova Report being published the rumour mill will be indulging in foreplay in anticipation of the climax many either expect or hope for. There will be no shortage of people willing to believe anything so long as it is whispered to them. For that very reason, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, the bar should be high. Sinn Fein lowered it considerably by its cover-up for Scappaticci, making it easy for critics to hurl accusations around, and difficult for the accused to defend against particularly if Danny Morrison is in their corner.
Those culpable of working for the British in their Dirty War have no right to see their role buried along with their victims. Whether through choice or coercion, their decision was heinous. Those not working for the British, no matter how much of the Sinn Fein Kool-Aid they have either doled out or consumed, have every right not to be wrongly accused.
If there is a substantive belief that certain people were agents of the British, then the allegation should only ever be openly levelled because it is rooted in an authentic perspective and grounded in evidence. It is not a charge to be contrived merely to smear an opponent.
Ahead of the Kenova Report being published the rumour mill will be indulging in foreplay in anticipation of the climax many either expect or hope for. There will be no shortage of people willing to believe anything so long as it is whispered to them. For that very reason, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, the bar should be high. Sinn Fein lowered it considerably by its cover-up for Scappaticci, making it easy for critics to hurl accusations around, and difficult for the accused to defend against particularly if Danny Morrison is in their corner.
Those culpable of working for the British in their Dirty War have no right to see their role buried along with their victims. Whether through choice or coercion, their decision was heinous. Those not working for the British, no matter how much of the Sinn Fein Kool-Aid they have either doled out or consumed, have every right not to be wrongly accused.
If there is a substantive belief that certain people were agents of the British, then the allegation should only ever be openly levelled because it is rooted in an authentic perspective and grounded in evidence. It is not a charge to be contrived merely to smear an opponent.
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Well to be fair Anthony Morrison would be an authority on who was or wasn't a tout!
ReplyDeleteGreat article Anthony, Will we ever see the full publication of the Kenova report,
ReplyDeleteDid you ever cross paths with Scap, Monaghan or Magee.
What would make them do what they did.
It is hard to fathom the whole situation
Knew Scap in 74; met Magee in Magilligan the following year. Would see Monaghan in the bar down the road on a Sunday evening in the late 90s but don't think I ever spoke a word to him. I didn't know the guy.
Delete