But the activities over the years of two men with the surnames Satchwell & Adams suggest it might work better as signage for an illegal firm rather than a legal one.
For weeks court news has been replete with reports on Richard Satchwell and Gerry Adams' immersion in legal battles within the Irish judicial system. One proved successful, the other not.
A conspiracy theorist might insist, as they tend to, that both cases ran in tandem for a reason. Each man considered a monster by not insubstantial numbers of people, the court schedulers with a dark sense of humour might have thought it worthwhile to parade the unctuous duo with the intent of titillating the general public's perceived love of horror. A Jack the Ripper and his alter ego type casting. But that is what it would be, conspiracist nonsense. Still, there remains a commonality. Both men have been arrested as suspects in police murder investigations, the victims on each occasion being women. Each of the dead women had been disappeared, their remains concealed in unmarked graves. Satchwell & Adams spent time in the witness box in May lying under oath. While a Sinn Fein colleague of Adams described him in Aoife Moore's book The Long Game as a 'terrible person,' it is a term that could as readily be applied to Satchwell. Neither man is the companion of choice to walk a beach with.
Satchwell definitely lied about the fate of his wife, Tina. He has been lying since the moment he killed her, but got away with it for so long because An Garda failed to see what was in front of their noses. Whether Adams lied about his alleged role in the killing of Denis Donaldson, we might never know. When the allegation was first made, I found it unpersuasive, saying as much on the Vincent Browne show. The people who count, the jury, certainly believed him. And while he may have abandoned the notion of trial by jury for those of a lesser god in favour of the no-jury Special Criminal Court, he availed of the twelve in his defamation case against the BBC.
For weeks court news has been replete with reports on Richard Satchwell and Gerry Adams' immersion in legal battles within the Irish judicial system. One proved successful, the other not.
A conspiracy theorist might insist, as they tend to, that both cases ran in tandem for a reason. Each man considered a monster by not insubstantial numbers of people, the court schedulers with a dark sense of humour might have thought it worthwhile to parade the unctuous duo with the intent of titillating the general public's perceived love of horror. A Jack the Ripper and his alter ego type casting. But that is what it would be, conspiracist nonsense. Still, there remains a commonality. Both men have been arrested as suspects in police murder investigations, the victims on each occasion being women. Each of the dead women had been disappeared, their remains concealed in unmarked graves. Satchwell & Adams spent time in the witness box in May lying under oath. While a Sinn Fein colleague of Adams described him in Aoife Moore's book The Long Game as a 'terrible person,' it is a term that could as readily be applied to Satchwell. Neither man is the companion of choice to walk a beach with.
Satchwell definitely lied about the fate of his wife, Tina. He has been lying since the moment he killed her, but got away with it for so long because An Garda failed to see what was in front of their noses. Whether Adams lied about his alleged role in the killing of Denis Donaldson, we might never know. When the allegation was first made, I found it unpersuasive, saying as much on the Vincent Browne show. The people who count, the jury, certainly believed him. And while he may have abandoned the notion of trial by jury for those of a lesser god in favour of the no-jury Special Criminal Court, he availed of the twelve in his defamation case against the BBC.
For those of us who still believe in trial by jury, it would be most churlish to complain that the jury got it wrong simply because we detect something of the night in Adams. While the former IRA leader may not have lied in court about the death of Denis Donaldson, what he did lie to the judge and jury about was his membership of the IRA. That should jolt few. Again, a Sinn Fein colleague is reported in The Long Game as claiming: 'when he is confronted with any uncomfortable truth his first instinct is to lie to everybody.' Aoife Moore also details a meeting attended by Adams and long time Sinn Fein staffer and former hunger striker, the formidable Leo Green, at which the latter boldly stated: 'I want everybody to hear me say this: Gerry, you're a liar.'
Adams left the court with his hands deep in BBC pockets, although he has undertaken to donate it to charity. Satchwell left with his hands in cuffs to face a life sentence. So law firm or lie firm, there ends the story of Satchwell & Adams.
Outside the court Adams bragged that he had put manners on the BBC. Not the most prudent repeat of an earlier promise to put manners on the PSNI. That particular body demonstrated the manners he put on it when it arrested and held him for four days. It has since grown even less mannerly by its cover up in the Sean Brown murder case. The BBC hopes the same type of manners will be put on it.
The Irish News columnist Brian Feeney predicted the onset of a chill factor:
Outside the court Adams bragged that he had put manners on the BBC. Not the most prudent repeat of an earlier promise to put manners on the PSNI. That particular body demonstrated the manners he put on it when it arrested and held him for four days. It has since grown even less mannerly by its cover up in the Sean Brown murder case. The BBC hopes the same type of manners will be put on it.
The Irish News columnist Brian Feeney predicted the onset of a chill factor:
. . . there will be fewer jokes about Gerry Adams never being an IRA leader. The Irish media will take more care about accusations they make about Adams and other senior republican politicians. So, of course will the BBC.
As a historian, Brian Feeney is likely horrified at the prospect of historical accuracy being frozen out in the service of lying, although the anticipated temperature drop seems not to have set in just yet. The Belfast Telegraph immediately ran a headline, Gerry Adams is a man of towering ambition who’d no moral qualms about securing his goal through murder. Strong stuff, indicative of a news outlet determined to meet the challenge despite the €4 million-plus warning sign being brandished as a deterrent.
It remains to be seen if Adams will settle for his victory or press for more. If, in his vanity and unbridled ambition, he retains an eye on Phoenix Park, feeling that his vindication is a licence to vanquish anyone willing to challenge his false narrative, more writs can be expected.
While most erstwhile IRA volunteers would be immensely proud to proclaim that they were IRA comrades of Bobby Sands - even those not willing to admit it for legal reasons would not deign to deny it - for Adams, the consummate career politician, such a relationship must be aggressively repudiated. It is a hindrance, Sands a mere opportunity, not a volunteer comrade in this Garden of Gethsemane-like atmosphere of disavowal.
If a writ to protect such mendacity and dissembling is served the imperative for writers and historians is defiance not acquiescence. No writ or court in the land can change or suppress this: I was an IRA comrade of both Bobby Sands and Gerry Adams, proud of the first, ashamed of the second.
 |
| ⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre. |
Yeah but you can say that because you have what Adams lacks; Integrity.
ReplyDeleteOne would also imagine there would have been no shortage of people looking to knock off Donaldson at the time too.
Cam comments
Delete"One would also imagine there would have been no shortage of people looking to knock off Donaldson at the time too."
Is Steve hinting at something else that he is aware off!
Cam it was obvious he was 'turned' due to a honeytrap of sorts with the inference that his predilections were less than savory.
DeleteMI5 as are all Intel agencies are renowned for this. The Provos would have wanted to send a message and the spooks would have been happy as dead men tell no tales.
AM
ReplyDeleteThe BBC could learn that mocking and ironic satire about Adams is more effective, and costs less, than defamation.