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Showing posts with label Freddie Scappaticci. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freddie Scappaticci. Show all posts
Dixie Elliot ✊I remember it well.

Why Sinn Fein should hang its head in shame over Scappaticci silence

Adams, McGuinness, and Gerry Kelly - all faces which would demand respect among those still stupid enough to believe that they were solid Republicans.

And there was also Danny 'The Rat in a Hat' Morrison who is a bigger liar than even Gerry himself.
I remember McGuinness using the term, 'Dissident Journalists' at some point and thought, 'ah f*ck off, you're ripping the arse out of it now!'

But it was Morrison who went on to contradict their 2003 defence of Scappaticci in an 2016 interview with the Irish News in which he said that he, Scappaticci, had been stood down in 1990, under a cloud of suspicion, after 'the Sandy Lynch affair.'

If he had been stood down back in 1990 under a 'cloud of suspicion' why were they so forceful in their defence of him in 2003?

It's not that they had taken Scappaticci away to some remote cottage and given him the same treatment as his own victims before him.

This was, after all 1990, and the war was still four years away from the ceasefire. They had no problem doing it to Caroline Mooreland a few weeks before that ceasefire - in the full knowledge it was coming - and dumped her body at the side of the road.

In regards to Scappaticci the so called leadership of Adams, McGuinness, Gerry Kelly and their faithful lackey Danny Morrison have as many questions to answer as British Intelligence do.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

Many Questions

Muiris Ó Súilleabháin ✍ I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones, never having met Freddie Scap in his professional capacity as interrogator and executioner in chief for the IRA. 

I recall bumping into him in a crowded Emerald Bar, Dundalk, in 1993, and then a few years later in a pub in Belfast. These encounters were social and accidental and on both occasions my company, who would have been widely respected Republicans in their own right, left me in no doubt as to his standing within the movement.

The first happenstance was the more remarkable of the two, because Scap was with another “fallen angel” John Joe Magee. John Joe who was plastered was keen to impress the crowd with a display of his physique which was not that dissimilar to the wrestler Big Daddy. Having dispensed of his shirt and his vest in a packed bar with the arrogance of the untouchable, someone decided that flicking a lit cigarette butt at his obese torso was their idea of fun.

Things started to get out of hand, and it was only the intervention of Alex Maskey that prevented an awkward escalation into fisticuffs or worse for a young republican from Belfast. Order was eventually restored but it was the first occasion that I heard the watchword “ScapMageed”.

Timelines are important when dealing with the past and the truth, and I clearly remember both encounters. The first was on the Sunday night that the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis ended in Dundalk in 1993. The second was 96/97 when a team of people who had been on “interface” standby over July were having some much-needed pints at the end of an arduous few weeks. Scap was already in the bar, and he joined the small group that I was with. Just like our first encounter, I was in the company of people of authority within the movement, people who would have known if Scap had been stood down or been dismissed as alleged in January 1991. Quaffing pints and engaging in “bar talk” with persona non grata or suspected informers would just not have been the done thing for these boys.

The next time Scap entered my radar was the beginning of May 2003, when the cover up into his criminality, war, crimes and collusion was entering overdrive. Contrary to the brazenly absurd commentary by John Finucane MP on Kenova, the cover up at this stage was being instigated and managed by the hierarchy of the IRA. That IRA cover up continues to this day and remains the greatest barrier to the truth being established.

O’Mulleoir and Livingstone, somehow manged to get an exclusive interview with Scap which headlined in what its critics described as the Provo weekly. Their scoop detailed how Scap, the mild-mannered bricklayer and good neighbour had been maligned by the spooks and was aghast at the allegations that he was an informer or a murderer. The detail that Andytown’s Woodward and Bernstein failed to disclose to their readership was that during the stage-managed interview and photoshoot, Scap was in close proximity at all times to senior members of the Republican movement. Likewise, when Scap went public with his solicitor, he was once again shadowed by his IRA handlers.

Perhaps young John, MP, is blissfully unaware that the most widely used photograph of Scap, is the one taken outside the offices of the Andytout News. A photo taken on the day when the Republican Movement approved a Scap interview in the local Pravda, in an attempt to cover up his bestial crimes.

Mary Lou, not to be outdone by the stupidity of her northern comrade, has once again raucously called out the Brits. Kenova, she says, 'confirms that the British state played a central role in the murder of Irish Citizens north and south.'

Displaying a neck like a jockey’s bollocks, the President of Sinn Fein failed to mention that Kenova primarily confirms without a shadow of a doubt that the IRA also murdered and tortured Irish Citizens north and south. Kenova further verifies that the IRA shattered international humanitarian laws and the laws of war (Article 8 of the Rome Statute) by kidnapping, torturing and murdering civilians and its own members.

In committing what can legitimately be described as war crimes, the leadership of the IRA - those who unleashed the luciferous Internal Security Unit, those who dispatched young men and women to be “scapmageed” - are more culpable than the foot soldiers who carried out their orders. Scap, as inhuman as he was, could not have committed a single murder or a single act of torture without the imprimatur of the IRA Army Council.

Therin lies the rub; Kenova’s outcome was predetermined by the main protagonists from the start. I have no misgivings about Jon Boutchers sincerity or the lengths that his team went to in furtherance of the investigation. He gives the impression of someone who was genuinely moved by the stories of the families and shocked by the horrors that he heard.

The British establishment was always going to protect itself and likewise the IRA establishment was never going to cooperate with Kenova. The British and the IRA hold enough information to bring much-needed closure to all of the families concerned. That both establishments chose not to share their information with Kenova, says much for the future of legacy investigations in the north and demonstrates a sordid commodification of truth by both in their ongoing legacy wars.

The British authorities and Sinn Fein authorities yet again displayed little concern for the needs of the families, for victims and survivors. Their set piece responses to the publication of Kenova reflect the absence of either contrition for wrongdoing or any sense of guilt for what was essentially a joint enterprise.

The response by Relatives For Justice in particular was partisan and macabre to say the least, and their call to reattribute the murders of the IRA to the British was repulsive as it deliberately overlooked the role of IRA in the killings.

Thus, we see a strategy to protect PIRA’s leadership while simultaneously frustrating its fighters, not necessarily killing them. In the end the Northern Ireland conflict was ended not by the insurgents who were killed, but by those who lived - Colonel Richard Irons

Freddie Scappaticci was Stakeknife. Stakeknife was the IRA establishment and Stakeknife was the British establishment, in equal parts. He served both masters loyally. 

⏩Muiris Ó Súilleabháin was a member of the Republican Movement until he retired in 2006 after 20 years of service. Fiche bhliain ag fás.

The Dog That Didn’t Bark 🪶 Operation Kenova

Michael Phillips ✍ In a groundbreaking piece of reporting, Scappaticci was confirmed as the top informer . . . according to Kenova. 

A general even referred to him as the intelligence services’ “golden egg.” Well, sort of - more of a wink-wink, unofficial nod. Thank God for that. But when you think about it, there has been a flood of public announcements, articles, books, tweets and social posts all pointing to this supposed mastermind spy in the IRA. You’d almost think there’s a deliberate effort to dump everything at Scap’s feet because it serves a greater purpose. Was he really that good?

This whole episode brings to mind one sharp-witted observer during Derry’s supergrass trial of Raymond Gilmour, who declared on a local wall: I knew Gilmour. Thank fuck he didn’t know me. I’d wager quite a few volunteers were relieved that Freddie didn’t know them either.

The media, of course, flooded the airwaves for some time, declaring Scap the “Top Spy,” and now they’ve repeated the official/unofficial line that it was indeed him. Case closed, £50 million spent - now move on.

The truth, of course, is that Scap was an enforcer with orders to kill as many volunteers as possible and muddy the waters about who was and wasn’t a real tout. The strategy was basic at its core, relying more on fear and the hope that embarrassed families would stay quiet and meekly accept the “reliability” of the information.

The reality is that Scap was not, never was, and couldn’t - even if he tried - have been the golden egg. That title still belongs to another far more worthy individual. The protections awarded to him are epic, and they make poor ole Scap look truly on his owny own.

But let’s step back for a moment before discussing how Republicans could prevent a rerun of the Scap-trap—and, God willing, help the Brits save millions on the next Kenova investigation.

A little context first. I’m the least politically astute ex-POW among my peers. I’ve never read the GFA, and I avoid debates because I simply lack the historical knowledge and experience they earned over decades of taking the fight to the Brits. My POW status came from pure idealism. I distinctly remember such revolutionary notions being labelled naïve after my arrest. Sadly, there’s now a ring of embarrassing truth to the naysayers.

My path down that lonely road was carved in a youth spent knee-deep in British and Unionist discrimination, suppression, and political assassinations on my own Belfast doorstep. There was no brainwashing or coercion - who needed it when you could witness all that blood and mayhem on your way to school?

A few people know my updated views, which I like to think of as simply having matured. One recently asked if I was anti–Sinn Féin and - hold my pint - if I supported dissidents. I replied that, as a much much wiser person now, I couldn’t give two flying forks for either. I’ve got the T-shirt and spent the best part of 20+ years trying to untangle whether my efforts were in vain. The evidence was always there. Part of me still refuses to look in the mirror and accept the truth, even though the other part looks back with a cheesy “I told you so” grin.

Despite any misgivings about the past, I want to underscore that peace is a positive for the North, and the fundamental reason the GFA is irreplaceable today is that the tech world has been exploding (no pun intended). “Man-made” wars will eventually take the “man” out of it entirely - and that’s before we even consider how AI is about to rule the world. Literally. The armed struggle is truly finished, and any attempts to resurrect it are doomed from a thousand different angles.

Returning to the Scap-trap: I’ve no doubt history will show he was the fall guy. The other lad is slipperier than fish oil and more durable than Teflon. Better yet, it’s not even a secret who he is, though only a handful of people know the details. I even wrote about it in my novel Lily White. Informing is a complicated process, apparently, and if you’re worth your weight in gold, you’re protected accordingly. Poor ole Scapp fell because he had a taste for donkeys, which drew the ire of some righteous Branch men who took advantage of his unusual inclinations.

Lady Justice is a fickle mistress - something Freddie no doubt took to heart. If we’re to avoid a rerun of Kenova, more people need to come forward before it’s too late. Touts make colossal mistakes all the time, and in the past we can be forgiven for doubting our instincts. Fear and paranoia can make it hard to whisper a word in someone’s ear about that gut feeling concerning a certain person.

The Peace Process is here to stay, no matter how the dirty pranksters in MI5 and their Branch counterparts try to whip up new hysteria. History will judge the rest of us badly. Worse still, it may laugh at us for swallowing the Scap pill not once but twice - when they hang someone else out to dry for the real golden egg.

Fortunately, there are enough breadcrumbs that will eventually lead to the Teflon Don’s door. Let’s hope it’s long before he joins the ranks of our dead heroes. It’s never a good look pissing on the grave of someone who can’t defend themselves and then trying to convince the world he was a real bastard.

‘Say nothing’ is out. Get it off your chest and say something. Our reputations can’t sink any lower at this point. And if we can force more truth into the open, at least we’ll save the taxpayer a few million - money that could be better spent promoting Irish for the next generation’s real heroes.

⏩Michael Phillips is a former republican prisoner. Keep up with his work.

Scap Outed, Again

Richard O'Rawe 🎤speaking to Matt Cooper on The Last Word.

The will of the man believed to be Britain’s top agent inside the IRA will not be made public after the British High Court ruled that it should be sealed for 70 years. 

Freddie Scappaticci, also known as Stakeknife, denied the claims until his death in 2023. Richard O’Rawe, author of Stakeknife’s Dirty War, spoke to Matt to discuss the decision.

Will Of Freddie Scappaticci To Be Sealed For 70 Years

Dixie Elliot ✍I finally managed to watch Seamus Kearney's gut-wrenching interview on Prime Time.

We can never imagine what Seamus went through that day, as he was given the terrible news that his brother Michael had been shot dead as an informer and dumped on the side of a border road. 

Many years later, forty-four to be exact, we saw the pain etched on his face as he recounted the priest breaking the news, his journey back to the Hell-Blocks and being taunted by a screw.

The British were determined to win the war at any cost, even sacrificing their own agents to keep those higher up, like Scappaticci, in place. Going as far as to let members of their own military forces die so as not to expose a high-ranking agent/tout.
 
There is no doubt that the British government, MI5 and FRU were guilty of war crimes. It was indeed a dirty war in which many brave volunteers were dying not knowing that the 'leadership' had plans to end it from at least 1987. Not knowing how high up betrayal went and surely never believing that those, like Scappaticci and John Joe Magee, who led the unit tasked with rooting out touts were actually touts themselves.

Volunteer Michael Kearney was just one of their victims, how many more innocent victims of Britain's dirty war might there be?

How many more Stakeknives might still be waiting to be uncovered?
Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

How Many More?

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ Amid all the recent euphoria, frivolities and pretentiousness of US President Joe Bidens visit to Ireland one piece of otherwise headline news, relegated to also ran, came to many peoples attention.
 

 On Tuesday 11th April it was announced on the news, after reams and reams about the President’s visit had bored the pants off every sane person, that “the British Army’s top agent inside the IRA was dead”. Freddie Scappaticci, also known as “Stakeknife” the man who terrorised his own comrades, if stories are correct and they do look likely, on behalf of the enemy had died. 

Scappaticci was the head of the IRAs internal security division known as the “Nutting Squad”, the department within the IRA which interrogated suspected informers, many of whom were no such thing, until they confessed often to a crime they had not committed. The interrogations were, according to accounts, brutal and even the innocent eventually confessed after days of unbridled torture by “Stakeknife” and his gang. 

Scappaticci could be described as a modern-day Mathew Hopkins, the man who roamed Eastern England back in the days of the English Civil War looking for witches. He was known as the “Witch Finder General” and he interrogated innocent women on the slightest hunch or the word of a bent informer until they confessed to being a Witch. They were then invariably burnt at the stake! Scappaticci was in the same league, if the stories are true, as was Hopkins who, like “Stakeknife” just disappeared when the heat got too hot. It must be added at this point that Freddie Scappaticci has, or had, always denied these allegations and they could, just could, be a ruse set up by the British, as also could his death!

On Wednesday 12th April the Irish Mirror reported “IRA Spy Stakeknife Dead and Buried” on page 17. Ordinarily this would have been front page news but became a minor detail by comparison with the visit of Joe “pretend to be Irish” Biden. This title I have given the President is not his fault but the result of mass hysteria on the news about the President's Irish roots. He also has English origins, something he mentioned while in Belfast, but little was made of this by the media. The Irish Mirror told us “The IRA spy who was known as Stakeknife died several days ago and was buried last week” so anytime between 1st April and the 7th April sounds about right for his timely death. If this was the case, why the delay? Why wait until a time when few people, hypnotised by Joe Bidens visit, would take a blind bit of notice, why wait until now to announce the death of such a high-profile figure? If he died “several days ago” why not tell us “several days ago”? The paper then went on:

The West Belfast man would have been in his 70s and had left Northern Ireland in 2003. This is when he was first accused of being the highest-ranking British spy in the Provisional IRA.

It would be thought that such a headline and high-profile person as Scappaticci would have been named and aged precisely, not being in his 70s, which covers ten years of his life. How old was he exactly and where if anywhere was he buried? If such a lot is, or was, known about the man’s activities working for the British FRU (Force Research Unit) a top secret British undercover unit answerable to nobody, not even the Home Secretary, which was disbanded after the “Stevens Inquiries” into allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitary groups and the security forces, including the FRU, why not his precise age, and exact time of death? 

The reality in fact was the FRU was not disbanded just renamed the “Joint Support Group” and continued as usual. These allegations have been confirmed by some former members of the unit, not least Martin Ingram, real name Ian Hurst, who went public about the FRUs activities and they are more than capable of arranging a phantom death, a death which may have never occurred. The disbandment and rebranding of the FRU could be likened to the closure of the Windscale Nuclear Power Station after the nuclear accident in 1957. After a further string of accidents, it was renamed Sellafield in 1981. The truth was it was not closed at all just renamed Sellafield in much the same way the FRU had been renamed the “Joint Support Group”!

If “Stakeknife” has been dead for several days, as the Irish Mirror reported then why have we waited so long to be told? After all, back in the early 21st century when news of this man’s involvement hit our screens and news-papers it was headline stuff. Why has his supposed death being relegated to a passing comment? Has anybody seen a body or remains to confirm this mysterious passing? Or could it be that Scappaticci is not dead at all and all this is just a pretence by the British? If, and I stress if, that is the case it raises the question, why? If he is not dead but alive and kicking in some unknown destination what reason could the British side have for this deception? Could there still be a kind of mini cold war going on between the British Army and the IRA despite the signing of the so-called Good Friday Agreement back in 1998? Could the British still have agents to protect inside the Provisional movement? Could the continued official existence of “Stakeknife” have posed some kind of threat to British operations? If this is the case why not just kill Scappaticci out of hand? Is this what may have happened to that other high ranking British Agent, Denis Donaldson? He went public about his involvement working for the British side, retired to Donegal and was found dead. No person(s) have been caught for his murder, which is what it was, and all suspicions were conveniently pointed in the direction of “dissident republicans”! The British SAS are just as culpable in the Donaldson death, he knew too much!!

Almost two weeks have now passed since the media first briefly mentioned the passing of Freddie Scappaticci and nothing more has been heard of him, or his body. Now that Biden-mania has died down, and the reality hits home that half the population are not related to the US President, there have been plenty of slots in the news and newspapers to tell us a little more about the British number one agent inside the IRAs demise. Yet, not a murmur! When it first hit the airwaves and media back in the early years of the new century it was earthshattering news. Every bulletin had something to say about the “British Agent” who was the IRA's top torturer, possibly even putting other lesser agents of the Crown through the grinder! Yet all we have had in the news is where Gerry Hutch is going to next which, frankly, is about as interesting as what colour boxer Shorts Prince Harry wears. Why has nothing been said about “Stakeknife”? could it be he may not be dead after all and it is another British ruse? If so, why? Why would the British make up such a tale? Could it be that despite the Good Friday Agreement they, the British, are still conducting a “dirty war” in the six-counties? Has a body of Freddie been seen by any independent witnesses? Do bodies not usually have to be identified? Has anybody done this? Of course, I may have missed something so if anybody reading this has heard any news which clarifies this enigma it would be interesting to hear. Maybe he is dead, equally maybe he is alive and well on Mars!!

So, is “Stakeknife” dead? If he is when is the funeral, oh, sorry, he has already had a burial according to the Irish Mirror. Surely, he has family and as he denied the allegations to his dying day, if indeed that is what he met, then surely, they would be standing by him? Or, on the other hand have his denials fell on deaf ears, including his family, and, this being the case, have the British secretly disposed of him? Perhaps he could be, if he is dead, be at some unknown bog in the twenty-six counties like so many other of the “disappeared” many sent there by this man himself, as that must surely now be what Scappaticci could be, one of the “disappeared!!” Have the British disposed of their inconvenient waste in much the same way as the IRA did theirs. This being the case, if indeed it is the case, it makes all the hype over the “disappeared” look a little hypocritical, but it is very early days. Perhaps when the Biden hype has died down a more in-depth account of what has happened to Fred Scappaticcii my surface.

The final question, for the moment is; is Fred the Dread really dead or is he alive and well after plastic surgery somewhere in South America?

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Is Fred The Dread Really Dead?

Seamus Kearney ✍ James Young took the oath of allegiance to the IRA in 1974, while living in the tiny fishing village of Portaferry, at the mouth of Strangford Lough, County Down. 

He only played a minor role until 1975, the year in which his life changed, after he was ordered to partake in an armed robbery to raise funds for the purchase of weapons. His role as an active service volunteer ended in the Spring of 1976, when he was arrested and charged with robbery and possession of incendiary devices, thanks to the information of an informer.

On 11th November 1976, Jimmy was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment, but was released within 4 years due to the 50 per cent remission clause. He returned to his home in Beechwood Avenue, Portaferry, determined to resume married life.

However, in August 1981 he was involved in a car accident, deemed to be his fault and told to report to Newtownards RUC station. When Jimmy arrived he was met by two Special Branch officers and blackmailed into becoming an informer. If he refused their offer, then it was indicated to him that he could be returned to prison, to serve out the remaining 4 years of his sentence. He agreed to work for them under duress.

From November 1981, Jimmy Young was under orders from Special Branch, along with Military Intelligence, to rejoin the local PIRA unit and to become much more active. He passed on details of a co-ordinated bombing campaign in County Down, which resulted in operations being abandoned, along with a number of IRA volunteers being killed or captured.

By the end of 1983 the IRA were aware that many of its operations were known to the British, so an internal investigation was launched, with a field of suspects being narrowed down, one by one. By the end of the first week of February 1984 the IRA believed the culprit was none other than Jimmy Young. The PIRA investigation team ascertained that Young had been turned as a result of the car accident in 1981 because he had never been arrested since that time. The question for them now was how to get Young out of the sleepy village of Portaferry and into the ' Bandit country' of South Armagh, where an in depth interrogation could commence.

After the IRA told Young to attend a meeting, he in turn told his handlers, who gave him two phone numbers in case he was walking into a trap. However, he never got the chance to phone anyone as he was quickly transported to South Armagh, and handed over to the IRA 's special interrogation and execution unit.

As was standard procedure at the time, the IRA Internal Security Unit, or ISU, was requested, not by South Armagh, but by Northern Command to oversee the interrogation of James Young. When Freddie Scappaticci and his superior, the former British Marine, arrived, they began asking questions of Young which aroused suspicion from the tightly knit South Armagh Brigade men. It was the type of questioning levelled at Young, in which Scap would want to know about every IRA volunteer in the County Down area and the operations they carried out, along with the location of arms dumps, which raised eyebrows from others in the room.

Young broke under 3 days of IRA interrogation and confessed that he was an agent, working for Special Branch and British Military Intelligence. He revealed that he had tampered with explosive devices to ensure they did not detonate and had transported a sub-machine gun to Belfast the previous month, January 1984, with the help of his handlers. This alerted the IRA to the possibility that the sub- machine gun could be bugged, or a tracking device inserted in the butt of the weapon, which had happened before.

As was standard practice with Freddie Scappaticci and his superior, who were both working for the British, Scap with the military Force Research Unit and his superior for RUC Special Branch, they vacated the safe house in the Irish Republic, a few miles from Jonesborough, in South Armagh, 24 hours prior to the execution.
 
Scappaticci, aka Stakeknife, informed his handler of exactly the circumstance with Jimmy Young, along with the address etc. The handler in turn, through his SB50 form, quickly submitted it to the Task Co - Ordinating Group ( TCG), the body of senior RUC / Military personnel, with the power over life and death, similar to the Roman Emperors overseeing the gladiatorial contests, giving a 'thumbs up, or thumbs down' to the combatants in the arena.

On this occasion and for no apparent reason, the TCG made the absolutely rare decision to send the cavalry, and informed the Gardai of the whereabouts of Jimmy Young.

Tragically for Jimmy, the Gardai cordoned off the little cul de sac of houses, but stormed into the wrong house looking to rescue him. Once the IRA volunteers realised what was happening, they immediately grabbed Young and sprinted out the rear door, frog marching him across the neighbouring fields. The two remaining IRA volunteers walked out the front door and leisurely climbed into their car, but were stopped by the Gardai patrol in the cul de sac. One Gardai officer approached their vehicle and recognised the IRA driver, then stated' " You have a hell of a cheek defending anyone in a court martial". The car was then flagged on.

Subsequently, on February 13th, 1984, Jimmy Young was executed by South Armagh Brigade and he was found lying face down by a stone wall on a roadside near Crossmaglen. He had been shot once in the head. Young left a wife and four children behind.

The South Armagh Brigade, based on what had transpired at the Gardai check point and the raid on the cul de sac, blamed Scappaticci for the compromise. A report was sent to Belfast and Northern Command but for some inexplicable reason nothing was done. As a result Scap and his superior in the Special Boat Service ( Royal Marines) escaped and lived to fight for the British for another day.

As for the bugged submachine gun, it was moved to an arms dump in Dunloy, County Antrim. The IRA reckoned that the submachine gun was bugged and a tracking device had been inserted. As it turned out, they were correct: a covert unit of SAS were heading toward Dunloy, to ambush an IRA unit in possession of the bugged weapon. Two IRA volunteers, Henry Hogan and Declan Martin, were informed about the situation and moved into position, armed with an Armalite rifle and a 12 bore sawn - off shotgun. In the ensuing fire fight, both IRA volunteers were killed along with a decorated SAS trooper, 26 year old Sergeant Paul Oram, with a second SAS trooper badly wounded.

Thus ended the saga of a man called Jimmy Young.


Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman and author of  
No Greater Love - The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney.

Stakeknife ✏ The Case Of Jimmy Young

Anthony McIntyre ☠ Much of the coverage in the wake of the death of Freddie Scappaticci, focussed on how the Provisional Movement sought to cover up for the executioner in its own ranks as well as in the pay of the British state. 

Scappaticci killed the same people on behalf of both the IRA and the FRU. That never stopped him denying his role as a British agent. Those denials came to be viewed in similar fashion to those of one of his bosses, Gerry Adams, who has consistently denied being a member of the IRA. The Interahamwe of the Rwandan genocide was translated as we who kill together. I wonder if a single word exists for we who lie together.

Twenty years have passed since Freddie Scappaticci’s Provisional colleagues and their friends rushed to his aid making claims that now look embarrassingly ridiculous. Vociferous then, Scap's little helpers, large ones too, are silent today about their role in the cover up. If they mention Scap it is to finger point at the Brits, in this matter confirming the validity of the old maxim that when you point a finger there are always three pointing back.

Yet some people were taken in by the nonsense generated by the leadership lie machine. Seamus Kearney recounted his experience of meeting people who accused him of being a dissident, regurgitating smears against a veteran republican. A former O/C of Cage 11 featured in the letters page of the Andersonstown News signalling his virtue: he proclaimed to the world that he was going to believe Scap before me. One ex-prisoner I met at a funeral told me I had been taken in by the lies of sleazy securocrats. A former Sinn Fein Belfast Lord Mayor berated me on the Falls Road one evening. He wanted me to know that I was a disgrace. In all three cases I knew history would come to view them as the three stooges rather than the three wise men. 

One of the funniest stories told to me was from a West Belfast bar when a documentary covering the Stakeknife affair was aired.  Bastard, two Sinn Fein members were heard shouting at the screen. When the barmaid said yeah, Scap, the men said no, that bastard McIntyre. Such was the mist of derangement that had descended from Connolly House and Sevastopol Street to envelop the Sinn Fein constituency.  At the time it was like living in a surreal Kafaesque world where people so convinced by the nonsense they had been fed were succumbing to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. 

The anti-intellectual milieu which made this abandonment of reason possible was cranked into service by the Provisional spin & spoof secretariat. Like the Catholic Church when confronted with the pervasiveness of paedophilia within its ranks, Sinn Fein closed its own ranks. The online journal The Blanket edited by my wife, and for which I wrote frequently, was a voice in the wilderness punching holes in the false narrative manufactured to both serve Scappaticci and salvage the political careers of others, some of whom as Army Council figures had signed off on his actions.  

The then Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, in accepting Scappaticci’s denial, sought to smother the efforts of investigative journalism to expose one of Britain’s lethal allies, stating that for their endeavours the media were losers who "had a big job of work to be done … to redeem yourselves."

The disseminators of malign influence were at it as well. Denis Donaldson was telling the press that “I still can’t believe it . . My God.”  His fellow envoy, Danny Morrison, claimed that the allegations were:

bizarre and without any proof. Until proven otherwise I'm very sceptical about stories which emanate from sources of British military intelligence.

But even Danny Morrison had difficulty believing Danny Morrison as was demonstrated by his own claim that thirteen years prior to his professed scepticism, the IRA had provided him with a version of events about Scappaticci which he believed.

The Andersonstown News did not cover itself in glory, engaging in what one of its own journalists at the time would later describe as a farcical cover up. In a piece of non-investigative journalism, it scooped an interview with Scappaticci in which it represented him rather than the community it was meant to serve. It simply never asked him one challenging question, for which it has been scorned ever since. 

Poor as that was, there were even lower depths to be reached elsewhere. A piece in An Phoblacht by Adam O’Toole from the Fawlty Towers School of Journalism remains peerless for the stupidity it served up. If ever a writer went on a search and destroy his own reputation mission, this was it.

The thing about nonsense is that it never takes long for it all to come tumbling down in the face of sustained rigorous critique, while the reputations of those responsible for churning it out can sometimes never recover. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Foolscap

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