The Saville Inquiry - a double failure?

The truth will not have been established and told because of the flawed human recollections of witnesses from 30 years previously, the deaths of others, the unwillingness of some to reveal all they knew (such as Martin McGuinness), missing records and contradictory evidence on crucial issues as to who fired the first shot. From the mountains of testimony a story has had to be pieced together and conclusions drawn.

This involved opinion and judgement not the basic facts.

The central and crucial theme for Saville to have any resonance beyond the immediate relatives involved is this; did he examine the context in which the soldiers were deployed on the day in question?

What was the state of mind of the soldiers as they prepared to enter the Bogside on that day?

Before Bloody Sunday the IRA had already murdered over 100 people. In the City of Londonderry alone in the four weeks before the anti-internment march on January 30th republicans launched nine bomb attacks on commercial and security premises, they engaged in six shooting incidents, including an 80 minute gun battle, and carried out gelignite and nail bomb attacks on police and property, most significantly the Provisional IRA murdered two RUC officers on Creggan Road which is in the immediate vicinity of the proposed illegal parade just three days prior to the march.

The central element of any comprehensive investigation into the events of 30th January 1972 was that troops were going into an area which was extremely hostile and where they were likely to encounter violence. Does Saville start from that factual premise?

The fact that they met with violence only reinforced the military view on the day that they could be in for a heavy concentration of fire from the IRA.

Such a concerted level of republican terror was not unique to Londonderry with the IRA murdering people long before 30th January.

Yet the events of 1969/70/71 are often air-brushed from the narrative of the Troubles, with many claiming that it was Bloody Sunday that provoked republican terror against the security forces and ordinary unionists.

If the Report does not accurately portray this as being the backdrop against which soldiers prepared for the day it starts from the wrong base and can only end in the wrong conclusion.

The Saville Inquiry whether it wishes it or not will be used to further the case for revisionism in Northern Ireland by those IRA terrorists who wish to expunge their own guilt as a result of their own actions.

As to reconciliation, its potential contribution is to cause division rather than heal it. 191 million pounds has been spent on examining what happened to 13 people in a process that has taken years. The standard of treatment between those who died on 30th January 1972 and the other victims of the Troubles bears no comparison.

While some declare there is no hierarchy of victims, Nationalists, Republicans, and the Human Rights industry consciously and actively created such a hierarchy with the Saville Inquiry. The differential treatment is

clear when you examine the Historical Enquiries Team, the mechanism for investigating the past and the one available to all victims. While Saville was lavished with money the DUP had to fight long and hard to get the HET the resources it needed, and this was for all victims not just Nationalists as was the case with Saville.

However, the differential treatment goes far beyond money lavished on Saville. There is also the disproportionate attention Bloody Sunday has received. It was one of many days when large numbers of people died. Yet none has received the degree of investigation, academic and press attention as this. Some say the difference is that on Bloody Sunday the State Forces killed people while the IRA are illegal terrorists. The IRA of course was initially financed by another State, the Irish Republic. There has never been an Inquiry by that State into how, why, and by whose hand that State was involved in financing the killing of people in Northern Ireland.

In Londonderry the continuing Saville saga has done nothing to positively impact upon the relationships between the two communities with the Unionist minority having been more marginalised since Bloody Sunday than before. Neither will it bring closure with some relatives already making it clear that they will seek criminal prosecutions...

It would send the wrong message to those loyalist communities that are emerging from a violent past that a soldier whose job it is to keep the law, is to be considered for prosecution for alleged activities on one day nearly 40 years ago, while a man like Martin McGuinness who has confessed to being a senior member of an organisation that was murdering people on a routine basis, is not.

The wider community looking for something positive to emerge from the Saville saga can but look to it finally being published and this being the end of millionaire row for a number of lawyers. Other countries across the world now examine the politics of Northern Ireland and how we have come to where we are. They are looking for lessons. The Saville Inquiry, like the Eames Bradley report on victims, will provide other countries very useful lessons. The lessons are on how NOT to examine the past!