E planet. This is our version of Stan ‘Unjustified and Cohen’s ‘states of denial’. Let’s AT unravel some of that script. ST First, the issue of state killings: unjustifiable’: The British army and the local police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary vindication for the (RUC), accounted for just over 10 per cent of all the deaths in the BRITISH Northern Ireland conflict, 357 victims of Bloody (Rolston, 2000). The British army was responsible for 82 per cent of those THE Sunday deaths. Forty-five per cent of state killings occurred in the years 1971 to OF 1973, with Bloody Sunday right in Bill Rolston reflects on the Saville Inquiry the middle of that. In the early years and the PM’s apology. of the conflict, the state was highly active in killing citizens. Ten of the 16 deaths which occurred in 1969 were due to state forces, and state forces killed 62 people before VIOLENCE n 15 June 2010, David recesses of the British secret state. Bloody Sunday happened. In none of Cameron responded to the Besides, these are words that could these cases was there a single Ofindings of the Report of the come back to haunt the state when prosecution of any soldier or police Bloody Sunday Inquiry (Saville et al., the British army next commits an officer (Rolston, 2000). This was the 2010) – 12 years in the making and atrocity, whether in Afghanistan or in general atmosphere of impunity in running to 5,000 pages – into the some war yet to come. the lead-up to Bloody Sunday. deaths of 14 civil rights marchers in At the risk of being churlish, No group seemed to be more the city of Derry in Northern Ireland however, despite the novelty, there protected than the Parachute on 30 January 1972 at the hands of were many ways in which a tired old Regiment. Five months before British paratroopers. The Inquiry script was rolled out again, one that Bloody Sunday they had taken over concluded what every right-thinking we in the North of Ireland know the nationalist district of Ballymurphy person has known since the event: well. There was no premeditated in West Belfast for three days as that the dead were all innocent. killing; there was no conspiracy; a internment without trial was Cameron announced that the Inquiry commanding officer countermanded introduced. While there, they killed had pointed the finger of blame at an order by sending in the Paras; a 11 people, including a priest, and a the Parachute Regiment and their group of soldiers – bad apples – lost woman, dressed in a dress, in broad commanding officer. He their composure and killed daylight as she went to the aid of a acknowledged that the deaths were indiscriminately; the British army teenager who had been shot. Just ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ and remains the most professional, over one week before Bloody said that no democratic state had humane, and respected on the Sunday, they had been sent to anything to gain from failing to tell the truth. He apologised with what seemed to be genuine sincerity on behalf of his government and country and was applauded loudly and warmly by the largely nationalist and republican crowd. This was a moment that in the darkest days no one in Guildhall Square that day, least of all the relatives of the dead, had ever expected to experience. The significance of the event cannot be underestimated. Civil rights died on the streets of Derry that day and here, 38 years later, was the discourse of human rights, not from the mouth of an international humanitarian organisation but from a Rolston. British Tory Prime Minister. Cameron Bill © surely knew that his words will not Marchers break through replica of the discredited Report on way to launch of Widgery report, have gone over well in the darkest William Street, Derry, 15 June 2010. 12 ©2010 Centre for Crime and Justice Studies 10.1080/09627251.2010.525916 rCJM No 82.indd 12 30/11/2010 09:57:51 ‘police’ a civil rights march on professionalism ensured that none of E Magilligan Strand, a long beach near them was in fact injured, even one of the internment camps. They slightly. AT used excessive, but not on that Conspiracy to cover up murder is ST occasion lethal, force to disperse the as real and as culpable as conspiracy marchers to murder. In the face of that And then they were sent to Derry. conspiracy, Saville’s conclusions are Since summer 1969 most of the remarkable: nationalist working class parts of BRITISH Derry, the Creggan and Bogside, had The immediate responsibility for been a no-go area for state forces. the deaths and injuries on Bloody Barricades were erected and Sunday lies with those members shortcomings: there was a regime of THE guarded, often by armed IRA of Support Company whose impunity and a determination to personnel, and a gable wall carried unjustifiable firing was the cause teach the people of the Bogside a OF in large letters the message: ‘You are of those deaths and injuries... lesson which, if not direct now entering Free Derry’. Of course, none of the casualties was premeditation, gives the green light that is precisely what state forces posing a threat of causing death to soldiers to kill – and not just any were not doing and which some, or serious injury, or indeed was soldiers, but the elite, the Paras – and especially in the upper reaches of the doing anything else that could on there was a conspiracy after the British army, were intent on doing. any view justify their shooting. event to libel the dead, lie, and cover VIOLENCE Free Derry was a springboard for up for murder. weekly running battles between What follows now? Saville did not Six months after Bloody Sunday, nationalist youths and British recommend prosecutions. Some British army chiefs had their way: soldiers. So, when Major General legal commentators have pointed Operation Motorman smashed Free Robert Ford, Commander of Land out that prosecutions are unlikely Derry; there were no more no-go Forces in Northern Ireland, visited for a number of reasons: the passage areas. By that time the IRA had more the city on 7 January 1972, he came of time, the lack of proper forensics recruits than they had room for and away determined to teach the at the time, and the destruction of the war was on in earnest. It was ‘hooligans’ of Derry a lesson. In a evidence, in particular most of the three decades before peace became memo he produced at the time he weapons used by the Paratroopers, firmly rooted in the North again. And stated: ‘I am coming to the since. Some of the soldiers could during that time the relatives of the conclusion that the minimum force probably be successfully prosecuted Bloody Sunday dead marched, necessary to achieve a restoration of for perjury as a result of their campaigned, and organised, often in law and order is to shoot selected appearance before the tribunal, the face of official dismissal or ring leaders amongst the DYH [Derry but this would be a little bit like worse, suggestions that they were, if Young Hooligans – his title, not jailing Al Capone for tax evasion. not terrorists themselves, at least theirs] after clear warnings have been Interestingly, the relatives are divided playing into the hands of terrorists. issued’. Three weeks later, and on the issue of wider prosecutions. The fifteenth of June 2010 was their without warning, the Paras killed 14 John Kelly wants the soldier who vindication: they were not mad, they males, half of whom were aged 17. If shot his brother prosecuted, a were not bad. The people of Derry that is not premeditation to murder, it position he has held for many years. always knew that, but now they have comes remarkably close. On the contrary, Tony Doherty has the seal of approval from none other Then take the issue of conspiracy. not wanted the soldier who killed than a British Lord and a British Tory After the event the British his father prosecuted, nor has he Prime Minister. n establishment closed ranks. Army changed his mind now that Saville chiefs issued statements to the effect has reported. The complexity of the Bill Rolston is Professor of Sociology and that all the dead were gunmen, situation is underlined by the fact Director of the Transitional Justice Institute at nailbombers, or ‘apprentice that, in both cases, we are talking the University of Ulster. nailbombers’. The British government about the same soldier. This is an extended version of an article and politicians agreed and slurred So, let’s accept the Saville Report that first appeared as a blog piece on the the reputation of the dead. An and Cameron’s apology for what they International State Crime Initiative website, inquiry was set up under former Lord are: an acknowledgement of www.statecrime.org. Chief Justice Widgery which worked innocence, an almost unprecedented hastily and superficially, concluding finding of guilt. This is probably as References that while some soldiers’ actions had good as it ever gets. This may not be Rolston, B. (2000), Unfinished Business: been ‘reckless’, the killings had justice, but it is something State Killings and the Quest for Truth, resulted from the army’s reaction to approximating truth. And even truth Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications. being under attack. It was likely, said and acknowledgement can be a form Saville, Rt Hon, the Lord, Hoyt, W., and Widgery, that ‘as many rounds were of justice whether or not Toohey, J.