Table Of ContentState Violence, Collusion and the Troubles
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STaTe ViolenCe, ColluSion
and The TroubleS
Counter insurgency, Government deviance
and northern ireland
Maurice Punch
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First published 2012 by Pluto Press
345 archway road, london n6 5aa
www.plutobooks.com
distributed in the united States of america exclusively by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press llC,
175 Fifth avenue, new York, nY 10010
Copyright © Maurice Punch 2012
The right of Maurice Punch to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, designs and Patents act 1988.
british library Cataloguing in Publication data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the british library
iSbn 978 0 7453 3143 0 hardback
iSbn 978 0 7453 3147 8 Paperback
library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed
and sustained forest sources. logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are
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Simultaneously printed digitally by CPi antony rowe, Chippenham, uK and
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For all who have suffered, and continue to suffer,
as a result of the Troubles.
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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Paramilitary Groups ix
Abbreviations and Irish Gaelic Terms xi
Timeline xiv
Main Non-Irish Insurgent Terrorist Groups xx
1. State Crime: ‘Bloody Sunday’ and the Troubles 1
2. State Terror and Insurgent Terrorism 29
3. Roots of the Troubles: Emergency Context: Conspiracy? 59
4. Security Units: Firearms Policy: Rough Justice 87
5. Dirty Tricks: Intelligence, Informants and Collusion 117
6. Investigations, Courts, Inquiries and Whistle-blowing 148
7. End Game: State Deviance: Learning from the Past 172
Notes 201
Bibliography 210
Index 219
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acknowledgements
Since I started this book a few years ago many people have been
generous with their time and have aided me in various ways, by
discussing the topic, commenting on drafts and/or by suggesting
research material. They include some highly supportive colleagues
in London at LSE and King’s but especially Ben Bowling, David
Downes, Janet Foster, Penny Green, Tim Newburn, Paddy
Rawlinson, Robert Reiner and Paul Rock. There were academic
colleagues elsewhere, as well as some ‘reflective practitioners’ in
policing or the military, who assisted me in diverse ways including
Alexis Aronowitz, Piet Deelman, Auke van Dijk, Julian Dixon,
Stan Gilmour, Jim Gobert, Bob Hoogenboom, Graham Smith,
Kees van der Vijver, Geert de Vries, Jim Waddington, Ron Weitzer,
Hans Werdmölder and Merrick Willis, while I received sage advice
from Michael Clarke. In Amsterdam I’ve gained much from many
stimulating conversations with Derek Phillips, while he has kindly
passed on The New York Review of Books since the late 1970s. This
has been essential reading but in recent years it has carried excellent
articles on the ‘war on terror’, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. I
am most grateful to them all. I have long drawn on the operational
experience and insights on police leadership, command and control
and use of force of Geoffrey Markham (former Assistant Chief
Constable, Essex Police); and on the operational background in
policing and expertise in Human Rights of Ralph Crawshaw (former
Chief Superintendent, Essex Police). A special word of thanks has to
go to them for the many valuable discussions in attractive locations
throughout Essex and Suffolk. I also appreciate the professional
advice and patience of Anne Beech, Will Viney and the team at Pluto.
Finally, I have as ever received encouragement and affection from
my dear wife Cornelia; also support from Julio, Maria, George and
grandson Jimmy and from my extended family in the Netherlands,
Ireland, UK and US. This network of colleagues, friends and family
has been essential in the completion of this work.
Amstelveen, The Netherlands
October 2011
viii
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Paramilitary Groups
naTionaliST/rePubliCan ParaMiliTarY GrouPS
• The original Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Ireland, or Old
IRA, comprised the Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican
Brotherhood of the 1916 Easter Rising, and fought the British
in the War of Independence (1919–21) as the Army of Ireland
• Those who resisted the 1921 Treaty with Britain fought and
lost to the new Irish government in the Civil War (1922–23),
called themselves the IRA and from 1922 to 1969 opposed the
governments in the South and North with periodic violence
to realise an independent, united (32 county) Ireland as a
socialist republic
• In late 1969 a split took the new Provisional IRA (PIRA or
‘Provos’) out of what became known as the Official IRA, OIRA.
At times there were armed clashes in feuds between PIRA and
OIRA. OIRA abandoned violence in 1972. By the early 1990s
PIRA was estimated to have a core of some 300 activists with
about 450 in support roles (Bishop & Mallie 1988)
• Provisional Sinn Fein was ostensibly the political wing of PIRA,
but it is assumed that it was intimately linked with PIRA; several
IRA commanders probably also held leading roles within Sinn
Fein (Moloney 2007, 2010)
• The Continuity IRA (CIRA) broke from PIRA in 1986 when
PIRA recognised the authority of the Dublin government
• In 1997 the Real IRA (RIRA) split off from PIRA because RIRA
was opposed to the peace process
• The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) was the military
wing of a Trotskyite splinter group, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party, that had broken with OIRA
• The Irish People’s Liberation Organization (IPLO) split from
the INLA after a dispute. IPLO feuded with the INLA, and the
IRA attacked the IPLO and disbanded it.
There were other splinter groups that might also be names used as
cover for a sub-unit acting autonomously, including Republican
ix
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