Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Sunday Bloody Sunday

For those who would move heaven and earth to preserve the United Kingdom, it is nothing more than an exercise in re-writing history.

For those who suffered discrimination and abuse for centuries at British hands, it's a much longed for report that states the truth in all its hideous reality.

A long time coming, the Saville inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday, 1972, in Derry.

The British set up an inquiry immediately after the incident, and as the Irish Catholics expected, British paratroopers were completely exonerated of any guilt in the slaughter of fourteen people.

It turns out that the paratroopers lied through their teeth about what happened.

According to the Saville report, those fourteen people were unarmed, contrary to what was put into the original inquiry. They were marching in protest on that Sunday, marching for their civil rights and equality for Irish Catholics. Soldiers panicked, lost composure and control, and started shooting.

Some protesters were shot in the back as they ran from the bullets. Some were shot when they went to the aid of those who had fallen.

As Prime Minister David Cameron said, one does not defend the British Army by defending the indefensible. Only by coming clean could there be hope of moving forward in Northern Ireland.

The accusations made against the victims have been shown to be false. The original report has been shown to be a whitewash.

What comes next? Trials and lawsuits. The fight has gone from the streets to the courts. There's progress.

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