Saville probe may not be conclusive
ANTICIPATION of the publication of the Saville report into the 14 Bloody Sunday deaths in Londonderry on January 30, 1972 is viewed with mixed feelings across the divide.
The long-awaited report will be delivered to the Government on March 22 and Secretary of State Shaun Woodward has pledged that the families of those killed will receive copies soon after.
The Bloody Sunday killings, carried out by soldiers in contested circumstances, were investigated in a seven-year inquiry costing in excess of 200m and many observers believe the report will struggle to reach a conclusion properly satisfying those wanting to know the real truth about what happened that afternoon.
The Army, in the view of republicans/nationalists in Londonderry, was totally to blame for the killings, but Provisional IRA gunmen were active in the city that afternoon and did contribute to raising the temperature and heightening the conflict.
The Saville inquiry went on too long and, appallingly, a huge proportion of the costs involved were taken up in paying legal fees.
The decision to stage an inquiry into this one high-profile event contrasts sharply with failure to investigate on the same scale the multiple deaths of security personnel and innocent civilians in atrocities carried out by terrorists.
The grief of families who lost relatives in the Londonderry killings is understandable, but it is no different from the anguish and pain of those who lost loved ones, whose only crime was that they wore the uniform of the Crown or belonged to a particular faith.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
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