The decommissioning saga, which was formally concluded in 2005 by Canadian General John de Chastelain, was one of the biggest cons we have ever witnessed in Northern Ireland.
My initial concern was the very uncomfortable nature of John de Chastelain in immediate interviews. It was obvious that he didn't really know what he had seen.
He appeared confused, aggravated and totally unrehearsed, yet the political pressure w
as so great he had to face the cameras to try to convince us all that the IRA no longer had weapons.
He said: "We have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms which we believe include all the arms in the IRA's possession."
He now has to eat his words, along with the churchmen who witnessed the process, Catholic priest Father Alec Reid and ex-Methodist president Rev Harold Good.
They endorsed Chastelain's comments by saying: "We are satisfied that the arms decommissioning represents the totality of the IRA's arsenal."
My point at the time was, 'how do they know?'. They hadn't the faintest clue just how much weaponry the IRA possessed so how could they possibly use terms such as "totality" and "all".
They were working on estimates from the guesswork of security forces and Jane's Intelligence Review – an internet site which we all, including the IRA, have access to.
In fact, the only people who really knew was the IRA itself. They then simply had to match what was estimated and then they could keep what was left over.
One section of the statement still makes fascinating reading: "The experience of seeing this with our own eyes, on a minute-to-minute basis, provided us with evidence so clear and of its nature so incontrovertible that at the end of the process it demonstrated to us – and would have demonstrated to anyone who might have been with us – that beyond any shadow of doubt the arms of the IRA have now been decommissioned."
What a difference three years make. We now find that the latest attack on police officers involved Semtex.
So just how could the so-called Real IRA get Semtex? It doesn't take any kind of a security expert to work this out – it's not the sort of thing you simply nip to the shops for.
The explosive was imported into Ireland in vast quantities in the 1980s by the IRA as a gift from Colonel Muammar Gadaffi of Libya.
The only logical conclusion that us simple, non-security types can come to is that the IRA did not surrender all its weapons.
Semtex has to be stored and well-kept in order to be of any use and I believe that the IRA terrorists who originally stored it are the very same people who are today unpacking it and use it once again – yet we are told this is not the IRA.
My belief is that the CIRA and RIRA are the IRA simply wearing a different cap.
Northern Ireland Office Security Minister Paul Goggins said of the terrorists: "They will not succeed, society has moved on."
The statement alone proves that there are some who still don't fully realise the mindset of republicans, who believe they have the right to murder and maim.
Perhaps if Mr Goggins realised this and Stormont accepted it we could start to deal with the situation.
Terrorists needs to be dealt with, not negotiated with.
We again heard the familiar tune from the Government who say that they will hunt these criminals down.
If they do catch them, can we look forward to being graced with their presence at Stormont in the future?
William Frazer
Director, Families Acting for Innocent Relatives
The full article contains 622 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
