McGuinness 'should be in dock'
NO soldier should be prosecuted for his actions on Bloody Sunday unless terrorists are also prosecuted, senior military figures have said.
Laying down a marker for the reception of the Saville Report tomorrow, two retired senior Army officers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles said that if a case is brought against soldiers, an investigation should be opened into the actions of terrorists.
Major-General Julian Thompson, who served as a Royal Marines commanding officer in south Armagh, said that if Saville found soldiers guilty then people such as Martin McGuinness should also be held to account.
A retired brigadier who led 3 Commando during the Falklands War, he told the Observer: "In that case, let's prosecute the IRA as well - men like McGuinness."
He went on add: "How about drawing a line under this unless we want to go and prosecute all the IRA guys who murdered as well?
"It's ironic that these guys (the soldiers) could be prosecuted and the people who've murdered 20 times more than they have are being allowed off."
In a similar vein, Colonel Richard Kemp told the paper: "Let's open an investigation into some of Martin McGuinness's activities, shall we?"
Tony Blair's former chief of staff has admitted that the publication of the 190 million Saville Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday shootings this week might reopen age-old wounds that have brought such destruction to Northern Ireland.
Jonathan Powell, told The Times that the Labour government, which set up the investigation into the 1972 shootings 12 years ago, had been under intense pressure from Sinn Fein.
He admitted that as soon as he heard republican demands for British soldiers to be punished, he began to doubt "the wisdom of what we had done", adding: "Our experience of inquiries is that they tend not to settle disputes – be they in Northern Ireland or Iraq – just reopen the damn things."
Meanwhile, the campaign group Relatives for Justice has erected more than 400 names of those "killed by British Army since 1969".
In a statement issued by a Sinn Fein press officer, the group said it had placed the names on the Glenshane Pass outside Dungiven.
Last night TUV leader Jim Allister said: "In anticipation of persecution hysteria, from predictable sources, being whipped up on the back of the Saville Report, I make it plain that justice must be even-handed and, therefore, there should be no question of soldiers being charged unless and until IRA leader McGuinness is made amenable for his crimes in Londonderry.
"Why should soldiers be vilified and prosecuted after 40 years, but IRA leaders like McGuinness, active at the time in the city, walk free?
"The political considerations which have protected McGuinness from prosecution over the years ought never to have protected him, but post-Saville there should be no question of such continuing while soldiers are targeted for prosecution."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
