Time to stop the terror legacy scandal

Over the coming weeks we will run an article every day from ex police, Army and other state officials who helped prevent civil war in Northern Ireland amid the terrorist onslaught.

There will also be essays by academics, politicians, victims and commentators, examining how the processes have turned.

The series, called Stop The Legacy Scandal, will coincide with (and continue beyond) the September 10 deadline to the close of the public consultation on proposed structures to look at the past in Northern Ireland.

While some contributors will support those structures, and others not, and while some contributors will back a statute of limitations and some not, all are agreed that the current system is unfair.

The News Letter has been reporting such concerns for years, and the position has now worsened with several elderly soldiers facing trial for Troubles killings and no IRA leaders doing so.

Today, Colonel Tim Collins launches the series (see link below).

He accuses the government of appeasing republicans who are promoting “a fabricated historical narrative that obscures their sectarian murderous past by blackening the name of the British state by a huge volume of inquires into – anything – all paid for by the UK taxpayer”.

None of the essay contributors are being paid. They are all people who are concerned about what is happening with regard to legacy.

• Tim Collins: Security forces must be protected from witch-hunt to appease IRA

• Morning View: Essays will examine a legacy bias that has become a scandal