misterpee
11.08.05, 18:07
Forces trained in Britain’s dirty war in Northern Ireland involved in de
Menezes killing
By Julie Hyland
8 August 2005
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The admission that army special forces were involved in the police execution
of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes confirms that the techniques perfected
in the dirty war conducted by British imperialism in Northern Ireland are now
being employed on the streets of Britain.
The Guardian reported August 4 that “a new army special forces regiment was
involved in the operation” that resulted in de Menezes being killed with
eight bullets, seven to the head, in a London subway carriage on July 22.
Whitehall sources had confirmed, the newspaper continued, that the “Special
Reconnaissance Regiment, set up in April to help combat international
terrorism, was deployed in the surveillance operation” that led to the
innocent electrician’s death.
The report continued that the unit, “modelled on an undercover unit that
operated in Northern Ireland, were engaged in ‘low level intelligence behind
the scenes’ when the Brazilian was shot.
“There was ‘no direct military involvement in the shooting’, the sources
added.”
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced the formation of the Special
Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) on April 5. In a written statement to
Parliament he said that the unit, which would become operational the
following day, was in line with the “Strategic Defence Review (SDR) New
Chapter published in July 2002 [which] stated that we planned to enhance and
build upon the capabilities of UK Special Forces.”
The SRR “has been formed to meet a growing worldwide demand for special
reconnaissance capability,” Hoon’s statement continued.
“[T]his regiment will provide improved support to expeditionary operations
overseas and form part of the Defence contribution to the Government’s
comprehensive strategy to counter international terrorism. The SRR will bring
together personnel from existing capabilities and become the means of the
further development of the capability. Due to the specialist nature of the
unit, it will come under the command of the Director Special Forces and be a
part of the UK Special Forces group.”
The Scotsman, April 6, reported, “The Special Reconnaissance Regiment is
expected to play a key role in hunting down insurgents in Iraq and in the
forthcoming UK-led operation against al-Qaeda remnants—including Osama bin
Laden—in Afghanistan.
“Members will be expected to infiltrate terrorist organisations and identify
targets to be attacked by other units.”
It continued, “Once SRR surveillance teams have identified human targets,
other units will then eliminate them. It is understood that the new regiment
will be based alongside the SAS at Stirling Lines barracks, near Hereford.”
De Menezes was certainly “eliminated.” But there was no “intelligence” on the
young man, much less anything to connect him with Al Qaeda or any other
terrorist group.
According to the Guardian’s August 4 report, de Menezes was targeted because
the three-storey block of flats in which he lived in south London was under
surveillance following the failed bombing incidents on July 21.
“Mr. De Menezes was followed and seen boarding a No 2 bus, heading north
towards Stockwell,” the newspaper said. “Boarding with him, it is understood,
were several plainclothes officers. Defence sources refuse to comment on
suggestions that they may have been members of the Special Reconnaissance
Regiment.
“Other officers followed the bus in vehicles. When it became clear that
Stockwell tube was his possible destination, a team of armed police officers
in plain clothes were alerted. They fired eight shots at Mr. De Menezes at
close range after the 27-year-old Brazilian ran onto a tube train.”
Why police apparently allowed a man they considered to be a potential suicide
bomber to board a bus remains unexplained. As does virtually everything else
to do with de Menezes’ killing. But the SRR’s pedigree gives some indication
of why those involved in the young man’s death felt they could act with
impunity as judge, jury and executioner.
The “personnel from existing capabilities” announced by Hoon to constitute
the SRR are drawn from the death squads employed by the British state for
decades in Northern Ireland.
According to a Telegraph report July 25, 2004 that revealed plans to
establish the SRR, the new unit “will at first be formed from members of a
highly secret surveillance agency—the Joint Communications Unit Northern
Ireland—which has worked in Ulster for more than 20 years. The unit, which
worked with the SAS, MI5 and the Special Branch, perfected the art of covert
surveillance in urban and rural areas and created a network of double agents
who supplied the British security forces with intelligence on terrorist
attacks.”
A report in the Sunday Times, also July 25, 2004, said, “More than 150
members of the 14th Intelligence and Security Company have already left
Northern Ireland” to form the SRR’s “nucleus.”
From the early 1970s, British imperialism waged a notorious dirty war against
the Republican movement in Northern Ireland as part of its efforts to
maintain control of the six counties. The 14th Intelligence was one of three
army-sponsored undercover squads dedicated to this aim. The others were the
Force Research Unit (FRU) and 22 Squadron.
In 1998, leaked military intelligence documents confirmed that these methods
included the assassination of Republicans.
In March that year, the Sunday Telegraph alleged that secret documentation it
had received showed that the FRU “was complicit in a series of murders
carried out by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) between 1987 and 1990.”
The UDA is a fascistic, loyalist paramilitary organisation, supporting union
with Britain.
The Sunday Telegraph’s article also revealed the role played by Brian Nelson,
a key FRU operative. Nelson became the UDA’s primary intelligence officer and
passed on the names, photographs and addresses of suspected IRA members from
Army Intelligence records to UDA gunmen for assassination.
Nelson was implicated in some in 15 murders, 15 attempted murders and 62
conspiracies to murder. These included the killing of Belfast solicitor
Patrick Finucane, after he successfully defended an IRA man. Finucane was
murdered at his home in 1989 in front of his wife and children.
Nelson was arrested in 1990 and stood trial for murder in 1992. In a deal
struck with the attorney general at the time, Patrick Mayhew, Nelson agreed
to plead guilty to lesser charges and was jailed for 10 years, of which he
served just six.
The British state was forced to convene an official inquiry into collusion
between the UDA and the British army as part of its efforts to establish
power-sharing structures in Northern Ireland under the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement. The investigation, headed by police chief John Stevens, confirmed
Nelson’s role in UDA assassinations. But every attempt was made to suppress
Steven’s findings and prevent further information being revealed about the
extent of the FRU’s activities.
The British state defended its murderous undercover operations, claiming they
were directed only against known IRA terrorists. But dozens of Catholics with
no connection to the IRA were killed by loyalist paramilitaries. In fact, the
FRU’s activities were deliberately aimed
