Almost every day in Northern Ireland is an anniversary of some terrorist attrocity or other; but yesterday was a particularly poignant one. On 27th August, 28 years ago, 18 soldiers were massacred by Irish Republicans in two booby-trap bomb attacks at Warrenpoint, South Down, close to the border with the Irish Republic.
The ambush was very well-planned and if anything good came out of such a horrible event, it was that it showed the British military exactly the calibre of the enemy they were up against. The shameful fact that the British Army were prevented from pursuing their attackers into their various safe havens in the Irish Republic, "to avoid causing any diplomatic disputes", is also one that is, even today, hard to credit.
The Warrenpoint Massacre followed the the murder two hours earlier in the Irish Republic of Lord Louis Mountbatten, his grandson, Nicholas (aged 14) Paul Maxwell (a local 15 year-old) and Lady Dowager Lady Brabourne, 82. The IRA planted and detonated a bomb on his boat,the Shadow V, which had just set off from the fishing village of Mullaghmore near the small town of Sligo.
Mountbatten was, of course, best known as the last Viceroy of India and oversaw the granting of independence to the Partitioned India as India and Pakistan...which is kind of ironic as I today, by chance, came across this little gem:
Opening a traditional Indian summer festival deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA, said the event did much to promote greater understanding and respect between ethnic and local communities.
"Our aim is to achieve a society where people from different cultures, races and faiths can live and work together peacefully, creating a stable and prosperous future for us all."
So spoke the Derry Butcher with a completely straight face.
Footnote:
Martin should perhaps look a bit closer to home when trying to promote a "society where people from different cultures, races and faiths can live and work together peacefully, creating a stable and prosperous future for us all". His own part of Derry seems to be struggling in that regard
3 comments:
I get fed up with Northern Irish people claiming to be British, like me. They are not and never were.
Look up your sacred 'Act of Union' - it made a body called ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland.
Fair enough, UK citizens yes, but NOT British like us. You never were and never will be. Ask any English, Scottish or Welsh person (ie British people)
It says a lot about your own lack of humanity (whatever nationality you may claim to be) that you use this post, which is completely unrelated to questions of national identity, to make your point.
'Fair enough, UK citizens yes, but NOT British like us. You never were and never will be. Ask any English, Scottish or Welsh person (ie British people)'
Jaysus. Even I wouldn't have the spuds to say something like that!
I think it underscores something 'Ulster Unionism' has had an issue with for sometime - being more British than the British themselves. We've the same prob with Irish Nationalists from NI.
By the definition of 'UK Unionism' - a concept that's to my knowledge is a new one for NI people. Can one be British in NI without having to overplay the identity card? Equally can someone be Irish in NI without over doing the Gaelic gig?
As a committed '26-County Nationalist' I do hope UK Unionism takes off!
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