“Emperor’s New Clothes”
The BBC reports on comments by Norman Baxter, former Head of Serious Crime Branch of the PSNI, appearing in front of the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee as part of their continuing investigation into the handling of intelligence relating to the Omagh bombing. From the BBC report
Mr Baxter, who is also the former head of the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch, said there was a policy of running down security in Northern Ireland which dates back to the 1990s. He told the Commons committee it was inspired by political thinking and he warned that, in light of the dissident threat, the government was repeating the same mistakes now. He said the situation was like the “Emperor’s New Clothes” where everyone carried on pretending everything was normal. Referring to the Omagh bombing, he said the security policy at the time was a failure.
I’d like to hear “mainstream” republicans’ opinions – how best to counter the dissident threat? Preferably not just a list of “don’ts”
Skintown lad,
I don’t classify myself as a ‘mainstream ‘ republican in the SF sense, but I’d say given present circumstances the best way to counter any dissident threat would be to appoint an SF Minister for Police & Justice .
Banks and large corporations hire former ‘criminal ‘ hackers to protect them. Poacher turned gamekeeper if you like .
It worked in the Republic post 1932 so well that in WW2 the very very former dissidents were able to hang the more recent dissidents with hardly a murmur from 99.99999% of the electorate .
But alas I don’t think ‘unionist ‘ politicians are that clever . I mean if they were, they would’nt be in their present position would they ?Now divided three or more ways between the evangelical wing of moral righteousness the TUV, the latter day lundies, and a bunch of Ucunfers who hope to avoid political extermination by clinging to the Tory dog’s tail ? .
No matter what Baxter says the dissidents are going nowhere . Even if they commit another Omagh they will still lose . All the people of this island have decided that in case Mr Baxter has forgotten .