British police and soldiers colluded in state terror with loyalist gunmen and bombers in the murders of over 120 Catholic civilians in the Northern Ireland conflict. They then covered up their misdeeds.
That is the unchallenged finding of 15 years of research by The Pat Finucane Centre and Justice for the Forgotten in Ireland, now chronicled in the acclaimed book Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland whose author, Anne Cadwallader, is visiting Australia this month (details below).
See also: Ireland: British collusion in paramilitary killings proven in new book and TV show
Lethal Allies has sold more than 20,000 copies, topping the best-seller lists and being reprinted eight times within 18 months.
It provides fully sourced evidence that has prompted over 20 families to sue the British government and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The book is now an official legal exhibit in these lawsuits.
Drawing on incontrovertible evidence from police files, the book gives forensic, ballistic and eyewitness accounts establishing that serving officers in the Royal Ulster Constabulary and soldiers in the Ulster Defence Regiment colluded with illegal loyalist paramilitaries in dozens of shootings and bombings on both sides of the Irish border.
The book quotes from more than 30 confidential reports by the Historical Enquiries Team (a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland) which highlight specific proofs of collusion and which condemn repeated failures to investigate.
One third of the people whose deaths are chronicled in the book were murdered south of the border – 34 dying in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings (the single largest loss of life in any one day of the Irish conflict and whose 40th anniversary fell on 17 May last year).
Senior RUC officers deliberately misled the Northern courts and hid the police status of multiple murderers, the book states, while the UDR status of others was also hidden from both the courts and the bereaved families.
The book names over 20 police and soldiers involved in murder and carries heart-breaking interviews with the mothers, wives, sons and daughters of the 120+ victims.
Details
PERTH: Saturday June 20, 2pm. Trades Hall, 80 Beaufort St.
ADELAIDE: Monday June 22, 6.30pm, Irish Club.
SYDNEY: Tuesday June 23, 7.30pm, Gaelic Club, 1/64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills.
MELBOURNE: Friday June 26, 4pm, Celtic Club, Cnr La Trobe and Queen Sts.
BRISBANE: Sunday June 28, 4pm, University of Queensland, Bldg 14, Room 132.
All events are free and open to the public without prior booking.
This speaking tour is jointly endorsed by the Pat Finucane Centre, Cairde Sinn Féin Australia, the Brehon Law Society, the Casement Group Melbourne/Belfast and the Irish National Association.
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EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS
“Forensic” and “Courageous” (Irish Times, Dublin).
“Compelling … an embarrassment to the authorities” (The Independent, London).
“One of the most important books about the dirty war in Northern Ireland” (The Guardian, London).
“Asks some deeply troubling questions” and “meticulously-researched” (New York Journal of Books).
“A harrowing and often heartbreaking story of murder, spite and calculated viciousness” (Sunday Business Post, Dublin)
For further information contact Emma Clancy on 0450 835 189.