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Omagh bombing. Police accused by families

Daniel Brett | 07.12.2001 14:34

The Guardian
Relatives of the victims were incredulous yesterday at the police ombudsman's finding that police received one or more warnings of the Omagh bombing.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,614842,00.html

Relatives furious at new revelations
Police accused by families
Friday December 7, 2001
The Guardian
Relatives of the victims were incredulous yesterday at the police ombudsman's finding that police received one or more warnings of the Omagh bombing.
Stanley McCombe, who lost his wife Ann in the bomb "I'm a very angry person today. It's ridiculous that these people had to suffer in the Omagh atrocity because of a misdemeanour in the police department. It's unbelievable that if they had information they couldn't act on it, if what
I'm hearing is true." Michael Gallagher, whose son Adrian, 21, was among the dead "I really don't know what to say... When we meet next week and hear the ombudsman's
full report, we will then come together and discuss how we move things forward. I just hope at the end of this process, the Omagh victims and their families will get justice."
Victor Barker, whose son James, 12, was among the 29 killed at Omagh "I don't blame the security forces for my son's murder, but I'm disgusted that they didn't act. They didn't plant the bomb, but this is going to get used by the Real IRA to claim police knew about it and were therefore responsible. That's not what any right thinking human being can accept."
Father Kevin Mullan, a priest who comforted the victims' families "The people in Omagh are going to feel that the lives of their relatives were of perhaps less value than other so-called principles or policies, and that is very, very hurtful. In the face of Christmas when they are thinking of those who should be there now, the possibility arises that they could have been there - this is what's being said today. If only something had been done we mightn't have been visiting a grave or sitting at the Christmas table with somebody missing." Northern Ireland secretary John Reid said he would not be commenting until the report was published, but said in a statement that while there would be lessons to learn, "Nothing should ever distract our attention from the
suffering caused to the victims and their families by the evil people who planted the bomb."
Pat Doherty, the Sinn Fein MP for Omagh "Special Branch must now be disbanded and those who failed to act on this information from the chief constable down should now be removed." The Police Federation of Northern Ireland, which represents rank and file police "[Nuala O'Loan's] report is not based on anything which could properly be called evidence. The allegations which she makes were not put
to the officers concerned, in flagrant breach of their human rights. Her handling of this case, and a number of other cases, is rapidly driving the members we represent to a position of erosion of confidence in the office of the ombudsman and her ability to carry out her investigation in a
proportionate and professional manner."

Daniel Brett
- e-mail: danielbrett@ziplip.com
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,614842,00.html

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Luther Blissett

07.12.2001 15:15

This was posted by Luther Blissett

.


Two Things

07.12.2001 21:52

Two points to be made here,
1) The Guardian (about the best mainstream paper) revealed these details months ago, and did an interview with either the informant or the handler who recieved the information, i can't 100% remember, but it was front page news. And it only comes out NOW!!! Thats one sloooooooow 'justice system'.
2) the fact that the State had prior knowledge of, and failed to act on, the planned bomb shows one thing, and one thing only. The State does NOT care about ordinary people, catholic or protestant. They were quite happy to let RIRA set off the Omagh bomb because it would be 'bad press' for them. Obvioulsy they did not know the scale of the atrocity that would occur (or perhaps they did? - Is that too Machevillain?), but as it turned out, RIRA are now the most loathed of all republican groups currently operating. Ordinary people suffer so the state can enhance its 'correctness'!!! So whats new then, eh? - And don't get me wrong, I totally oppose individual terrorism, I'm just pointing out some realiies of the Capitalist system.
Slán
C, Dearg

Kevolution
mail e-mail: thekevolution@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: www.socialistyouth.cjb.net


an early local 9-11

07.12.2001 22:42

"In an attempt to tighten the net around the killers (of Omagh), the British and Irish governments also introduced tough new anti-terrorist legislation, making it an offence to direct terrorism or have information likely to to be of use to terrorists"Guardian,7.11.01. Police herded people towards the site of the bomb.

dwight heet


I didnt want to bring this up

07.12.2001 23:34

Well, I didn't want to bring this up, because I have no way of knowing exactly how true it is/was. But I did hear from a source that the police directed people to that area on purpose, that the actaul warning was given for the correct place, but the state wanted "another Enniskillen" to halt RIRA before thay had started. As I said, i can't verify this, but I do know that I don't trust the British State (or the Irish). Unfortunatley, we will never know, because that is the nature of the sysytem. for fuck's sake, we're still not making progress with bloody Sunday, 30 years later!!!!!!
Slán
C, Dearg

Kevolution
mail e-mail: thekevolution@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: www.socialistyouth.cjb.net


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