Comments on The Pensive Quill: Killing Ciaran Doherty

Nuala, feel free. Glad you find them useful. No ne...

2010-03-05T21:58:37.565Z

Nuala, feel free. Glad you find them useful. No need to source them

Frankie, I don't think there is any one size f...

2010-03-05T21:51:21.294Z

Frankie, I don't think there is any one size fits all explanation. I tend to feel that Brian Rowan's take is the way SF would like to have it read. But whereas it might hold up for this or that individual it might not for others. There is an element of it there alright but as a general explanatory theory I think more evidence is needed before it would acquire a strong status.

Mackers, can I rephrase what I said earlier. In re...

2010-03-05T18:09:15.403Z

Mackers, can I rephrase what I said earlier. In reply to a letter in the Irish News. I used your words about "The Borefast Agreement causing drowsiness" However, I stated they were the words of an author/ journalist. Just in case you thought I was claiming them, wish I could though!

I see Liam fighting extradition. Wonder is he in t...

2010-03-05T14:04:28.415Z

I see Liam fighting extradition. Wonder is he in the country even, took conveniently long for the warrant to be issued eh?
Be interesting to see if he gets any grief in Maghabbery. Maybe on Lockup.

Macker, would just like to ask could I use ...

2010-03-05T13:25:14.739Z

Macker,
would just like to ask could I use your term "Borefast Agreement" to answer a letter in the Irish News?

Mackers, Really hope Marty is on holiday. M...

2010-03-04T18:26:45.305Z

Mackers,
Really hope Marty is on holiday. Marie, his other half mentioned to me that he was having tooth trouble, Albert said the most likely scenario is "non -payment of the internet bill"
Anyway, hopefully he will make a speedy recovery.

Can I just commment on the Brian Rowan report. Certainly not an expert on this type of republican activity. However, if they're goal is to embarrass Adams and Mc Guinness then they have had a degree of success.

I remember being at a meeting of republicans many years ago. At the meeting Mc Guinness announced that, "there would never ever be another IRA"
Remembering back it was one of those strange cringy meetings. Where the elite sat at the top table and spun all the crap and dribble to semi-stunned listeners. One of those meetings, you left feeling more puzzled than you were when you entered, but you wanted to believe them because, what else was there to believe?

So if someone is embarrassing the crap out of them, it is a case of fair play, but I really think we should credit these groups with having more than one string to their bow.

Anthony last week before Ciaran Doherty was killed...

2010-03-04T11:15:01.509Z

Anthony last week before Ciaran Doherty was killed..Brian Rowan made this assessment about the the car bomb in Newry...

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/brian-rowan-bomb-warnings-are-deadly-game-of-catandmouse-14695413.html

"This is an assault on the peace strategy of Adams and McGuinness, a battle for authority inside the republican community.

The dissidents know their war will not force the “Brits” out and will not remove the border. So, the fight is about something else, about saying in this violence that Adams and McGuinness sold out, but we fight on.

It would be viewed as a direct challenge to the authority of the mainstream republican leadership from inside its own community.

The dissident war is not with the British and the security forces. It is about something else, something much more personal. Something much closer to home."

My question is how close to the truth do you think he is...

Watched the Spotlight slot on Ciaran Doherty - in ...

2010-03-04T07:09:21.307Z

Watched the Spotlight slot on Ciaran Doherty - in terms of PR it was a disaster for his killers. They came across as brutal and sordid.

Nuala, hopefully Marty is on holiday - he is neede...

2010-03-04T07:07:04.015Z

Nuala, hopefully Marty is on holiday - he is needed to add a bit of colour to the place. It was interesting how a couple of year ago SF began the rehabilitation of Collins. Gerry kick started it with his comments on the amount of republicans that existed throughout Ireland - even Fine Gael had its Michael Collins tradition. I remember thinking on reading that - 'ah here we go.'

Peter, think you have got to the crux of many ma...

2010-03-04T07:03:09.639Z

Peter,

think you have got to the crux of many matters there. A very salient point is the one made about the incongruity between victory parades and truth telling

ewok. There is absolutely no comparison betwee...

2010-03-03T12:15:14.792Z

ewok.
There is absolutely no comparison between Micheal Collins and Gerry Adams. Collins did not spend years lying and deceiving his own people, while, he and other members of his party feathered their own nests.

Unlike Adams, Collins he did not lie about his past and he certainly did not send people out to do things he had not got the guts to do himself.
Growing up, my home was dominated by opposing views on Collins, however, try as I may I could never categorise him like Adams.

In relation to the brit state, unfortunately us people in the North do not have any option in relation to letting them run it.

To be honest I hope they do run they're little brit admin into the ground. Just feel so sorry for the people up here who deserved so much and got so little.

People such as Mackers, Tommy Gorman, Brendan Hughes and others spent years exposing these people for what they were and they paid dearly for it.

That's why I kind of resent it when people like yourself treat us as if we all took it lying down. However, if you think I,m stupid that is your prerogative

Where's is Marty when I need him?

why should we let them run a brit state? thats jus...

2010-03-03T00:27:11.743Z

why should we let them run a brit state? thats just a stupid idea,they are part of the partionist arangement on the island,they are part of the problem they should be exposed for the rats they are and opposed,just like the rat collins,we're thought down south in school that he was a hero, because he fuckin wasnt,he was a sell-out like adams faction,letting them get on with it?? fuck that.

Interested. I know exactly where you are coming fr...

2010-03-01T21:35:25.556Z

Interested.
I know exactly where you are coming from. I have to observe their distinctly unpatriotic behaviour most days. I just be grateful that I do not have to look at them in my house anymore. The garlic must have worked or maybe it was something I said about big "pompus".

These so called patriots agreed this precarious peace. They did not care that it wasn't even a just peace. They settled for a papering over the cracks exercise and now the cracks have began to reappear.

They left us in this abysmal mess and then have the bare faced cheek to pontificate about the latest awful death. I really hope their thirty pieces get them through.

I agree with Larry Hughes let them run their brit admin, hope they run it into the ground

Anthony Your point about managing the defeat ring...

2010-03-01T12:44:10.713Z

Anthony

Your point about managing the defeat rings true. The surreal display of victory through the streets of West Belfast on the announcement of the ceasefire bode ill for the transition to a politics of truth telling.

As for the RIRA there was something of a 'performance' in their treatment of Kieran. These people are so desperate to assume PIRA's mantle (a hopeless task in the absence of a coherent, if unwinnable political strategy) that they have opportunistically taken out one of their own in order to shore up their own identification as the 'real thing'.

It's interesting indeed to examine how Sinn Fein's representatives, in their current media performances, are tragically constrained and compromised in challenging the mimetic obsessions of the RIRA people.

Think that killing was disgusting..have had a feel...

2010-03-01T11:59:46.555Z

Think that killing was disgusting..have had a feeling that Mi5 and 'Branch' were keeping the dissident pot simmering for overtime and perks benefits. Now we have Derry people being intimidated by regular so called punishment shootings and now a murder.AND THATS WHAT THAT WAS.
Also, the securicrats have kept their livelyhood ticking over long enough for someone with mortar and bomb making capability to step into the equasion [ Newry and Brownlow] how long before a town centre aquires listed buildings..some listing to the left and some to the right..?
Everything said about SF totally correct, missmanaged a surrender..and treated everyone with contempt..let em get on with it, run their british admin course.

RE: 'No matter how many bodies like that of Ci...

2010-03-01T03:31:44.368Z

RE: 'No matter how many bodies like that of Ciaran Doherty lie strewn on darkened roads, that circle of futility will not be broken – just hearts.' So what be the answer Anthony what be the answer to all of this? All killing is hideous/tragic but what be the answer to resolve more of the same? Everyone talking but no-one making sense of what is deemed senseless yet no-one addressing what underpins the why these deaths still happen... In a way you circled the whole thing... * I do not crow over or applaud violence but i surely know why it all keeps happening. RE 'it should still be an easy matter for anyone to make a call on the rightness or wrongness of the consequence' It should also be an easy matter to address why it all still happens imo. All the convoluted theories and speculations and so forth can not bring the dead back to life this we know. Tis no revelation.

Nuala, neither myself nor Tommy could see why we h...

2010-02-28T21:51:54.588Z

Nuala, neither myself nor Tommy could see why we had no right to an opinion and the leadership were entitled to talk any old guff they wanted. I don't think other people lacked courage. I think they lacked a good dose of scepticism. Also there are situations people find themselves in where they might wish to say something but can't for a lot of reasons and not because of a lack of courage. I didn't always speak up when I should have. It is just life.

It does not surprise me that a SF person would be vindictive toward Dolours. It is the only way they know how to deal with people who don't buy into any of the nonsense.

Marty has gone off the radar. We were just saying today how we miss his banter.

Mackers. My son always said that yourself and Tomm...

2010-02-28T20:51:36.971Z

Mackers. My son always said that yourself and Tommy Gorman were the trailblazers in relation to speaking out. I have to agree with him. Both of you had the courage to speak out while the rest of us nodded in silent agreement. I think both of you suffered the harsh end of censorship, however the fact that they never managed to silence you, said so much more about both of you than it did about them. A member of Sinn Fein passed a particularly vindictive remark to me last night about Dolours I asked her, did she think they were robbed because they could not picket her home? I think these days they are much subtle with the censorship, however now that their leader is on the backfood, they are unleashing their usual tirade of abuse against anyone who gives an opinion.
Has Marty done a runner?

Nuala, thanks for your encouragement. I never thou...

2010-02-28T19:10:26.848Z

Nuala, thanks for your encouragement. I never thought it was too hard to be perceptive about the way the movement was going. We did have a first edition to read from - the Sticks. There was really nothing new in the internal management of the change. Goulding used all the same tricks. Opinions - at least it is great to be able to have them and not be hounded for it. The dam of censorship has been breached and the voices rushed it before the censors had time to patch it. Now it is too wide.

Fionnuala I have watched Hunger several times and...

2010-02-28T18:28:03.123Z

Fionnuala
I have watched Hunger several times and cannot imagine the hardship those men endured.
While watching same I often wonder what they would think of the outcome of all their suffering.
If I sound a bit harsh its because I have seen so much unpatriotic behaviour from a lot of senior republicans that kind of clouds my judgement at times .

Mackers. Just an opinion also. I would say as with...

2010-02-28T17:02:39.290Z

Mackers. Just an opinion also. I would say as with most things you have your finger firmly on the pulse. You are extremely perceptive in relation to certain situations. So I would believe your analysis is as near to the truth as we will ever get.

Tony, you might be right. What I offer is an opino...

2010-02-28T14:01:10.205Z

Tony, you might be right. What I offer is an opinon. I don't claim to know the difference between one set of them and another. But those I do know a long time and who function in these groups are not in it for the money. Their thinking is absurd, their war repulsive - but that does not certify their motivation as financial gain.

Interested. To be honest I agree with you that a l...

2010-02-28T12:40:38.260Z

Interested. To be honest I agree with you that a lot of former provos have feathered their own nest, in fact they have feathered a considerable few nests as some of them are megarich. However, you cannot discredit an entire movement because of the actions of a few individuals. A lot of decent people took part in the armed struggle. Many of these people were intelligent and articulate and could have succeeded in any walk of life had they not chosen their particular path.
PS May be you should watch the "Hunger" DVD to appreciate the unbelievable courage displayed by people in the H Blocks, people who were trying to ensure our Irish children had the chance of a decent future.

Hi Anthony... very sad as far as links with drugs ...

2010-02-28T11:36:05.976Z

Hi Anthony... very sad as far as links with drugs or not... it was over money there as bad as the Gangs here in Limerick..its another way of making money... you know were you stand with gangs.. FREE Ireland my ass!!!!! people are sick of this so called WAR in there heads... you wont see the RIRA take out gang members in Limerick
you said it THE WAR WAS LOST AND ITS OVER!!!

Fionnuala I always get the same reply every time I...

2010-02-27T20:46:23.872Z

Fionnuala
I always get the same reply every time I use my argument that the Provo’s used the movement to feather their own nest , I do of course remember and still see the British force being used against our people , but take a look around you and see how so many of the Sinn Fein people live . I would never use anyone’s life to score points because I am not a political person.
PS Take a trip into south Armagh some time and see the wealth