Tony Blair’s links to death squads in Northern Ireland and Iraq

This video from Ireland is called British Collusion in Ireland part 1.

This is Part 2.

Two of Britain’s most secret military units operating in Iraq are run by a man who ran death squads in Northern Ireland.

British covert military unit the Joint Support Group (JSG) works alongside US covert forces in the aptly named “Task Force Black”. …

The other unit is the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR). …

“We got very good at doing this in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s, and now we want to transfer this capability to the global war on terrorism.”

In July 2005, the SRR was involved in the surveillance operation which led to the shooting of [innocent Brazilian] Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station in London.

SRR officers were apparently engaged in “low-level intelligence behind the scenes” when Jean Charles was shot. According to the “military sources”, this was the first time the new regiment had been engaged in an operation.

In December that year two British soldiers in the SRR were arrested by police in Iraq.

Who were the two men and what were they doing when they were seized outside al-Jamiat police station in Basra?

What prompted British soldiers to smash down the wall of the station and demolish several buildings inside the compound in the operation to snatch them back? …

It was claimed at the time that the two undercover men had opened fire when they were stopped at a police roadblock, killing at least one police officer. They were part of the Britain’s undercover war in Iraq.

Both the JSG and the SRR are run by Brigadier Gordon Kerr.

Kerr’s career has taken him to troublespots all over the world. An officer in the Gordon Highlanders, he served briefly in Cyprus before his first posting in Northern Ireland in 1972.

Tony Blair appointed Kerr to head up military intelligence in Iraq in 2003 – just two weeks after an inquiry into collusion with paramilitaries in Northern Ireland sent a file about Kerr to the director of public prosecutions. …

From the late 1970s, various British governments backed a secret unit of the army, the Force Research Unit (FRU), which, along with the special branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, supplied names, addresses and photographs of Catholic targets to Loyalist paramilitaries.

The FRU was led by Gordon Kerr. When Kerr became the FRU’s commander in 1986, the 100-strong squad adopted a more aggressive approach to the running of informers.

The key person supplying information was British army agent Brian Nelson.

He infiltrated the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the biggest Loyalist paramilitary group.

His information was responsible for the murder of at least 30 Catholics.

These included many who had no connection to the IRA, including the Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane who was murdered in 1989 by the UDA’s death squad, the Ulster Freedom Fighters. …

Beyond Gordon Kerr, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment includes at least 100 other veterans of Britain’s dirty war in Northern Ireland.

How much does Tony Blair know about what they are up to?

This week saw renewed calls for a public inquiry into the 1989 murder of former republican prisoner Sam Marshall by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and allegations of security force collusion in the killing.

We must stay out of Syria, says Ulster military expert Tim Collins (newsletter.co.uk)
Tony Blair should ‘atone for Iraq before advising on Syria’ (standard.co.uk)
Northern Ireland’ ‘left behind’ in recovery (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

12 thoughts on “Tony Blair’s links to death squads in Northern Ireland and Iraq”

Common Ground
Posted by: “jackholman@juno.com” jackholman@juno.com jectensis
Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:58 am (PST)
In a move that will be welcomed by churches, a Government minister is to urge world leaders to find common ground with potential enemies, and drop references to the ‘war on terror’.
President George W Bush’s concept of a “war on terror” has given strength to terrorists by making them feel part of something bigger, Hilary Benn MP will say today.
The international development secretary will tell a meeting in New York the phrase gives a shared identity to small groups with widely differing aims.
And Mr Benn, a candidate for Labour’s deputy leadership, will confirm that UK officials will stop using the term.
The White House coined the phrase after the attacks of 11 September 2001.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been amongst church leaders who has urged a new approach.
The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even wrote to George Bush last year, citing Jesus Christ and highlighting the double standards involved in waging a ‘war on terror’ whilst at the same time maintaining nuclear weapons and pursuing policies of militarism.
Mr Benn will today say: “In the UK, we do not use the phrase ‘war on terror’ because we can’t win by military means alone.
“And because this isn’t us against one organised enemy with a clear identity and a coherent set of objectives.”
It is “the vast majority of the people in the world” against “a small number of loose, shifting and disparate groups who have relatively little in common”, he will say.
“What these groups want is to force their individual and narrow values on others, without dialogue, without debate, through violence.
“And by letting them feel part of something bigger, we give them strength.”
In a New York meeting, Mr Benn will urge world leaders to find common ground with potential enemies, rather than relying on “hard” military power.
“The fight for the kind of world that most people want can, in the end, only be won in a different battle – a battle of values and ideas.”
Mr Bush first outlined the concept of a “war on terror” shortly after New York and the Pentagon were attacked by Islamist terror group al-Qaeda on 11 September 2001.
“Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there,” he told Congress nine days after the attacks.
“It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”