Bloody Sunday - Killings "unjustifiable" - Cameron issues aplogy

[Hopeless Romantic]

• Saville inquiry strongly condemns behaviour of soldiers who opened fire on Bloody Sunday
• Inquiry exonerates the victims
• David Cameron issues apology on behalf of government
• PM will not say whether he thinks soldiers should be prosecute
• Report says Martin McGuinness was probably armed with a sub-machine gun but did not do anything that justified soldiers opening fire

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jun/15/bloodysunday-northernireland

[non sociopath skin]

1. Grimly, I am reminded of Spike Milligan's imaginary headline ...

"Archduke Franz Ferdinand Found Alive. First World War A Mistake"

It may give closure to some, but ... too little, too late.

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

2. ditto

closure to some, but ... too little, too late.

Nicely put.

[Ken Burch]

3. Is it possible, at all, that some government somewhere might look at these findings

and admit that it is NEVER right to use deadly force to put down a nonviolent protest?

What the British Army did on that day is at least 50% responsible for the misery the Six Counties went through in the next twenty-two years(until the GFA ended MOST of the misery).

[B Whale]

4. I found the apology by Cameron and

the pictures of the crowd reacting to it on the big screen in NI, very moving.

'Sorry', contrary to what many say, can actually have a simple power for many who long to hear it.

I'm glad (and surprised) that a British report has been so damning of their own behaviour 'unequivocally' so!

Its a good day for truth, justice and democracy (however messy those three terms are)

[LeftishBrit]

5. I felt the same

Pity it took 38 years! (And of course, more than a pity that it happened at all!)

But good that truth finally triumphed and that government was prepared to accept it.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. Confirming what Ireland and the rest of the world had already knew

The outcome only seemed to surprise sections of the Tory Party and the British media which held on to the fantasy that it was "the IRA wot done it", and the protesters were armed-to-the-teeth provos.

[dipsydoodle]

7. From 1997 - Updated on 12 February 2004 ...read all of this please

Report 2: 29 January 1997

After the previous broadcast, a soldier from the Royal Anglian Regiment who says he was part of a 14 man patrol on the Derry City walls had contacted the programme. He refuses to appear on camera or disclose his identity for fears about his and his family's safety.

This soldier recounts how a sniper from the Royal Anglians fired from a derelict house after spotting a man with a gun. 'Bloody hell, I've got two with three shots', he recalls the sniper saying.

ITN and the two journalists continue to refuse to disclose the identity of this soldier to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. We believe to do so would put his safety at risk, break a bond of confidentiality, and deter future whistle-blowers from speaking out in the public interest.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/bloody+sunday+inquiry+rules+in+favour+of+itn/254193

There is mention there also of the fact that some of the fatal shots were fired from above ground level which meant the army had used snipers.

[mackerel]

8. Say what you will about Cameron but his apology was very

meaningful.