Why is the British Army not branded a terrorist organisation but the IRA is?

Which it has been proven they were not.

20:20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. I'm sure a multi million pound investigation into Iraq and Afghanistan will show that I did something wrong, but at the time with my face in the dirt praying to survive, I did what I thought was best.

True, and this was covered in the inquiry so it is a moot point in this context. Regardless, as I previously said, people were shot holding white flags and with hands in the air. If all those shot had guns as you seem suspicious of, then surely at least one would have been found with a gun, it is unlikely that all the guns could have been recovered and I am some what certain we would have heard a little more from the military side of it complaining that most of those killed were armed but had the weapons taken away.

People get shot. Whether they get shot in unaimed crossfire, or aimed fire is difficult to prove or disprove.


Well with your last comment it seems you have a funny way of showing that, no offence.

The Para's are good for when you need Violence and a job done. Police action type activity they aren't good at.




Because they are retarded, why the hell else?

To also defend their criminal activities and in armed struggle, some people benefit when violence is happening. It allows them to carry on with their criminal activity as the police are otherwise engaged elsewhere.

You also have a younger generation who aspire to be players as they feel it makes them a big man.

..To also defend their criminal activities and in armed struggle, some people benefit when violence is happening. It allows them to carry on with their criminal activity as the police are otherwise engaged elsewhere.

You also have a younger generation who aspire to be players as they feel it makes them a big man.

First of all I do not condone terrorism nor do I have particularly strong feelings of dislike towards Britain or the military. I happen to believe I am of a new generation who can think for myself and won't have my opinion plagued by the infectious sectarianism that is rife in this part of Ireland.

*cough* Bloody Sunday- Brit Army bastard murderers *cough*

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If you willingly decided to join the army (which is currently taking part in huge war crimes), you're all of those things. No offence bro. Th good people in the army left as soon as the illegal wars began.

There were armed IRA members present on that day.

Those killed have been proven not to have been armed. I was saying supporting this argument after it was hinted they might have been armed, which is why I referred to the state of the IRA in terms of volunteer numbers and weapons in early 1972. At which point you burst onto the scene, uninvited and misinformed, taking my quote out of context and come out with 'Martin McGuinness' as if that is supposed to mean anything in relation to what I had just said.

One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. Its all about which perspective you look at it from


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Don't kid yourself. Your post shows an obvious bias. I am international and have no real knowledge about what the issue is.

In any case, I will reply to any post I choose to, you don't own this forum or dictate to who I will reply to or in what manner I do so.

The blacks in USA comes to mind. They didn't take up terror tactics but have a black president. Some more to go but getting there.

That's the classic argument of a terrorist. If the country is governed by a democratically elected govt. (I obviously do not refer to an election like the one Mugabe wins) then there is no way one can use that argument.

I have an opinion on the matter and therefore it, like every opinion is biased. However if you are suggesting I support terrorism you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.





There was a movement in the late 1960s and was based on the civil rights movement in the USA the decade before. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was a non-sectarian organisation that was made up of Catholics and Protestants marching for civil rights (even the working class protestants had a very poor standard of living at the time). However the media twisted the movement and portrayed it as a nationalist movement, this was helped by the fact that the RUC would beat them back into the nationalist areas where subsequent rioting would often break out. Eventually things go so bad the movement was being coined as a front for the IRA, it alienated protestants and by the end it essentially was marching for catholic rights, but only because the unionist government went out of their way to ensure that no catholic and protestant unified force would succeed. United we stand divided we fall is probably on Stormont's walls somewhere, just under several coats of paint by now.

It is for this reason that there are so many nationalist and unionist areas in the likes of Belfast as opposed on mixed areas. The unionist government wouldn't allow them to mix as this would mess up their voting system that was gerrymandered. Anyway, the once the civil rights movement was given a 'catholic rights' paint job by the government, tensions rose and the British army was deployed on the brink of a civil war between the two Irish communities.

You should also remember that the majority of the Irish did want to, but Northern Ireland is under UK jurisdiction and the unionists were a manifested majority in a gerrymandered country called Northern Ireland. Also, perhaps you should look up the Black Panthers or the ANC. Peaceful means is not always possible I'm afraid.

I know full well that those who were shot happened to be unarmed. I won't comment as to whether or not they were IRA members or not as this can't possibly be ascertained either way.

McGuinness was there and even though it hasn't been proven conclusively that he was armed, you accept the fact that he almost certainly was, and that he was a leading member of the IRA at the time. It is too much to accept that he just happened to be there and armed at a civil rights protest against the British Army as a coincidence of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thus it is reasonable to draw the conclusions that the IRA was heavily involved in the protest, if not orchestrating it.

There happened to be at least one IRA member there with at least one illegal weapon, they just didn't end up getting shot dead - if they had been killed along with the rest and his Thompson recovered, it wouldn't have changed the reality of the protest (as in those other people would still have ended up being dead), but it would almost certainly have changed the outcome of the Bloody Sunday enquiry, if there was one at all.

In any case, I will reply to any post I choose to, you don't own this forum or dictate to who I will reply to or in what manner I do so.

Also, perhaps you should look up the Black Panthers or the ANC. Peaceful means is not always possible I'm afraid.

I have an opinion on the matter and therefore it, like every opinion is biased. However if you are suggesting I support terrorism you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

Not condemning terrorists as terrorists is supporting them. That "I am not asking if the IRA are terrorists only why the army is not called terrorist" is effectively supporting the terrorists. Like I said I am international and do not know the history of this issue. Just reading the bit you posted makes it obvious to me this is a classic case that I was talking about. The IRA has made the anti - Army thing the cause as the real cause could not rally the majority. Look the Scots are having another referendum to split. Quebec in Canada have had a few. If their really is a majority first get rid of the IRA and all those who were part of it. (I find it hard to believe that that IRA leader Jerry Adams was not arrested and thrown into jail for life) then have a referendum . And when your cause doesn't win don't give the excuses you give in your last post about how the govt put Irish against Irish.

The IRA wasn't as clear cut as 'we want British rule out of Ireland and we will start an armed campaign of violence to achieve that'. As you said, you don't really know anything about it, and this shows in you post that has serious gaps. You are also comparing different countries at different times to the situation back then, this is not a good idea.

I should add, the people of Ireland voted democratically for Home Rule in the early 1900s. They were refused democracy and now we have the mess we are in today, so do not provide examples of peaceful achievements in other countries because the Irish tried at every chance to get what they needed through democracy, only to have it refused by the British. I'll just ignore the Gerry Adams comment entirely, not worth correcting.

If you want to learn about the conflict in the easiest way then watch the series of documentaries by Peter Taylor, they are probably the most informative and to the point means of learning the history as you can get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqmbWuaTJvE

Er, Black Panthers? Perhaps not terror tactics, but definitely not friendly...

The Scots don't have an IRA equivalent. They will probably get seperated from england long before the Irish. Not knowing the history of thing I won't try to get into the right or wrong of the cause. But I repeat the ends do not justify the means. And I think I answered reasonably well in my post above your original question as to why the army is not a terrorist group and the IRA is. So let's leave it there. Cheers.

Please Nelson Mandela spent most of his life in jail not carrying a gun for his cause. And you started by saying

I said McGuiness was in the Bogside, he lived there after all. I said nothing about him being anywhere near the protest. It was a NICRA march and the NICRA leaders knew exactly who's who in the IRA in the area, there is no way in hell they would have let them anywhere near the protest let alone be heavily involved or...wait for it...ORCHESTRATED it lol. Honestly, I've heard some silly things, but to hear that the IRA were the leaders of the civil rights movement is quite amusing.