14.10.2003 to 15.10.2003
Tuesday-Wednesday, 14-15 October, 2003
Wednesday, 15 October, 2003
Tuesday-Wednesday, 14-15 October, 2003
Cover-up claim 'outrageous' - Bloody Sunday General
By RM Distribution
The British Army's most senior officer told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry today that he was not involved in a cover-up of the massacre of 13 Irish civil rights demonstrators by British forces in Derry on January 30, 1972. A fourteenth died later from his injuries.
General Mike Jackson was recalled to the Saville Inquiry to face questions on the contents of the hand-written statements he produced in the hours after the killings.
The statements, which only came to light this year, suggest that he played a more significant role on the day than he had previously admitted to.
Jackson, the most senior British Army officer present, has described his role on Bloody Sunday as that of a 'gofer' for the Parachute Regiment commander on the ground, Lt Col Derek Wilford.
Within hours of Bloody Sunday, the British Army put out a statement claiming that a number of the victims were on the wanted list, others had been carrying weapons while yet others had nail bombs. No evidence has been found to back any of the claims, all of which have now been traced back to Jackson.
Apparently in anticipation of the overwhelming evidence that there was then a cover-up, Jackson has stated that, "there is absolutely no question of briefing soldiers as to what they should say. Such a suggestion is absolutely outrageous."
In his statement to the inquiry, he said: "If it is to be suggested that there was an attempt by anyone to 'sanitise' or otherwise alter a true version of events for any reason, I would emphatically reject such a suggestion.
"I can say with complete certainty that I was not involved in any attempt to distort or cover up what had happened that day and to the best of my knowledge, information and firm belief, nor was anyone else."
But barrister Mike Mansfield QC said there was a serious question mark over the hand-written list of engagements compiled by Gen Jackson in the hours after Bloody Sunday.
The lawyer said: "The big question mark, General, in everybody's mind, and it may not have occurred to you, is that this list does not begin to explain any of the 13 civilian dead. Did you know that?"
Gen Jackson replied: "I am sorry, I simply do not understand the statement you are making. This list refers to people being 'hit' and people being 'killed'. It makes no attempt here to say civilian or whatever."
In his statement the general accepted that the names of the soldiers involved and the number of rounds fired by each soldier were not included in the list.
"It must be remembered that this was a reporting process, a totally different process to the investigatory process that would in any event be carried out."
But Mr Mansfield put to him that the purpose of the list was to justify the actions of Bloody Sunday by claiming the dead were gunmen and bombers.
"General, you only have to glance down the list. The whole point of the list, I suggest originally was in order to justify publicly why people had been shot so they were described as 'nail bombers', 'pistol firers', 'carrying rifles' and so on.
"None of the 13 were carrying nail bombs, none of the 13 were carrying pistols, none of the 13 were carrying rifles, do you follow that?"
Gen Jackson said this was a matter for the tribunal to decide.
NO NAIL-BOMBS - DOCTOR
In other testimony earlier this week, a British Army doctor who twice examined a Bloody Sunday victim allegedly found with nail bombs in his clothing told the Saville Inquiry he did not see any devices on the body.
Captain 138, a former medical officer in the Royal Anglian Regiment, who pronounced 17-year-old Gerald Donaghy dead, said it would have been extraordinary if he had not seen the nail bombs during his examination.
After his body was taken away by the British Army, Mr Donaghy was photographed with four nail bombs poking out of his jacket and trouser pockets.
The medical officer said he has been shown photographs of Mr Donaghy's body, which appear to show a device sticking out of his trousers.
He said: "I think it highly unlikely that the object shown in the photographs was on the body I examined, as if it was there, I would have probably noticed it."
Army Board Para recalled to Bloody Sunday Inquiry
By Pat Finucane Centre
The most senior officer in the British Army, General Mike Jackson, will give evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry today (Wednesday) following claims that new evidence has come to light which suggest that he played a more significant role on the day that he had previously admitted to.
More recently Jackson was the most senior British Army officer sitting on the Army Board which ruled that the two soldiers convicted of the murder of 18 year old Peter Mc Bride were fit to continue serving in the British Army. The Mc Bride family have long argued that a senior officer who was present in Derry on Bloody Sunday was an totally inappropriate individual to sit on an Army Board which was deciding the fate of two soldiers convicted of the murder of Peter Mc Bride.
General Mike Jackson was the officer in command of British forces during the Iraq war and the information below was first posted at the beginning of the war earlier this year.
According to Jackson’s written statement to the Bloody Sunday Tribunal:
He attended Sandhurst Military Academy in 1962/63 and joined the Intelligence Corps in 1963. Later he was seconded to the Parachute Regiment which he then joined on a permanent basis in late 1970. Jackson was then posted to the notorious Palace Barracks in Holywood Co Down, centre of numerous allegations of torture of internees after the introduction of internment in August 1971. Jackson took over as Adjutant of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in the Spring/Summer of 1971.
According to the Sunday Times of 17 October 1971,
Internees were "…flown by helicopter to an unknown destination-in fact, Palace Barracks. During the period of their interrogation, they were continuously hooded, barefoot, dressed only in an over large boiler suit, and spreadeagled against a wall-leaning on their fingertips like the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle. The only sound that filled the room was a high pitched throb, which the detainees usually liken to an air compressor. The noise literally drove them out of their minds…"
The Sunday Times went on to claim that the "interrogation at Palace Barracks was organised, as far as we were able to ascertain, by men from the Joint Services Interrogation Centre. The actual questioning appears to have been carried out by members of the RUC Special Branch."
On October 24 1971 the Sunday Times carried a further story on the allegations that torture was widespread at Palace Barracks. The story claimed the "British Army’s involvement seems to go beyond simply being the centre’s landlord." Soldiers were involved in the actual torture of detainees according to witnesses. In response 425 Catholic priests, 80% of the clergy working in the North, released an unprecedented statement condemning the "brutality, physical and mental torture and psychological pressures inflicted on men" arrested during the internment swoops. The priests went on to single out the "barbarities…still being inflicted on innocent people…at Palace Military Barracks, Holywood…"
In 1978 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the so-called five techniques used in interrogation, usually by RUC Special Branch officers trained by the British Army, constituted inhumane and degrading treatment in breach of Article 3. There is no evidence to suggest that Mike Jackson was involved in the torture practised at Palace Barracks. He was a senior officer there at the time the torture occurred.
Bloody Sunday
On January 30 1972, Bloody Sunday, Jackson describes his own role as that of a ‘gofer’ for the Para commander on the ground, Lt Col Derek Wilford. "I was one of the group of people around Derek Wilford and that is where my memory properly kicks in." Jackson describes moving into Rossville St and having the impression of "coming under fire." In his statement to the present inquiry Jackson claims that the Support Company "had become involved in a firefight." He adds, "I have absolutely no reason to suppose that any of 1PARA would have been using their weapons had there not been incoming rounds." Extraordinarily Jackson maintains that, though surrounded by soldiers apparently coming under fire, he "… did not see any soldiers firing their weapons."
Following the murder of 14 men and boys and the attempted murder of many more Jackson admits that he would have been "involved in the administration of the statement taking exercise." In anticipation of the overwhelming evidence that there was then a cover-up Jackson states that, "…there is absolutely no question of briefing soldiers as to what they should say. Such a suggestion is absolutely outrageous." Indeed.
Within hours of Bloody Sunday the British Army put out a statement claiming that a number of the victims were on the wanted list, others had been carrying weapons while yet others had nail bombs. General Sir Mike Jackson, Commander of British forces in the Gulf, was the Unit Press Officer in Derry that day though the statement was released at a more senior level within the chain of command.
Official documents supplied to the Tribunal quote Jackson as describing the Parachute Regiment’s activities on the day as ‘first rate’. Other comments attributed to Jackson that suggest that the Paras should go in "hard and ready" and "inflict casualties" give a "misleading impression" according to his recent statement. Jackson’s recollections of the events of Bloody Sunday will come under close scrutiny when he gives evidence to the Saville Tribunal