REPUBLICAN VOW OF SILENCE PROVIDING COVER FOR KILLERS SAYS GIBSON
Republican ' vow of silence' providing cover for killers, says Gibson
A REPUBLICAN "vow of silence" is providing cover for those killers who carried out the Omagh bomb atrocity, Mr Oliver Gibson, DUP West Tyrone MLA, said this week.
Mr Gibson said Bob Geldof had been right to remind people that the Omagh massacre had been Ulster's "September 11". In terms of population scale, the deaths of 29 people in Omagh was comparable with the the thousands who died in the USA six months ago.
The crucial difference between the situations was that the whereabouts of the perpetrators of the Omagh atrocity appeared to be known, while there was not a clue about the present location of the mastermind behind the US tragedies.
"While British and American intelligence fumble in the dark, searching in vain for the Osama bin Laden, the organisers and executors of the bomb blast in Omagh live free and open lives. They do this even though the security forces in the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain claim to be aware of their identities and their addresses.
"This repulsive state of affairs has come about because several key interest groups have let the Omagh victims down. At the time of the bombing, both the British and Irish governments promised to hunt down the killers. However, police on both sides of the Irish frontier have clearly been put under political curb. The Irish Government refuses to deploy supergrasses prepared to testify against the IRA for fear of upsetting mainstream republicans and thus the peace process.
"Sinn Fein leaders have stuck with the old fashioned republican omerta, refusing to advise the nationalist community to help police investigations. That vow of silence only provides cover for the IRA killers. Moreover, Sinn Fein's claims of an RUC conspiracy , that somehow the bombers were allowed to slip through the security net appears an absurd and gross insult to the Omagh families' collective intelligence," said Mr. Gibson.
A REPUBLICAN "vow of silence" is providing cover for those killers who carried out the Omagh bomb atrocity, Mr Oliver Gibson, DUP West Tyrone MLA, said this week.
Mr Gibson said Bob Geldof had been right to remind people that the Omagh massacre had been Ulster's "September 11". In terms of population scale, the deaths of 29 people in Omagh was comparable with the the thousands who died in the USA six months ago.
The crucial difference between the situations was that the whereabouts of the perpetrators of the Omagh atrocity appeared to be known, while there was not a clue about the present location of the mastermind behind the US tragedies.
"While British and American intelligence fumble in the dark, searching in vain for the Osama bin Laden, the organisers and executors of the bomb blast in Omagh live free and open lives. They do this even though the security forces in the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain claim to be aware of their identities and their addresses.
"This repulsive state of affairs has come about because several key interest groups have let the Omagh victims down. At the time of the bombing, both the British and Irish governments promised to hunt down the killers. However, police on both sides of the Irish frontier have clearly been put under political curb. The Irish Government refuses to deploy supergrasses prepared to testify against the IRA for fear of upsetting mainstream republicans and thus the peace process.
"Sinn Fein leaders have stuck with the old fashioned republican omerta, refusing to advise the nationalist community to help police investigations. That vow of silence only provides cover for the IRA killers. Moreover, Sinn Fein's claims of an RUC conspiracy , that somehow the bombers were allowed to slip through the security net appears an absurd and gross insult to the Omagh families' collective intelligence," said Mr. Gibson.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1036
Published Date: 04-Apr-02
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