MICHAEL GALLAGHER SAYS WHY OMAGH NEEDS THE TRUTH
MICHEAL GALLAGHER says why Omagh needs to know the truth
WE must see this report. We are in pain here, we are hurting and we want to know the truth.
I can hardly believe that anyone, especially John Reid in his position of responsibility to the public, would try to prevent it coming out or delay publication.
I am very anxious to see the report although in my heart I know it is going to make very hard reading.
But I'm anxious to see the Chief Constable's reply too, to get to the truth of the situation.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan told me from day one that no stone would be left unturned in the hunt for justice.
I trusted him that what he said was fact, that he was telling me the truth and I don't want to be shown that I misplaced my trust.
One hundred police officers started investigating the atrocity, but now I've learnt three months into the investigation 40 per cent were called off. Now there are 25. And even if there is only one per cent truth in the findings of the Ombudsman's Office I want to know what went wrong - we all do - and I want to know exactly who was responsible.
Ultimately the people responsible for the Omagh bomb are the Real IRA, not the Special Branch.
And I will never hold any of the men and women of the RUC responsible for the happened that day and in their subsequent investigations.
I know they worked to the best of their ability, they worked hard, they kept us informed and they had great sympathy for the families who suffered so much. One of their own men lost his daughter. None of the officers serving in the RUC has escaped the pain of losing a friend or relative in the Troubles.
They know how I feel and they know what it means to need justice so I will not blame them.
But if it turns out that my son was murdered as a result of a failed security policy I will hold Mo Mowlam and Tony Blair personally responsible.
The Government will have rubber-stamped the policy - Mrs Mowlam was so anxious to make a name for herself as the bearer of peace she may have made a fatal error - and we are paying the cost.
The government has to bear responsibility for work carried out in their name.
And if the cost of so-called normalisation in Northern Ireland was my son's life and the lives of 28 other people and two unborn babies, then it was too much and someone will have to carry the can.
But even before I heard news of this draft report, I knew that there had been major security deficiencies in Omagh.
There were 600 soldiers at a base who could have marched into town between the time the warning had been made and the time it bomb exploded.
There should have plenty of police officers on stand-by too - we didn't have the personnel we needed on August 15.
Whatever Nuala O'Loan's report says on Wednesday those facts will never change.
But the truth must now come out because someone somewhere is telling lies and I want to know who it is.
WE must see this report. We are in pain here, we are hurting and we want to know the truth.
I can hardly believe that anyone, especially John Reid in his position of responsibility to the public, would try to prevent it coming out or delay publication.
I am very anxious to see the report although in my heart I know it is going to make very hard reading.
But I'm anxious to see the Chief Constable's reply too, to get to the truth of the situation.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan told me from day one that no stone would be left unturned in the hunt for justice.
I trusted him that what he said was fact, that he was telling me the truth and I don't want to be shown that I misplaced my trust.
One hundred police officers started investigating the atrocity, but now I've learnt three months into the investigation 40 per cent were called off. Now there are 25. And even if there is only one per cent truth in the findings of the Ombudsman's Office I want to know what went wrong - we all do - and I want to know exactly who was responsible.
Ultimately the people responsible for the Omagh bomb are the Real IRA, not the Special Branch.
And I will never hold any of the men and women of the RUC responsible for the happened that day and in their subsequent investigations.
I know they worked to the best of their ability, they worked hard, they kept us informed and they had great sympathy for the families who suffered so much. One of their own men lost his daughter. None of the officers serving in the RUC has escaped the pain of losing a friend or relative in the Troubles.
They know how I feel and they know what it means to need justice so I will not blame them.
But if it turns out that my son was murdered as a result of a failed security policy I will hold Mo Mowlam and Tony Blair personally responsible.
The Government will have rubber-stamped the policy - Mrs Mowlam was so anxious to make a name for herself as the bearer of peace she may have made a fatal error - and we are paying the cost.
The government has to bear responsibility for work carried out in their name.
And if the cost of so-called normalisation in Northern Ireland was my son's life and the lives of 28 other people and two unborn babies, then it was too much and someone will have to carry the can.
But even before I heard news of this draft report, I knew that there had been major security deficiencies in Omagh.
There were 600 soldiers at a base who could have marched into town between the time the warning had been made and the time it bomb exploded.
There should have plenty of police officers on stand-by too - we didn't have the personnel we needed on August 15.
Whatever Nuala O'Loan's report says on Wednesday those facts will never change.
But the truth must now come out because someone somewhere is telling lies and I want to know who it is.
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/143
Published Date: 08-Dec-01
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