FBI AGENTS EVIDENCE CRUCIAL IN OMAGH FAMILIES REPORT
FBI agent's evidence 'crucial' in Omagh families' report
BY JOHN McCUSKER
j.mccusker@ulsterherald.com
EVIDENCE gathered from an FBI agent who infiltrated the IRA forms a crucial part of an independent report commissioned by the Omagh families which was handed over to the Irish Justice Minister last week.
Over 4,000 emails sent by FBI agent David Rupert in 1998 -which had been handed over to the Omagh families - contain damning evidence which will "embarass" the British and Irish governments, according to Michael Gallagher whose 21-year-old son Aidan was among those killed in the atrocity.
According to Mr Gallagher, one of the emails mentions that Omagh was considered a "serious target because of its police and military installations."
An independent report into the Omagh bombing, which was handed over to the Republic's Justice Minister last week, "ticks all the boxes" for a public enquiry into the atrocity.
These were the views of Mr Gallagher, one of the Omagh relatives, who was part of a delegation who handed over the report to Minister Alan Shatter in Dublin last Thursday. The report reviews all the investigations and court cases held since the bombing.
The Omagh group also state that the ongoing police investigation into the case should not hamper any decision to launch a public inquiry into the atrocity.
Speaking to the Ulster Herald, Michael Gallagher gave a detailed insight into the report which, he said, "must pave the way for a cross-border public inquiry."
According to Mr Gallagher, the evidence of FBI agent David Rupert sits at the core of the group's independent report. Rupert's evidence was crucial in the prosecution of Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt in 2003.
"I have access to over 4,000 emails that Rupert sent his handlers, FBI and MI5 in 1998 and they tell a very interesting story," Mr Gallagher said. "This was a man who was, and this is taken directly from an email he sent, at the very top of the RIRA in 1998.
"In an email Rupert sent to his handlers in April 1998, he warned that Omagh was considered a serious target because of its police and military installations.
Further emails show Rupert saying that he met with the Omagh bomber and also the Banbridge bomber.
"What is also very difficult to hear is the fact that senior Garda Siochana officials were fully aware of Rupert's actions and it emerges that he was part of an MI5, FBI and Gardai triangle. We must ask why large amounts of evidence were not passed to the RUC and why RUC detectives only learned of Rupert's April email in 2006," Mr Gallagher said.
The Omagh campaigner said Rupert had handed over the emails "much to the disgust" of the FBI, but he had done so in good faith. "Should, and hopefully when a public enquiry is given the go-ahead, he will be a key player in the process that implicates the US," he added.
The families' report also provides details of the involvement of police informant Paddy Dixon and his handler, Garda detective John White. The report states that Dixon provided intelligence on nine Real IRA bomb attacks between February and August 1998 and arranged the theft of vehicles which were used to transport bombs.
"In the lead-up to Omagh Dixon was asked to get two cars for a job in the North," Mr Gallagher said. "On the Wednesday he received a call from the Real IRA to say that cars had been secured and that he was not to act. Dixon conveyed this to White who subsequently arranged a meeting with his senior and a man called Patrick Roche.
"At a pub on the outskirts of Dublin, White explained to the senior that Dixon was not supplying the cars and at that point the senior reportedly said that it would be for the better as Dixon's credibility was beginning to wear thin due to the number of recent successes. At that point the senior said that they would 'let this one through.' White thought he was joking but he wasn't. We know that a bomb went through and although we cannot say for certain it was the one that came to Omagh, it seems very coincidental."
Mr Gallagher was part of a delegation who handed over the report to Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter in Dublin last Thursday.
Together with the damning evidence, the Omagh group also stated that the ongoing police investigation into the case should not hamper any decision to launch a public inquiry into the atrocity.
"We are not interested in a public inquiry that costs a fortune or takes forever," Mr Gallagher stated. "We want the least expensive inquiry and done in the shortest time. There are volumes of information there."
Mr Gallagher said relatives had recently learned that the PSNI were claiming that there was still a 'live' police investigation going on regarding Omagh.
"It has always been the case that we support the police investigation," Mr Gallagher stated.
"At the core of the public inquiry that the families are calling for is the apparent failure of both governments responsibility under Article 2 of the European Human Rights Act.
"Therefore we do not see what our call for a public inquiry should be affected by the police investigation that may be taking place."
Mr Gallagher said that with the ongoing Leveson Inquiry sitting in London, some of those who had been charged with criminal offences had given evidence to the inquiry. He therefore saw no reason why a public inquiry into the Omagh atrocity could not continue while the investigation was 'live.'
"Up until now the investigations have been piecemeal and have held very few powers, like that of the Nally Report for ex-ample. We know that we aren't going to get a conviction but we want the truth, we want justice. Omagh needs an inquiry and this report proves it," Mr Gallagher added.
-To sign an e-petition in support of a public inquiry into the Omagh bombing log onto http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36266
BY JOHN McCUSKER
j.mccusker@ulsterherald.com
EVIDENCE gathered from an FBI agent who infiltrated the IRA forms a crucial part of an independent report commissioned by the Omagh families which was handed over to the Irish Justice Minister last week.
Over 4,000 emails sent by FBI agent David Rupert in 1998 -which had been handed over to the Omagh families - contain damning evidence which will "embarass" the British and Irish governments, according to Michael Gallagher whose 21-year-old son Aidan was among those killed in the atrocity.
According to Mr Gallagher, one of the emails mentions that Omagh was considered a "serious target because of its police and military installations."
An independent report into the Omagh bombing, which was handed over to the Republic's Justice Minister last week, "ticks all the boxes" for a public enquiry into the atrocity.
These were the views of Mr Gallagher, one of the Omagh relatives, who was part of a delegation who handed over the report to Minister Alan Shatter in Dublin last Thursday. The report reviews all the investigations and court cases held since the bombing.
The Omagh group also state that the ongoing police investigation into the case should not hamper any decision to launch a public inquiry into the atrocity.
Speaking to the Ulster Herald, Michael Gallagher gave a detailed insight into the report which, he said, "must pave the way for a cross-border public inquiry."
According to Mr Gallagher, the evidence of FBI agent David Rupert sits at the core of the group's independent report. Rupert's evidence was crucial in the prosecution of Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt in 2003.
"I have access to over 4,000 emails that Rupert sent his handlers, FBI and MI5 in 1998 and they tell a very interesting story," Mr Gallagher said. "This was a man who was, and this is taken directly from an email he sent, at the very top of the RIRA in 1998.
"In an email Rupert sent to his handlers in April 1998, he warned that Omagh was considered a serious target because of its police and military installations.
Further emails show Rupert saying that he met with the Omagh bomber and also the Banbridge bomber.
"What is also very difficult to hear is the fact that senior Garda Siochana officials were fully aware of Rupert's actions and it emerges that he was part of an MI5, FBI and Gardai triangle. We must ask why large amounts of evidence were not passed to the RUC and why RUC detectives only learned of Rupert's April email in 2006," Mr Gallagher said.
The Omagh campaigner said Rupert had handed over the emails "much to the disgust" of the FBI, but he had done so in good faith. "Should, and hopefully when a public enquiry is given the go-ahead, he will be a key player in the process that implicates the US," he added.
The families' report also provides details of the involvement of police informant Paddy Dixon and his handler, Garda detective John White. The report states that Dixon provided intelligence on nine Real IRA bomb attacks between February and August 1998 and arranged the theft of vehicles which were used to transport bombs.
"In the lead-up to Omagh Dixon was asked to get two cars for a job in the North," Mr Gallagher said. "On the Wednesday he received a call from the Real IRA to say that cars had been secured and that he was not to act. Dixon conveyed this to White who subsequently arranged a meeting with his senior and a man called Patrick Roche.
"At a pub on the outskirts of Dublin, White explained to the senior that Dixon was not supplying the cars and at that point the senior reportedly said that it would be for the better as Dixon's credibility was beginning to wear thin due to the number of recent successes. At that point the senior said that they would 'let this one through.' White thought he was joking but he wasn't. We know that a bomb went through and although we cannot say for certain it was the one that came to Omagh, it seems very coincidental."
Mr Gallagher was part of a delegation who handed over the report to Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter in Dublin last Thursday.
Together with the damning evidence, the Omagh group also stated that the ongoing police investigation into the case should not hamper any decision to launch a public inquiry into the atrocity.
"We are not interested in a public inquiry that costs a fortune or takes forever," Mr Gallagher stated. "We want the least expensive inquiry and done in the shortest time. There are volumes of information there."
Mr Gallagher said relatives had recently learned that the PSNI were claiming that there was still a 'live' police investigation going on regarding Omagh.
"It has always been the case that we support the police investigation," Mr Gallagher stated.
"At the core of the public inquiry that the families are calling for is the apparent failure of both governments responsibility under Article 2 of the European Human Rights Act.
"Therefore we do not see what our call for a public inquiry should be affected by the police investigation that may be taking place."
Mr Gallagher said that with the ongoing Leveson Inquiry sitting in London, some of those who had been charged with criminal offences had given evidence to the inquiry. He therefore saw no reason why a public inquiry into the Omagh atrocity could not continue while the investigation was 'live.'
"Up until now the investigations have been piecemeal and have held very few powers, like that of the Nally Report for ex-ample. We know that we aren't going to get a conviction but we want the truth, we want justice. Omagh needs an inquiry and this report proves it," Mr Gallagher added.
-To sign an e-petition in support of a public inquiry into the Omagh bombing log onto http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36266
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/2048
Published Date: 26-Jul-12
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