Orde to blame IRA for bank raid

[emad]

BBC


Chief Constable Hugh Orde looks set to blame the IRA for the £22m bank raid in Belfast, the BBC has learned.

Mr Orde is due to brief senior members of the Policing Board about the raid on Friday.

It comes amid growing calls for him to publicly state if the IRA was involved in the robbery at the Northern Bank headquarters on 20 December.

Homes in republican areas of Belfast have been searched, but republicans have said the IRA was not involved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4150393.stm

[emad]

1. See also Blair rant story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1126183

[jman0]

2. no evidence = blame the IRA

the ol' knee-jerk reaction.
And why not, this way they can still politically disenfransise most catholics in NI.

[emad]

3. MAJOR difference between Irish Catholics and organised crime

in Northern Ireland, on either side of the religious divide.

Orde not yet detailed what brand of IRA he wants to charge - some fringe factions like the Provos, "Real" and "Continuity" are a world apart....

[emad]

4. Police chief must 'come clean'

BBC


DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson has called on the chief constable to "come clean" over speculation about IRA involvement in a £22m bank raid.

Mr Robinson said the consequences of mainstream IRA involvement in the raid on the Northern Bank head office in Belfast would be "far reaching".

Police Service Chief Constable Hugh Orde is expected to brief the chair of the Policing Board later this week.

It is thought that he may make his first public comment about the crime.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4149981.stm

AND BACKGROUND:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4114219.stm

[emad]

5. The IRA laughs all the way to and from the bank: Sunday Times

January 2
The £22m heist shows that terrorists should not be allowed a part in government, says David Burnside



My hope for Ulster in 2005: please, prime minister, no more peace summits. No more Weston Parks; no more Leeds Castles. Even the dogs in the street know that the republican movement carried out Britain’s biggest bank robbery, proving yet again its unfitness for a share in civil, democratic government.
Seven years after the Belfast agreement was signed, supposedly to replace political terrorism with a commitment by all to democracy, IRA/Sinn Fein retains its terrorist machine and the hard old men of the Provos are still up to their necks in crime. We are not talking about some splinter group. This is Sinn Fein lying through its teeth behind the Gerry Adams smile, pretending it has no links with the IRA.



The republican movement’s refusal to operate as a “normal” political party is increasingly contaminating politics in Ulster and the Irish republic. Adams, Martin McGuinness et al say on Today or on Newsnight that Sinn Fein cannot speak for the IRA and there is no follow-up question, so absolute is the liberal media’s collusion in this great lie.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has no other line of inquiry into the £22m Northern Bank heist but mainstream republicans — which means the Provisional IRA. And who do they have links with? Is Sinn Fein to be punished, to be excluded or expelled from the political process? The answer is no because Tony Blair’s door remains open to Adams and McGuinness.

In Dublin Fianna Fail, the majority party in power, moves inexorably towards a coalition alignment with Sinn Fein, although it is to be hoped that this will be challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds. The United States, with all its clout, continues to offer visas and White House photo opportunities despite flagrant nose-thumbing by the republican movement and despite the war on terror.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1422286,00.html

[jman0]

6. seriously emad

Your posting a opinion of David Burnside?
He's a member of the Official Unionist Party, and the Orange Order.
For chrissakes if there is one party responsible for the discrimination and oppession of catholics in NI its the Offical Unionist party.
He doesn't like the IRA? Tough shit mate, he and his cohorts created it.

[emad]

11. I posted it because it's valid in the context. The Saville enquiry

into collusion between UK military (via the FRU - Forces Research Unit), paramilitaries on both sides on the religious divide in Ulster and their associated organised crime networks - makes interesting reading. To be published in full next year after 12 years of hearing evidence.

Most notable of which was heard in camera and which alleged that every UK prime minister since Harold Wilson had hired personal hit squads to slime their way into office. And that the KGB controlled all organised crime in the UK, Europe and some of the US since Suez.

[bin.dare]

7. Adams rejects claim IRA was involved in £22m heist

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2005/0106/breaking21.htm

...
No arrests have been made and none of the missing cash recovered but police believe republicans were involved. The police chief is under pressure to track down the gang and confirmation that the IRA was connected to the heist will have huge implications for the future of peace process, significantly undermining any chance of restoring the power sharing executive at Stormont.

But Mr Adams moved today to claim accusations of IRA involvement were an attempt by British "securocrats" to undermine talks to restore devolution at Stormont.
...
The Sinn Fein leader said: "It is obvious that the series of raids, house searches and confiscation of property directed at republican activists that have taken place in recent weeks have had nothing to do with tracking down those responsible for the bank robbery.

"Instead this has been a contrivance aimed at pointing the finger of guilt at republicans, even in the absence of any evidence."
Mr Adams added: "No one should doubt the significant damage done to all of this by these raids, by the conduct of the PSNI and by the political opportunism of some."
...

[demigoddess]

8. how do they know it wasn't robin hood,

and he spread the money out among all the catholics in northern ireland

[Bridget Burke]

9. Or one of the Unionist gangs of thugs! Time to buy some new bowlers...

Obviously, they need some in smaller sizes...

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

10. Typical of the PSNI or the RUC as they are still

referred to as in the "wee six". Can't find anything, blame the Provos, or Real or the Continuity IRA.

Did Chief Constable Orde look into any of the Protestant paramilitary organizations such as UVF, UUF, etc.?

My answer is probably not!!!

Believe me, racism and sectarianism is alive and thriving in Northern Ireland as I post this.

[emad]

12. PROVOS ACCUSED: latest breaking, Guardian

IRA blamed for £22m Belfast bank raid (Latest)


Guardian

Matthew Tempest
Friday January 7, 2005

The Provisional IRA was responsible for the £22m Belfast bank raid, the chief constable of Northern Ireland said today.

Hugh Orde told a Belfast press conference that the terrorist group linked to Sinn Féin, which is negotiating to share power with the Democratic Unionists, was "responsible, and all main lines of inquiry lead in that direction". The news has thrown the province's fragile peace process into disarray.

The implication is that the IRA was planning the robbery, one of the largest bank jobs in history, as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness negotiated a power-sharing deal with the Democratic Unionists.

Downing Street immediately said that the prime minister, Tony Blair, took the development "very seriously". "The PM has made it repeatedly clear over the past two years that the political institutions in Northern Ireland can only be restored if there is a complete end to all paramilitary activity by those involved, and that includes all criminal activity," a spokesman said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763...

[emad]

13. From today's BBC:

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said trust and confidence in the peace process had been damaged.

"An operation of this magnitude... has obviously been planned at a stage when I was in negotiations with those that would know the leadership of the Provisional movement," he said.


However, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness MP said Mr Orde's comments were "nothing more than politically-biased allegations".

"This is more to do with halting the process of change which Sinn Fein has been driving forward than with anything that happened at the Northern Bank," he said.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the raid had dealt a "real blow" to the Agreement and the peace process.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4154657.stm

[emad]

14. Ireland Online: "It was an operational decision" - Orde

Northern Ireland's Chief Constable Hugh Orde has said his decision to blame the IRA for the £26.5m (€37.7m) Northen Bank robbery in Belfast before Christmas was not because of political bias.

He said: “This is an operational decision. It is my decision. It is made because we need to get on with the investigation. The peace process is a matter for others.”

The chief constable confirmed that more than 45 detectives were involved in what he said was a complex and complicated inquiry which involved civilian analysts and forensic experts.

They had amassed 560 exhibits and carried out 100 interviews, with another 100 planned.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=129663960&p=yz9664666

[Bridget Burke]

16. Ah--so, the investigation continues.

But--before it's done--he wants to let people know who did the crime.

This is the same Hugh Orde who dismissed the Bloody Sunday inquiry back in 2003 because it was just going to enrich lawyers.

[emad]

17. Not quite what he said. Giving evidence in camera Orde also

acknowledged to the Saville Enquiry that security/intelligence papers from MI5 showed that every UK prime minister since Harold Wilson had hired personal hit squads to slime their way into office in the UK.

When asked about whether a parallel situation existed elsewhere, in Europe, Asia etc, he referred to MI6 dossiers that were classified as UK State Secrets and directed questioning to senior officers with responsibility for those areas.

When asked about a possible parallel situation existing in the US since the death of JFK he resolutely said "No Comment".

[jman0]

15. Sinn Féin accuses police chief over bank robbery

Hugh Orde’s comments today are nothing more than politically-biased allegations,” Mr McGuinness said.

“He has not produced one scrap of evidence. Within days of the robbery at the Northern Bank, and following media speculation and PSNI briefings, which suggested IRA involvement, I asked the IRA about this and was assured that they were not involved.

“We are witnessing a renewed attempt to undermine the peace process. We need to think long and hard about who is setting this agen


http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/01/07/story183668.html

[emad]

18. Well he would say that wouldn't he? to borrow a phrase from the

evidence of Mandy Rice Davis into collusion with the KGB in the 1960s that led to the downfall of UK War Minister Hugh Profumo.

Geoff Hoon please note...

[jman0]

19. 'he would say that wouldn't he'

is exactly what i was going to say about Hugh Orde!

[emad]

20. Guess that's his job. Coming from, say, Bob Geldof's lips, might

not have the same kind of gravitas ring about it........

[bin.dare]

21. Orde "believes" it was IRA . jeez

unfortunately, he need not do any better than that since that is sufficient for most in the UK to also "believe". This is the outcome that mass murderer tony bLIAR wanted.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2005/0107/breaking5.htm
Orde believes IRA behind £26 million Belfast heist
By Patrick Logue Last updated: 07-01-05, 16:20

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has said he believes the Provisional IRA was behind the multi-million pound Belfast bank heist last month.

Speaking at a press conference in Belfast Mr Orde said it now made "operational sense" to attribute blame "and it will allow us to get on with the inquiry".

"What I can say is, on the basis of the investigative work we have done to date, the evidence we have collected, the information we have collected, the exhibits we have collected, and bringing it all together and working through it, in my opinion the Provision IRA were responsible for this crime", Mr Orde said.

...

[emad]

22. If he's gonna bust them he's gonna have to bust Poodle too.

And the missus.

Some very serious string pulling taking place across the Atlantic at the moment.

Who's looking most scared or, to coin a trad Liverpudlian phrase, sick as a parrot?



What the CIA and MI5/MI6 was blackmailed into hiding in the security/intelligence files of the 70s/80s/90s is now surely coming home to roost.

Keeping it all in the family: that's how the Mafia has always operated.

[bin.dare]

25. without rehashing the past, the "IRA" has become a bogey man ...

... for the bLIAR government. he tried Al Queda and OBL but it doesn't work as effectively as the IRA moniker. For all his huffin' and puffin' bLIAR does not want a success for the peace process.

BTW, what do you mean: "What the CIA and MI5/MI6 was blackmailed into hiding."? who blackmailed them? can you blackmail a black ops org?

[Bridget Burke]

26. Don't ask too many questions....

There are deeply secret matters that cannot be revealed to mere peasants such as ourselves.

But there's a book coming out. Real soon now!

[emad]

27. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit

eom

[bin.dare]

33. these "deeply secret matters" must be hid from a Sinn Fein in ...

.. government, at all costs. That thought helps explain alot of this shit about the "IRA" events.

[emad]

28. It depends how you view the Cold War. KGB ran organised

crime for over 40 years in UK and Europe. Their favorite methods of activity was to target specific individuals in public life and then assasinate them, replacing them with near-lookalikes and promoting those into high office.

The relationship between politicians and the security/intelligence agencies who reported to them then became one of criminal dependence. The US scandals of Aldrich Amex and Bob Hanssen pale into insignificance when compared to the comple web of publicised and non-publicised espionage networks in the UK.

One very good example of this is Stella Rimington, former MI5 head who still thinks she's sitting pretty in retirement after a series of lucratice City directorships and biographical book deals.

Anyone who in the course of their professional lives has seen any classified material on this type of material has been gagged by the Official Secrets Act, which continues to shield World War II crimes perpetrated in the name of State Security but which have been consistently proven to have been self-serving in the interests of individuals enmeshed in crime.

[emad]

23. London Evening Standard:

He said it was a violent and brutal crime, not a Robin Hood effort, which would have national and international implications.

But with the Northern Bank confirming the decision to withdraw its total paper note currency estimated to be £300 million, Mr Orde said was the largest theft ever of waste paper.

He said: "On the basis of the investigative work we have done to date, evidence we have collected and exhibits we have collected and bringing that all together and working through it, in my opinion the Provisional IRA were responsible for this crime and all main lines of inquiry currently undertaken are in that direction."

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/15830227?source=PA&ct=5

[emad]

24. Adams, as quoted in today's Independent:

IRA responsibility has been denied both by the organisation itself and by the Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, who said he would not countenance any attempt to "demonise and criminalise" his party, accusing elements in the British system of trying to undermine the peace process.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/story.jsp?story=598458

[AngryAmish]

29. Ask them where Surgar is, too.

[emad]

32. I think Pat Eddery and Kieren Fallon may know a thing or 2 about

this one.....

[CONN]

30. Police Chief Orde: highly organized = IRA

In Saturday NYT, A7... glad to see nothings changed since RUC policed British-occupied-Ireland before the reformed NI Police Service took over. "In MY OPINION the Provisional IRA were responsible for this crime", he is quoted. His opinion.

The Queen will probably award him some royal prize for this.

Interestingly another story in Saturday NYT (also A7) tells how Queen Elizabeth (Britian's weathiest woman) is fighting against disclosure of her taking hundreds of millions in European farm subsidies.

[emad]

31. QEII: I always laugh when I see anything quoted about her

alleged wealth, especially if sourced from Forbes, or anyone else citing "World's 1000 wealthiest individuals".

Her security/intelligence files at MI5/MI6 and at the CIA are gagged under a mutual agreement going back to 1940. QED.