Catholic priest masterminded Northern Ireland terrorist atrocity in 1970's?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Througout the 30 years of the troubles in Northern Ireland it had always been claimed that the Catholic Church was a leading supporter /sympathiser of the terrorist IRA. But this story is particularly shocking. As yet I have not heard of any Irish Catholic bishops or the Vatican come forward to condemn this man?

New inquiry into Claudy bombing

A senior detective is to lead a new investigation into one of Northern Ireland’s worst terror attacks. Claims that a Catholic priest masterminded the IRA’s 1972 village bombing of Claudy, near Londonderry, which left nine people dead, will also be investigated as part of Chief Inspector Pat Steele’s inquiry. Police confirmed his appointment on Monday after Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley met Chief Constable Hugh Orde to discuss the attack, and allegations that a priest was in charge of the IRA unit involved.

It has been claimed that the priest broke down and confessed his part in the bombing to another priest shortly after the car bomb attack in which six adults and three children were killed. The priest died of cancer in 1980. The authenticity of a letter purporting to have been written by a priest in which the allegations were made has been challenged by the Catholic Church. The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has urged the priest to come forward.

Mr Paisley demanded a new investigation when he met Mr Orde on Monday. He said he asked the chief constable to have his officers question Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness who has admitted being second in command of the IRA in Derry on Bloody Sunday, six months earlier. Dr Paisley said: “Any intelligence information which to date has not been revealed should be re-examined so that the victims of the tragedy would at least have the solace that action was at last being taken, and that their suffering had not gone in vain.”

Both Catholic and Protestant people died when the no-warning bombs exploded in the centre of the village in July 1972. The IRA never admitted responsibility for the attack. The youngest victim was eight-year-old Katherine Eakin who was cleaning the windows of the family grocery store when the bombs exploded. The other people killed were, Joseph McCluskey 39, David Miller aged 60, James McClelland 65, William Temple 16, Elizabeth McElhinney 59, Rose McLaughlin aged 51, Patrick Connolly and Arthur Hone.

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Interesting indeed, but not really. Religious terrorism was started in the 1970s. The difference in the case of muslims is that it is the dominating factor in their life and they use it as a source for their attacks. The christian terrorists provide no justification. They just kill innocents in cold blood.

I have a question for christian, christ told you to turn the other cheek and not to take revenge rather be peace loving. What happened to that? Bush aint turning the other cheek. Honestly no US govt or president has. Rather they have been very Islamic or Judaeic and gone out with an eye for an eye policy.

If this happened today this would be defined by the IRA and not religion. With the Islamic world it is always religion. Take africa for example, if the rebels or a the coup d'etat people were muslim, CNN would call them Muslim this or muslim that. Now take the case of Ivory Coast a Muslim nation with a muslim leader and a christain minority. How many want to bet with me that the people who attemped the coup were christain and not muslims?

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Since the troubles began over 3000 people have been killed in Northern Ireland by terrorists on both side. At the heart of the conflict lies the traditional hatred between the Catholics and Protestants, something which both churches have perpetuated. As this case proves the Catholic church was a lead player on the Catholic side obviously giving some sort of religious sanction for such barbaric terrorism. That is fanatical religious terrorism within the Christian community that has rarely been mentioned.

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Now a catholic preist would be an equivilant to a mullah. Thus it would be religious indoctrination the catholic preists were doing, just like Mullah Umar and Osama Bin Laden. At the same time any money being sent to a Church could be used in Ireland to bomb and blast people, just like the case of Al Qaeda Mosques. The comparisions are endless. But only the muslims get the raw end of the deal.

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**Voice from the past suggests Catholic curate masterminded an IRA attack which killed nine people **

An excerpt from The Guardian Special Report follows.

Thirty years ago, three car bombs without warning ripped the heart out of Claudy, a small village a few miles from Derry. Nine people died. No one has ever been charged, and although the IRA is widely believed to have carried out the atrocity, it has never admitted responsibility.
**This week, a local journalist and a councillor received copies of a letter which has once again sent shock waves through the community. It makes the devastating claims that a Catholic priest, Father James Chesney, masterminded the bombing, and that a leading cleric and a senior policeman helped to cover this up by getting him transferred over the Irish border and out of the jurisdiction. **

July 31 1972 was a bright summer’s day in the sleepy village, nestled in the Sperrin mountains. Eight-year-old Kathryn Eakin was cleaning the window of her parents’ grocery store, William Temple, 16, was delivering milk, Elizabeth McElhinney, 59, was serving petrol outside her pub. Within minutes, they were dead, as were Joseph McCluskey, David Miller and James McClelland. Rose McLaughlin, Arthur Hone and Patrick Connolly died within days. Five of the victims were Catholic, four Protestant.

The bombers drove a few miles to Dungiven to phone through a warning but the exchanges had been bombed and the phones were out of order. By the time police in Derry received the warning the first bomb had already gone off and as officers tried to clear people away from the second device, many fled into the path of the third bomb as both exploded.

**Thirty people were horrifically injured and those present will never forget the carnage. Mary Hamilton, the Ulster Unionist deputy mayor of Derry, one of those who received the letter about the priest, ran the Beaufort hotel with husband Ernie. She still has shrapnel in her leg.
“I was lifted clean into the air and I remember my tummy being sucked in, the breath being sucked clean out of me,” she said. “When I landed, there were bodies without limbs, people’s insides lying all over the street.” **

Others who helped at the scene recall the belching smoke and the screams. They cried like babies for days when they went home and the nightmare sank in. Even Sean MacStiofain, the then IRA chief of staff, claimed to have been appalled. He insisted IRA operations staff and local units were questioned and vehemently denied involvement. But most people thought differently.

On the day of the Claudy bombing, police and soldiers in Derry were engaged in Operation Motorman, a manoeuvre to storm the republican Bogside “no go” area and rout out IRA men. Many believe the IRA’s South Derry brigade, seeing its Derry city comrades hemmed in by the security forces, was determined to show its strength. But things went terribly wrong and what was to have been a bloodless propaganda coup turned into a massacre.

Within weeks, rumours started circulating about the identities of the bombers, and Father Chesney, a curate in the tiny south Derry parish of Cullion, near Desertmartin, was one of those whose names kept coming up. **Ivan Cooper, the former local SDLP MP and civil rights activist, a moderate Protestant with no axe to grind against the Catholic church, remains convinced that the South Derry IRA brigade carried out the Claudy bombing led by Father Chesney. **

"Within a couple of days, a man lurked like a scared rabbit outside one of my constituency offices. He told me the IRA was behind the bomb and I had every reason to believe him. He gave no names and I asked no names. That is the way it was then. It was dangerous to know too much. “But several months later, I became aware of the identities and I have absolutely no doubt that Father Jim Chesney was involved.”

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Dil he Pakistani: *

*This week, a local journalist and a councillor received copies of a letter which has once again sent shock waves through the community. It makes the devastating claims that a Catholic priest, Father James Chesney, masterminded the bombing, and that a leading cleric and a senior policeman helped to cover this up by getting him transferred over the Irish border and out of the jurisdiction. *

[/QUOTE]

So not only were some Roman Catholic priests the leading terrorists in Northern Ireland, their murderous crimes were covered up by state officials in Ireland. The Roman Catholic church has always had great influence in the governance of Ireland, but to actually have their priests as terroristic murderers as well is a shocking revelation.

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Do I hear "christian terrorist" ... I am all ears...

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Abdali: *
Do I hear "christian terrorist" ... I am all ears...
[/QUOTE]

No, that would be admitting the truth to the world. Hence such fundementalist Christian acts of terrorism will be downplayed, and sidelined from the news. Double standards and hypocrisy of the first order.

Roman Catholic and Protestant terrorists using their versions of Christianity to use as some justification for their terrorism in Northern Ireland. Christian fanatics and Christian-led groups in Uganda and Southern Sudan wreaking death and destruction in their terrorist campiagns. Not to long ago we had the Serbian Christian Orthodox Church giving its blessing and support to the genocidal murderers in Bosnia, Kosovo etc. Not to forget the Christian phalangists in Lebanon who carried out the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

All examples of fanatical and fundemntalist Christian terrorists. But we will here little of them from the western media, which is more interested in the fundemtalistsof other faiths.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *Roman Catholic and Protestant terrorists using their versions of Christianity to use as some justification for their terrorism in Northern Ireland. Christian fanatics and Christian-led groups in Uganda and Southern Sudan wreaking death and destruction in their terrorist campiagns. Not to long ago we had the Serbian Christian Orthodox Church giving its blessing and support to the genocidal murderers in Bosnia, Kosovo etc. Not to forget the Christian phalangists in Lebanon who carried out the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

All examples of fanatical and fundemntalist Christian terrorists. But we will here little of them from the western media, which is more interested in the fundemtalistsof other faiths.
[/QUOTE]

History is dotted with forms of christian terrorism and fundementalism. The inquisition, the crusades are the most well known examples. But the lack of christian fundementalism today is not because they are more humane, but rather people have left the religion. In the enclaves of christiandom like Africa and the US they still espouse their views. Take the Knights of the KKK (formerly the KKK) they are all southern White fundementalist christains. Check their website if you dont believe me.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by CM: *

History is dotted with forms of christian terrorism and fundementalism. The inquisition, the crusades are the most well known examples. But the lack of christian fundementalism today is not because they are more humane, but rather people have left the religion. In the enclaves of christiandom like Africa and the US they still espouse their views. Take the Knights of the KKK (formerly the KKK) they are all southern White fundementalist christains. Check their website if you dont believe me.
[/QUOTE]

I belive you. From Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Uganda, southern Sudan and Lebanon we see people fight in the name of Christianity (or their fundementalist interpretation of it) and justify the murder of people of other faiths.

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Atrocity relatives seek justice

The families of the victims of the Claudy bombing have spoken of their distress after being told about the implication of a Catholic priest in the atrocity.

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Detectives in Northern Ireland said the government and Church shielded the cleric involved in the 1972 bombing which killed nine.

So the Catholic Church and the British government knew that this Priest led and carried out these horrific terrorist attacks, yet they covered it all up, and let him escape. One more example of the Christian establishment refusing to face up to fanatics and terrorists among its own communities, and covering up the crimes of fantical Christian terrorists.

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In the middle ages, Jewish, and Muslim communities were under assault by formal military forces led by Christian secular powers. The fear of losing the political power explained such violent crusades and inquisitions.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
In the middle ages, Jewish, and Muslim communities were under assault by formal military forces led by Christian secular powers. The fear of losing the political power explained such violent crusades and inquisitions.
[/QUOTE]

Thats a very apt scenario 5Abi. This Northern Ireland atrocity cover-up without a doubt demonstrates how the Christian establishment and so-called secular 'Christian' governments have conspired together to cover up the crimes of Christian fanatics and terrorists.

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Bump up for the eyes of "US can do no wrong" defending chirstian fundos.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Abdali: *
Bump up for the eyes of "US can do no wrong" defending chirstian fundos.
[/QUOTE]

We must not forget that religion has always been at the very heart of the Northern Ireland conflict, and people are judged on this basis.