NO ONE IS TO BLAME....

Well now. There's a turn up for the books. Former senior Sinn Fein member Denis Donaldson has been found shot dead in the Irish Republic. Donaldson is believed to have been living in County Donegal since December when he admitted he had been a paid British agent for 20 years.  He had headed Sinn Fein's administration office at Stormont before his October 2002 arrest over an alleged spy ring led to its collapse. His body was found in Glenties in County Donegal at about 1700 BST.

Now, let's see if we can predict who may have murdered this man.

1. It was suicide, obviously

2. It was the British securocrats, determined to cause problems for Sinn Fein.

3. It was dissidents in the Republican movement, that have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the IRA.

4. It was the tooth fairy, urged on by unionist rejectionists.

Let's be clear on ONE thing - the IRA, an organisation of peaceful benevolence and universal kindness, incapable of the very thought of criminality, could NOT have been involved, in any way, in this murder. And even if they were, it was not authorised by the IRA leadership. Got it?

Now, will Gerry Adams attend the funeral? Mmmmm..

Comments

[Ross]

That pretty much sums it up.

[iluvni]

Gerry, of course, should shoulder the coffin, like he did with Begley's remains.
He wouldnt want to be seen turning his back on a proud Republican now, would he!

[beezer]

Republican ???? He was an agent of the crown. Working every day to preserve the union of which you are so fond. You should mourn him for the brother he was to you.

[David Vance]

Beezer,

But he used to be Gerry's best buddy, remember?

I'm sure Adams and the Sinn Fein leadership are AT THIS MOMENT now on their way to Donegal to make sure, sorry ensure, that Donaldson's next of kin get what is coming to them, sorry, get all they require.

Oh to be a Provo in the Spring...

[Chris Gaskin]

David

Why would the IRA kill Donaldson? what do they have to gain?

Who benefits from this mans killing? it is certainly not Republicans!

A bit of intelligent thinking on this issue would be nice.

[Richard]

Chris

Don't you remember how Sinn Fein and the IRA have dealt with informers or suspected informers in the past? They have form.

[David Vance]

Chris,

Of course you must be right. That's why I suspect the Brutish securicrats. I mean, it's not like the Provos kill informers, right?

[Chris Gaskin]

Don't you remember how Sinn Fein and the IRA have dealt with informers or suspected informers in the past?

Of course the IRA killed informers!

It was common to see them strewn across road sides in South Armagh, I am not denying that!

Before the ceasefires however the IRA announced that all touts who came forward would not be shot.

Different times Richard

The IRA has nothing to benefit from killing Donaldson

it's not like the Provos kill informers, right?

I have already explained this to Richard David.

[Jimmy Porter]

Davey Kid,

you really do love to speculate don't you.

[David Vance]

Jimmy.

Speculate rather than assassinate. And the name's David.

[Richard]

Your explanation consists of the words 'different times'?

That's not going to cut much ice with anyone.

[Chris Gaskin]

Richard

Can you please tell me what the IRA has to gain from Donaldsons death?

You have no evidence or even reasoning except that the IRA used to shoot touts.

The IRA used to do a lot of things it doesn't do now!

[Richard]

Someone once told me Chris that the best indicator of someone's future behaviour is their past behaviour. The reasoning is that donaldson was a tout, and the IRA shoot touts. Occam's razor.

[Mark Holland]

In one of the sunday papers last week, Telegraph or Times possibly, their reporter had tracked him down to a remote cottage in Donegal. It was so remote it had no electricity and no main water. Donaldson told him no comment and to clear off. I thought at the time a nosey reporter was all he needed and I guess his killers were reading it too.

(Just found it. It was the Sunday Times)

[David Vance]

Mark,

Maybe the tooth fairy takes the ST!

[Mark Holland]

Sorry, the ST were reporing on a report in another paper:

The former senior Sinn Fein officer was traced to a cottage in remote Co Donegal by the Sunday World, the Irish tabloid newspaper.

[scouseproud]

"The IRA have nothing to gain by killing Donaldson" They have everything to "gain" its all about creating uncertainties already the weak Governments in London and Dublin are throwing wobblers behind closed doors, Thursdays meeting in Armagh between Aherne and Blair supposedly to restart the "process" will now be overshadowed by this murder. The underlying message to these weak governments is "we" can increase the pressure on you by killing somebody or robbing a bank etc if "we the IRA"are not satisfied with things! How many have been told they would be safe if they "confess" to informing and end up dead. Remember informer turned author Eamon Collins found shot dead by a Newry Roadside, the trip to England to try and assasinate Martin McGartland all since the so called ceasefire. The IRA are not interested in normality only uncertainty ,anything that increases the tensions eg parades will be cynically hyped for their own purposes. Only by remainig an "unstable" society can they hope to destroy Ulster, its a forlorn hope, because the Unionist community remains resolute, but it is the weak governments that have the decision making powers and they are soft touches.

[Cunningham]

Qui bono?

It could have been either the IRA or British forces (who have also been known to cross the border to whack certain uncomforatable individuals), but on the balance it's more likely an IRA job, I'd say.

But even if he hadn't been killed, his twilight is a stark reminder to spies of what they can expect from their comrades and their erstwhile paymasters.

Great article by Suzanne Breen on Donaldson's sad and lonely existence:

http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Sunday_Tribune/arts2006/mar26_Donaldson_squalid_life__SBreen.php

[Madradin Ruad]

Who knows what Donaldson was thinking of revealing about either side. Foolish to choose to live where he did though - is Glenties close to any of the capo's dachas ? Was he given the Frank Hegarty assurance of safety ?

[David Vance]

MR,

Yes - espeically when they say another informer remains -in a high position.

[Madradin Ruad]

How long before the shinners say it's time to move on ?

the reason i love atw, right here

[Paul]

"It could have been either the IRA or British forces"

Cunningham
If the British secret service wanted him out of the way, it would have done it a long time ago and not in such an obvious way. He was useful alive, as an embarrassment for the SF politburo and as a reminder to the party's rank and file how easy it was/is for the British to infiltrate the republican movement.

Now he's gone and of course superficially it doesn't make sense for the provos to have carried it out. But the *alleged* highranking informer(s)will sleep a bit easier now he's out of the way and it also feasibly qualifies as proof ( like the "Gulladuff Plan")for the hardliners that "The Movement" hasn't gone all soft yet.

[Madradin Ruad]

Paul - let's not forget that certain IRA men are killers - period. It's not something they can change about themselves.

[David Vance]

It's what they do....kill.