Army warned ministers not to criticise UDA
By Barry McCaffrey
Irish News
**Via Newshound
05/08/08
BRITISH government ministers were warned in 1972 not to publicly criticise the UDA as it would be “very damaging politically” despite the organisation having already killed 28 people, The Irish News can reveal.
In 1972 the UDA was responsible for some of the worst sectarian murders of the Troubles, killing 19 Catholics including six-year-old and four-year-old school girls.
In the same year the loyalist organisation was responsible for shooting dead 10 Protestants, including one policeman.
Nationalists were concerned that many UDA men were also joining the UDR.
In a 1972 memo to government ministers a senior British army officer confirmed nationalists’ worst fears.
In a Ministry of Defence memo outlining the number of UDR members who were also in the UDA, Lieutenant Colonel JL Pownall wrote: “It is inevitable that a part of the Protestant element of a part-time regiment in Ulster will sympathise with the aims of the UDA; and it is suspected that there are cases where this sympathy is carried to the extent of active membership.
“There are, however, no proven facts as yet on which to base an estimate of the scale of the problem.”
By the end of 1972 a House of Commons statement would reveal that almost 200 UDR weapons had either been lost or stolen.
Despite the UDA’s involvement in a series of brutal murders, Col Pownall warned that it would be “very damaging politically” if ministers publicly criticised the UDA.
“The UDR has to draw a line somewhere between hardline Protestants who can be safely contained in the UDR, and those who cannot,” his memo said.
“The UDA is not an illegal organisation and membership of the UDA is not an offence under the military laws; it is also a large organisation, not all of whose members can be regarded as dangerous extremists.
“One important (but unspoken) function of the UDR is to channel into a constructive and disciplined direction Protestant energies which might otherwise become disruptive.
“For these reasons it is felt that it would be counterproductive to discharge a UDR member solely on the grounds that he was a member of the UDA.”
Advising government ministers against publicly criticising either the UDR or UDA, Col Pownall said: “I recognise the reasons why ministers might wish to be able to say unequivocally, in reply to parliamentary questions, that membership of the UDA is not compatible with
membership of the UDR and that we have no evidence that any UDR member is actively associated with the UDA.
“But I fear it would be wrong to offer categorical assurances on either
point and indeed it might be very damaging politically if ministers were to make a public statement which implied that the UDA was an outlawed organisation.”
The top secret papers, recovered by researchers from the Pat Finucane Centre from the British national archives in London, are part of an exhibition revealing what the British government really thought about loyalist violence, the UDR and what to tell the Pope.
- The exhibition, chaired by Irish News columnist Brian Feeney takes place at St Mary’s University College, Belfast at 1pm today.
