Forty years ago on Saturday, the IRA came close to wiping out the entire British Cabinet in the Brighton Bomb (Oct 12th 1984). Through luck, only 5 people were killed, but many members of the government were injured, some seriously. This was a serious attack on Britain by the IRA and just one of many.
Currently, we keep hearing the mantra ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ being used to silence criticism of the carpet bombing of Gaza and now Lebanon, so should the UK have used this Brighton Bomb attack as an excuse to respond as Israel has done and what would have been the result.
We know that the UK government did the reverse, they continued with political negotiations both with Irish nationalists and with the Irish government; just over one year later they signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement which shocked and horrified unionists as much as it delighted nationalists. This did not bring an IRA ceasefire immediately, but continued political action over the next decade (during which terrorist attacks continued) resulted in the IRA ceasefire of 1994 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. I say this not to praise the UK government’s role in Ireland, but to draw a contrast with how the Israeli government’s strategy of dealing with terrorism has worked out since they launched their first airstrikes on Gaza over 16 years ago.
I tried to write a short article imagining what N. Ireland would be like if we adopted Israel’s tactics for dealing with terrorism but I failed miserably because I could not plausibly write enough dead children to make a valid comparison with Gaza.
Far too often I engage with unionists who deride the GFA and it supposed ‘corruption of democracy’ while simultaneously praising Israel. I ask them, would anyone consider the path outlined in brief below to be better than the Good Friday Agreement?
Day 1 – The IRA come close to wiping out the entire British government
On the morning TV broadcasts every channel shows the same pictures of the devastated Grand Hotel in Brighton. People are dust covered, dazed and some are sobbing, hanging off balconies in the glare of the floodlights. Thatcher appears white faced, but determined to put on a brave mask. She expresses concern for the injured and declares that the Tory Conference will go on as planned.
Support for the UK came from across the civilised world with many leaders supporting Britain’s ‘right to defend itself’.
Day 3 – The Right to Self Defence
The Secretary of State (SoS) for N. Ireland, Mr Douglas Hurd appears for a TV interview sitting formally at a desk with a large British flag draped beside him.
Unsmiling, and serious, he looks directly into the camera and begins to explain a change in British policy.
“In the past month the IRA have continued to kill people in N. Ireland and across the UK and despite political negotiations and attempts to bring peace, they attempt to destroy our government.
“I am directing our security forces to take proactive steps in the coming days to remove the threat of terrorism from our streets, from our towns and our cities. Unfortunately, this will mean additional security measures, some of which will inevitably be unpopular. I am asking in advance, that the people of this province steel themselves, that you be ready for the inconvenience which I promise you will be temporary, but which will allow us to root out the terrorists.
“We advise civilians living near IRA safe houses, or any place used to store weapons or conduct terrorist activities to immediately move out of harm’s way for their own safety. In some areas you will be advised to leave the area for a period of days, again for your own safety while we neutralise the terrorists.
“Britain’s battle is not with you; it is with the IRA. For too long the IRA has been using you as human shields. We must take out their weapons – when advised to do so by the police or army you must get out of harm’s way at once.”
Almost immediately there is a clamour of questions from the journalists. The disapproval from some of the older journalists is obvious.
“Secretary of State, if you take rash decisions quickly in response to violence, isn’t there a danger that you are just throwing more fuel on the fire,” enquired a grey-haired journalist from the Irish News, “We have only recently seen Sinn Fein MPs being elected. Would it not be better to accept their democratic mandate and focus on talking about a political solution.”
“Thank you for your question, Eamonn” replies the SoS, “I do not intend to let things drift, we cannot go on as before. If the IRA want peace, then we will work to achieve piece, but every country has a right to defend itself and its people and if the IRA want war, and that seems to be their message, then we can either run away or we can face them down. The people of this province do not expect us to run away.”
Day 4 – Unionist Delight
The immediate reaction from nationalists is to express concern that confrontation is not the way to solve a political problem, that all elected representatives, even those connected with the IRA must be involved in discussions. By contrast many unionists are delighted, they have been arguing for a strong response like this for some years.
Day 5 -The Gloves come off.
Across Belfast the people brace themselves for aggression from the British troops but the first signs of a new approach do not come in Belfast.
It had long been known that much of the IRA’s weapons were stored in farms along the border areas in “bandit country” where troops were moved by helicopter rather than road, where long searches of a property were generally regarded as too risky because of sniper fire.
When Denis Murphy receives a telephone call at 6am in the morning from the British army advising him to vacate his farm and move at least one mile away, his immediate reaction is to refuse – no Brit is going to put him off his land. However, the polite English voice on the line is persistent and his wife apparently is now receiving the same message on her mobile.
“The Murphy farm is believed to be an arms dump for the IRA. The weapons and explosives stored at this location will be destroyed at 9:00am. If you leave the property and move at least one mile from it you will be safe and can be allowed back as soon as the danger is neutralised. If you remain at the property, you do so at your own risk, there is a significant risk of death.”
Denis persuades his wife and daughter to go to a relative’s house, but opts to remain behind to meet the army. He also persuades his wife to carry an important message to a friend in the republican movement.
From just before 9am the noise of the helicopters begins to grow and Denis walks outside to the farmyard to greet the helicopter. He turns off his mobile, reasoning that if they cannot ring him, they will have to land and talk. The helicopter hovers over the farm but makes no attempt to land. The sound of a bullet ricocheting harmlessly off the armour plating of the helicopter is a sign that Denis’s message had got through.
The helicopter swings round, pointing itself towards the thicket of trees where the sniper is hiding and fires a missile. A loud explosion produces a ball of flames that engulfs the trees and the area around them. Denis makes a dash towards the cattle shed which has a concealed trap door leading to an underground chamber, but before he reaches it a 2nd missile and then a 3rd obliterate the building and Denis along with it.
Later that day the local community express their dismay at the murder of Denis at the farm and of his cousin on a hill just over a mile away. It made little difference that a mangled sniper rifle was recovered, or that a significant quantity of explosives is found in a bunker below the cattle shed, together with several rifles. The usual arguments about giving people time to surrender are expressed but the Secretary of State makes no secret of his satisfaction.
Day 6
Predictably the headlines of the Belfast newspapers are dramatically different, with the nationalist press speaking of murder on the farm, while the unionist daily celebrates the destruction of IRA weapons and the death of an IRA sniper.
IRA bomb warnings bring both Belfast and Londonderry to a standstill later that day. The usual relaxed attitude of people to bomb scares is replaced with a silent anxiety. Most warnings are hoaxes but not in Coleraine, where two shop workers who missed the warning die in the fire as a car bomb explodes.
Day 7 – Most Moral Army in the World
The roar of an Army helicopter passing low over Lenadoon Avenue brings people out of their houses, some stopping to pick up the leaflets that come fluttering out of the sky, glancing in shocked disbelief as they read the instruction to evacuate. Those who had mobile phones take them from their pockets as a text message broadcasts to everyone at this postcode.
“For your own safety you are required to evacuate all houses along Lenadoon Avenue and Horn Drive today before 12 noon. You will be allowed to return when it is safe to do so, probably within the next 24 hours.”
“This is outrageous,” thunders the SDLP representative on Radio Ulster, “The international community will not stand for this. The time when the British could just evict Irish people from their homes has long since passed. We will be asking the Irish government to protest in the strongest possible terms at the UN.”
Just before noon, as the TV crews assemble their cameras, the helicopters arrive, one dropping objects on several of the houses. There are a few broken roof slates but no explosions, but 10 mins later a second helicopter lines itself along the street and two missiles streak from below it. A bright flash precedes the pressure wave that slaps the waiting people in the face, as a massive explosion rips apart a block of six houses.
In the aftermath they find the bodies. Two males, who for some reason failed to evacuate. Locals tell the press they are innocent teenagers, but unionist sources say they must be IRA members.
On the evening news the Secretary of State expresses his regret, but points out that the British Army was the most moral army in the world, that ample warning had been given, that inert missiles had been dropped on the targeted houses so that there was clarity on the target. The deaths were of course regrettable but were the responsibility of the IRA who once more had been hiding weapons in a civilian area and using the local population as human shields.
Day 9 – Release the Hostages
When the car of an off-duty policeman is found abandoned on a lonely road near Dunseverick on the North Antrim coast there is immediate concern that he and his two colleagues who were accompanying him on a fishing trip, have been abducted. Sure enough, by 5pm messages arrive at news outlets indicating that two men are in IRA hands, but that a third had died resisting ‘arrest’ and giving a location where his body could be found.
The Secretary of State immediately appeals for the release of these “hostages”, but the IRA responds that they are prisoners of war and asks the British agree to “release their stranglehold on Ireland.”
Roadblock are set up across Antrim and Londonderry but with little expectation that they would achieve much. The SoS, Douglas Hurd indicates that he will continue his policy of rooting out the IRA wherever they hide.
Day 10 – Hiding Behind Human Shields
The security forces find out that the two prisoners are being held in a farm building just across the Donegal border. Trust in the Irish Republic has declined due to the Republic’s criticism of the new British security policy. The Secretary of State decides it is safer to authorise a cross-border SAS raid on the farm building without notifying the Irish government.
The IRA men holding the hostages fire on the SAS troops and in the firefight both the policemen and the 4 IRA men holding them are killed.
A statement from the IRA accuses the British Army of a ‘shoot to kill’ policy and blames the soldiers for the death of the policemen.
The Irish government is outraged that British troops have crossed the border and opened fire on Irish territory, killing 6 people. There is talk of expelling the UK ambassador.
Secretary of State, Douglas Hurd, expresses his sympathy for the families bereaved but continues, “The attempt to blame the security forces for these deaths is dishonest. The IRA are entirely to blame for the death of their own men, as well as the two innocent policemen.
“We apologise to the Irish government for this breach of sovereignty and I take full responsibility. I authorised this action, hoping to save lives. Unfortunately, this time we were not successful.
“Sadly, the IRA have not learned their lesson. I must ask people in republican areas of N. Ireland to be alert. The IRA are using you as human shields. If you become aware of an IRA arms dump or safe house in the vicinity of your home, you and your neighbour must evacuate immediately. This is a fast-moving situation and we will not always be able to provide a long warning as we have done in the past.”
Day 11 – What Would any Other State Do?
A house off the Falls Rd is destroyed in another missile attack by a British helicopter, with 4 people killed.
In Westminster the outraged SDLP call for the sacking of the Secretary of State, but Douglas Hurd is robust in his defence.
“In recent days we have hit the IRA in ways that it had never imagined, if the IRA has not understood that message, we promise that during the coming weeks it will understand.
“The British government regrets every death and will do all we can to reduce casualties but no state can tolerate months of attacks on its people, attacks on their homes and businesses and attacks on its policemen. Ask yourself, what would any other state do, if under continuous attack like this? They would defend themselves.”
Day 13 – United Nations expresses concern
In the USA the usual Irish American politicians (Joe Biden etc) are angry and call for an immediate ceasefire. The Irish government enlists enough support to get the recent events discussed at the United Nations.
The Irish government expresses outrage over the breach of sovereignty and indicates that they will be moving Irish troops to the border. Rather tactlessly, the British indicate that it is not before time, that the British have wanted to have the border properly patrolled for years, claiming that IRA weapons and men come across the border at will. The British refuse to give an undertaking not to cross the border again.
The Americans express concern at the tone of the British comments, pointing the danger of a wider conflict between Irish and British forces could affect the whole of Ireland. They argue that the British must focus on a political, rather than a military solution.
Day 14 – Targeting Command and Control Centres
An explosion at a Sinn Fein office in West Belfast takes place. Initially the British claim they have attacked an IRA ‘command and control’ centre and that they had wiped out 4 senior IRA leaders. However, as the TV cameras film the bodies of 5 children being removed from the rubble, along with 6 adults everyone can see that the British narrative is in trouble.
Despite media expectations there is no riot in the area, just a sullen, deep anger as each body is pulled out, punctuated by the screams of one mother and then another.
Later at the Royal Victoria Hospital, one paramedic walks over to the TV crews waiting in the hospital carpark. No-one is expecting her to speak but, in her blood-stained uniform she holds the attention of the cameras.
“I have sixteen years’ experience as a paramedic but today is the worst day I have ever experienced. People in that casualty unit behind me are broken by what they have seen today. We had to pick up pieces of children, little limbs, bits of flesh that we could barely identify and bring them here in our ambulances.
“There are nurses in there in tears, they are washing blood of the faces of 3-year-old children so that they don’t look so bad when their parents identify their bodies. We will never get these images out of our heads.
“I am from the unionist community, my whole family is unionist, but today I want to express my utter disgust and shame at what has been done in our name. This is unacceptable, it is horrific. I don’t know if we can come back from this. I don’t feel safe being governed by people who can order this, I don’t feel safe with my streets being policed by the troops who did this.”
Day 17 – The Funeral of the Union
It is said that ‘the smallest coffins are the heaviest.’ The horror of a child’s funeral is amplified when people see a tear-stained father carrying in his outstretched arms, the tiny white coffin of his child. This scene is repeated time after time.
Unionists who previously supported the new Secretary of State are silent, they know he is finished, but fear the situation is even worse.
In the House of Commons, the SDLP leader calls for an international peace keeping force to replace the British army.
“You claim authority over this part of Ireland, but you value Irish lives as lesser than British lives. You claim you want peace but you have adopted the same tactics as the terrorists. You are prepared to see innocent people killed as collateral damage provided you can kill your target at the same time. You have set back peace by decades. We have opposed the IRA and their tactics, but we must also oppose you. You have lost any right to control this part of Ireland.
“I will be appealing to the Americans to organise a peace keeping force to replace the British Army. Irish people are not safe while British troops are on our streets.
“Furthermore, my party will be withdrawing from this Parliament. There will be no Irish Nationalist representatives in this place.
“Earlier today, as we buried the child victims of British Army violence, we buried the Union.”
Arnold is a retired teacher from Belfast.
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