Say Nothing

by Patrick Radden Keefe

  ‘destroy the subversive movement utterly’: Kitson, Low Intensity Operations, p.50.

  The first challenge: War School: ‘Kitson’s Class’.

  In particular, Kitson was interested: Dillon, The Dirty War, p.33.

  British soldiers referred to Hughes’s: Taylor, Brits, p.138.

  ‘These people are savages’: ‘Soldiers Scurry in Sniper Country’, Baltimore Sun, 26 November 1971.

  The windowpanes would shudder: Jackson, Soldier, p.82.

  ‘wall of silence’: ‘Brigadier Denies T.D.’s Claims’, Irish Times, 11 November 1971.

  ‘necessary to do something to the water’: Kitson, Low Intensity Operations, p.49.

  Just before dawn one morning in August 1971: Coogan, The Troubles, p.150.

  ‘partial to one extent or another, in many cases’: Taylor, Brits, p.67.

  elderly men were dragged off: Winchester, In Holy Terror, p.163.

  the army simply took both: This happened with one of the Hooded Men and his son, both named Seán McKenna.

  Nearly a third of the suspects: Taylor, Brits, p.67.

  study by the British Ministry of Defence: Ministry of Defence, Operation Banner: An Analysis of Military Operations in Northern Ireland, 2006, pp.2–7.

  ‘It was lunacy’: Taylor, Brits, p.67.

  Frank Kitson would forever be associated: Dillon, The Dirty War, p.26.

  His quarrel was not so much with the use: Frank Kitson, Bunch of Five (London: Faber, 1977), pp.58–59.

  ‘not an attractive measure’: Ibid., p.58.

  He reportedly quipped: ‘The Laws of Emotion’, Guardian, 18 October 1973.

  echoed at the time in the British press: ‘Intelligence War by Army Cracks IRA Ranks’, Telegraph, 5 November 1971.

  Kitson’s chief criticism of internment: Winchester, In Holy Terror, pp.154–55.

  In late July, the army: Taylor, Brits, p.66.

  The army had devised this preparatory phase: Winchester, In Holy Terror, p.154.

  Another hint about the army’s intentions: Ian Cobain, Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture (London: Portobello, 2013), p.139.

  After the sweep, the IRA: ‘Joe Cahill’, Telegraph, 26 July 2004.

  When the raids happened: P-EM.

  a sturdy woman named Mary: Interview with Francis McGuigan. Also see ‘The McGuigans: One Radical Irish Family’, New York Times, 11 June 1972, and ‘The Fighting Women of Ireland’, New York, 13 March 1972.

  It was around four in the morning: This account is based on an interview with Francis McGuigan and on a first-hand account McGuigan gave in Dennis Faul and Raymond Murray, The Hooded Men: British Torture in Ireland, August, October 1971 (Dublin: Wordwell Books, 2016).

  John McGuigan collapsed: Interview with Francis McGuigan.

  John McGuigan ended up: Ibid.

  his son had been selected: The initial group was twelve; two other men were later subjected to the same techniques. John McGuffin, The Guinea Pigs (London: Penguin, 1974), p.46.

  A thick hood was placed over his head: Faul and Murray, The Hooded Men, p.58.

  His handcuffs were removed: Interview with Francie McGuigan; ‘Hooded Man: “They Asked Me to Count to Ten; I Refused In Case I Couldn’t Do It”’, Journal.ie, 24 March 2018.

  out of the open door of the helicopter: McGuigan’s story has varied somewhat in different tellings over the years. In the Times piece in 1972, he says that he hit the ground. In his account for Faul and Murray, he says the helicopter landed and he was carried out. In his interview with me and in other interviews he has done, he described being thrown out and then caught.

  hustling him into a mysterious facility: ‘The Torture Centre: Northern Ireland’s “Hooded Men”’, Irish Times, 25 July 2015.

  far from any mechanism of accountability: This account is based on interviews with Francis McGuigan, Kevin Hannaway and Joe Clarke; as well as on Winchester, In Holy Terror, pp.170–172; ‘The Torture Centre: Northern Ireland’s “Hooded Men”’, Irish Times, 25 July 2015; and the first-hand accounts in McGuffin’s The Guinea Pigs and Faul and Murray’s The Hooded Men.

  For days, the prisoners were deprived: Cobain, Cruel Britannia, pp.128–34; Taylor, Brits, p.65.

  tortured as a prisoner of war in North Korea: ‘Gen Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley’, Telegraph, 14 March 2006.

  ‘so they must be prepared to be frightened’: Taylor, Brits, p.69.

  Initially, the techniques had been taught: Cobain, Cruel Britannia, p.131.

  an oral tradition of human cruelty: Ibid., p.130. Ian Cobain notes that in November 1971, after internment, Brigadier Richard Mansfield Bremner, of the British Army’s Intelligence Corps, did produce a written memo outlining the evolution of British interrogation techniques since the Second World War. It was deemed sufficiently sensitive that it was initially classified for ‘at least 100 years’. (It ended up being declassified after thirty.)

  ‘What’s your position?’: Interview with Francis McGuigan.

  ‘two pissholes in the snow’: ‘The Torture Centre: Northern Ireland’s “Hooded Men”’, Irish Times, 25 July 2015.

  Another detainee, who had gone into the interrogation: The man was Seán McKenna. John Conroy, Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), p.123.

  He died not long after being released: Ibid., p.188.

  When Francie McGuigan was finally returned: Interview with Francis McGuigan.

  But it seems unlikely that he was troubled: ‘The Book Answer to the Guerrillas’, Times Literary Supplement, 11 February 1972.

  A subsequent investigation by the British government: Report of the Committee of Privy Counsellors Appointed to Consider Authorised Procedures for the Interrogation of Persons Suspected of Terrorism (the ‘Parker Report’), March 1972.

  But in a controversial 1978 decision: Case of Ireland v. the United Kingdom (Application no. 5310/71), European Court of Human Rights, judgement, 18 January 1978. The court upheld this decision, in the face of a new challenge, in 2018: Case of Ireland v. the United Kingdom (Application no. 5310/71), European Court of Human Rights, judgement, 20 March 2018. Also see ‘Hooded Men Torture Ruling Is “Very Disappointing”’, Amnesty International, 20 March 2018.

  In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks: See memorandum from Jay Bybee, Office of Legal Counsel, US Department of Justice, to Alberto Gonzales, Counsel to the President, ‘RE: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 USC §§ 2340–2340A’, 1 August 2002, p.28.

  But perhaps the most concrete application: Within the army, it was referred to, at least some of the time, as the Mobile Reaction Force. Major General W. G. H. Beach to Brigadier M. E. Tickell, 17 February 1972 (National Archives, Kew).

  This was an elite unit so murky: Taylor, Brits, pp.128–30. Some classified British government documents refer to the group as the Mobile Reaction Force, e.g. ‘Northern Ireland Visit’, Loose Minute prepared by Maj. P. H. Courtenay, 10 February 1972 (National Archives, Kew).

  The MRF consisted of thirty or so special operators: ‘Undercover Soldiers “Killed Unarmed Civilians in Belfast”’, BBC, 21 November 2013.

  They dressed in plain clothes: Ibid.

  known as the ‘Bomb Squad’: Urban, Big Boys’ Rules, p.36.

  Soldiers of Irish origin: Ibid., p.36.

  They posed as road sweepers: ‘Undercover Soldiers “Killed Unarmed Civilians in Belfast”’, BBC, 21 November 2013.

  They also began to set up secret: Dillon, The Dirty War, p.30.

  One woman who worked for the MRF: Urban, Big Boys’ Rules, p 36.

  In December 1971, Kitson wrote: Frank Kitson, ‘Future Developments in Belfast by Commander 39 Airportable Brigade’, December 1971. (This formerly confidential document was discovered in the archives at Kew by the Irish writer and researcher Ciarán MacAirt.)

  sub-machine gun hidden under the seat: Dillon, The Dirty War, p.42.

  They had to keep the weapon out of sight: Ibid., p.42.<
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  These hit squads deliberately carried: One former MRF soldier elaborated in 1978: ‘We were instructed in the use of the Russian AK47 assault rifle, the Armalite and a Thompson machine gun. All these weapons are favoured by the Provos. I will leave it to your imagination why Brigadier Kitson thought this was necessary, as these weapons are not standard issue for the British Army.’ See Urwin, ‘Counter-Gangs’, p.9.

  ‘We wanted to cause confusion’: ‘Britain’s Secret Terror Force’, Panorama (BBC, 2013).

  One summer night in 1972: ‘Woman, 24, Shot Dead’, Guardian, 9 June 1972.

  It would be four decades: ‘Undercover Army Unit Linked to Killing Previously Blamed on IRA’, Irish News, 9 June 2015.

  In the aftermath of: Interview with Simon Winchester. See also ‘Journalist Believes Army Used Him to Feed Stories’, Irish Times, 22 May 2001, and ‘My Tainted Days’, Guardian, 22 May 2001.

  Kitson’s Strangelovean attributes: Dillon, The Dirty War, p.26.

  ‘Kits the Butcher of Belfast’: War School: ‘Kitson’s Class’.

  the mind games of the shifty British strategist: Dillon, The Dirty War, p.26.

  There were plans to kidnap: ‘The Kidnap Target’, Daily Mail, 11 August 1973.

  The Provos were said to have: War School: ‘Kitson’s Class’.

  In the MRF’s secret briefing room: ‘Exposed: The Army Black Ops Squad Ordered to Murder IRA’s Top “Players”’, Daily Mail, 16 November 2013.

  Chapter 8: The Cracked Cup

  A prison floated in Belfast Lough: J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy (Newbury, UK: Casemate, 2010), p.244.

  HMP Maidstone – Her Majesty’s Prison: ‘Seven IRA Suspects Swim to Freedom’, Guardian, 18 January 1972.

  The prison quarters consisted: ‘Mac Stíofáin Tells Why Escapers Were Chosen’, Irish Times, 25 January 1972.

  ‘not fit for pigs’: Ibid.

  Adams … was greeted warmly: Adams, Before the Dawn, p.192.

  ‘brutal and oppressive sardine tin’: Gerry Adams, Cage Eleven (New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1993), p.2.

  He liked a good meal: Adams, Before the Dawn, p.192.

  ‘refusing to admit I was Gerry Adams’: Ibid., p.189.

  It was only when he sensed that: Ibid., pp.191–92.

  Adams had managed to tell them nothing: Ibid., pp.191–92.

  ‘Stop breathing’, the doctor said: Ibid., p.192.

  One frigid January evening: This account is drawn from an interview with Tommy Gorman and from ‘7 At Large after Maidstone Swim’, Irish Times, 18 January 1972; ‘Seven IRA Suspects Swim to Freedom’, Guardian, 18 January 1972; ‘7 Maidstone Escapers Cross Border to Freedom’, Irish Times, 24 January 1972.

  They had come up with the idea: Interview with Tommy Gorman; Coogan, The IRA, p.403; ‘7 IRA Guerrillas Tell of Prison Escape’, Globe and Mail, 25 January 1972.

  just crawled out of the Black Lagoon: ‘Thirty Years On – the Maidstone’, Andersonstown News, 9 September 2000.

  When they stopped in a neighbourhood: Interview with Tommy Gorman.

  Then, without hesitation: ‘Thirty Years On – the Maidstone’, Andersonstown News, 9 September 2000.

  By the time the army mobilised: ‘7 At Large after Maidstone Swim’, Irish Times, 18 January 1972.

  After slipping across the border: ‘Mac Stíofáin Tells Why Escapers Were Chosen’, Irish Times, 25 January 1972.

  The new prison: Adams, Before the Dawn, p.196.

  It was known as Long Kesh: Long Kesh would subsequently be renamed, as Maze Prison. But most of the republican prisoners in this story continued to refer to it as Long Kesh, so in order to avoid confusion, I have opted to use that name throughout.

  But Adams would not be staying: Ibid., p.197.

  At first he thought this: Ibid., p.198.

  a secret back channel had been developing: H-BC.

  ‘No fucking ceasefire unless Gerry is released’: H-BC.

  On 26 June, the IRA initiated a ceasefire: ‘IRA Ceasefire Follows MP’s Peace Moves’, Guardian, 23 June 1972.

  anyone who violated the ceasefire would be shot: ‘IRA Threatens to Kill Ceasefire Breakers’, Guardian, 24 June 1972.

  The Provos announced that: ‘IRA Provisionals, British Agree to Indefinite Truce’, Boston Globe, 23 June 1972.

  Many people in Northern Ireland: ‘Truce by Provisional IRA Opens Way to Peace’, Irish Times, 23 June 1972.

  IRA members boarded a British military plane: Mac Stíofáin, Revolutionary in Ireland, p.281; David McKittrick and David McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland (Chicago: New Amsterdam Books, 2002), pp.84–85.

  Hyper-attuned to any hint: Taylor, Behind the Mask, p.164.

  Gerry Adams took a similar view: Adams, Before the Dawn, p.202.

  The limousines ferried the group into London: In a 1982 interview, Adams recalled the plaque saying that Whistler’s mother lived there. In fact, Whistler lived there himself. ‘Sinn Féin Vice-President Gerry Adams’, The Irish People, 27 November 1982.

  The Irishmen were escorted: Mac Stíofáin, Revolutionary in Ireland, p.281.

  Then William Whitelaw: Ibid., p.281.

  But as they shook hands: Adams, Before the Dawn, p.204.

  ‘you will see a British minister you can trust’: Ibid., p.204.

  It consisted of a list of demands: Ed Moloney and Bob Mitchell, ‘British Cabinet Account of 1972 IRA Ceasefire Talks’, The Broken Elbow blog, 21 January 2014. This draws on a ‘Secret and Personal’ account of the meeting given to then prime minister Edward Heath by Whitelaw and Northern Ireland Office official Philip Woodfield, written just after the meeting.

  They also wanted the British: Mac Stíofáin, Revolutionary in Ireland, p.281; Adams, Before the Dawn, p.204.

  One of the British participants: Taylor, Behind the Mask, p.169

  When Steele was initially sent: Taylor, Brits, p.80.

  After the massacre on Bloody Sunday: Taylor, Brits, pp.107–8, 116–17.

  ‘It was all rather sweet, really’: Taylor, Behind the Mask, p.164.

  When the men strode into the meeting: Ibid., pp.169–70.

  In demanding that the British: ‘Adams and IRA’s Secret Whitehall Talks’, BBC, 1 January 2003.

  sabotaged by the ‘absurd ultimatums’: William Whitelaw, The Whitelaw Memoirs (London: Headline Books, 1989), pp.128–29.

  These were appealing qualities: Taylor, Behind the Mask, p.165.

  Adams grinned: Ibid., p.165.

  When the ceasefire was first: Ibid., p.166.

  Ordinary civilians emerged: ‘IRA Ceasefire Follows MP’s Peace Moves’, Guardian, 23 June 1972.

  Having a family could be dangerous: Terry Hughes, quoted in Voices from the Grave.

  where his wife, Colette: Adams, Before the Dawn, p.189.

  Brendan’s wife, Lily: ‘Portrait of a Hunger Striker: Brendan Hughes’, The Irish People, 6 December 1980.

  It made her too anxious: Ibid.

  But the peace lasted scarcely: ‘Ulster Truce Ends in Street Battle’, Guardian, 10 July 1972.

  ‘utmost ferocity’: ‘IRA Truce Falls Apart, 5 Die in Hour’, Boston Globe, 10 July 1972. See also Behind the Mask, documentary, directed by Frank Martin (BBC, 1991).

  An order was passed down: Brendan Hughes interview in Voices from the Grave.

  Hughes set about planning: McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp.112–13; Mac Stíofáin, Revolutionary in Ireland, p.243.

  Of course, these warnings had an added: McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp.112–13.

  One Friday that July, an IRA team: Nineteen bombs exploded that day, according to the Northern Ireland Office. Some press accounts put the number of bombs at closer to twenty-four, but it may be that the IRA planted more bombs and only nineteen successfully detonated. ‘Timetable of Terror’, brochure published by the Northern Ireland Office, July 1972.

  People screamed and scrambled: ‘11 Die in Belfast Hour of Terror’, Guardian, 22 July 1972.

/>   Several buses were ripped apart: ‘Timetable of Terror’.

  Nine people were killed: Some initial reporting put the death count higher, but the Northern Ireland Office recorded nine deaths (seven civilians and two soldiers). ‘Timetable of Terror’.

  she realised it was a human torso: Car Bomb.

  Police officers picked through: ‘Bombing Wave Kills 13, Injures 130 in Belfast’, Boston Globe, 22 July 1972.

  ‘This city has not experienced’: ‘Bomb-a-Minute Blitz in Belfast: Many Injured’, Belfast Telegraph, 22 July 1972.

  ‘Can anyone now believe’: ‘The Only Message’, Irish Times, 22 July 1972.

  Some of the volunteers in the Lower Falls: H-BC.

  Hughes would insist for years: Ibid.

  Hughes immediately went to see Russell: Ibid.

  But a mystery remained: According to Ed Moloney, Russell was holding a child when he came to the door, which may explain why the gunman did not finish the job. Ed Moloney, Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland (New York: PublicAffairs, 2010), p.114.

  his assailant was a member of ‘the Stickies’: H-BC.

  This theory was endorsed: Interview with Joe Clarke; ‘Trio Vanished Forever’, Sunday Life, 21 February 2010.

  shebeens were established: ‘Thriving Shebeens Where Law and Order Has Ceased’, Irish Times, 29 December 1972.

  One was called the Burning Embers: H-BC; ‘IRA Volunteer Charlie Hughes and the Courage of the Brave’, The Blanket, 10 September 2002.

  Another Official shebeen was the Cracked Cup: ‘Disappeared IRA Victim and Provo “Love Triangle”’, Irish Independent, 7 December 2014; Gerry Adams, Falls Memories, pp.124–25.

  The floorboards were rotting: Kevin Myers, Watching the Door: Drinking Up, Getting Down, and Cheating Death in 1970s Belfast (Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press, 2009), p.247.

  Looking for the man who had shot: H-BC; ‘Man Gets Life for Murder at Club’, Irish Times, 24 January 1973.

  One of the patrons that night: McKittrick et al., Lost Lives, p.203.

  A spurt of gunfire lit the gloom: ‘Club Death in IRA Power Struggle’, Telegraph, 20 June 1972; ‘Man Gets Life for Murder at Club’, Irish Times, 24 January 1973.