Northern Ireland

[Wacky-Backy]

I overheard a friend of mine talking to someone about Northern Ireland and the 'idiot paras'. Why would the two be associated?
I haven't asked him as I would get a very boring lecture
In RS at school he made 9/11 sound boring
So, what happened?
Thanks

[tom163]

I think he will be talking about Bloody Sunday mate.

[Wacky-Backy]

aah ok thanks
sorry for a bit of a shit topic

[London Boy]

I think he will be talking about Bloody Sunday mate. No one can let anything drop now days .

Don't go there Tom and please don't make light of it. There is a binding court reasult on this.

If this topic kicks off, then I'm going to kick off about the paras on Bloody Sunday

I have nothing but respect for the Paras, but on Bloody Sunday.......well you know the rest.

My cousin was on duty that day, and even he as a protestant UDR man was shocked!

[Wacky-Backy]

OK I asked my dad and he explained
I'm extremely sorry if I've brought up any bad memories and experiences
It is a tragic event but one that is worth knowing about
Let us end this discussion in order to avoid anymore pain

[tom163]

I think he will be talking about Bloody Sunday mate. No one can let anything drop now days .

Don't go there Tom and please don't make light of it. There is a binding court reasult on this.

If this topic kicks off, then I'm going to kick off about the paras on Bloody Sunday

I have nothing but respect for the Paras, but on Bloody Sunday.......well you know the rest.

My cousin was on duty that day, and even he as a protestant UDR man was shocked!

I was'nt going to mate, just posted the link and should'nt have put that last bit. I will keep my opinions on this to my self I think that would be best.

[harryb]

London Boy, You have no f@#k idea of the amount of shit we had to put up with before bloody sunday happened, I am not supposed to comment due to the court order, but if you wern't ther keep it shut, Ok..

[London Boy]

London Boy, You have no f@#k idea of the amount of shit we had to put up with before bloody sunday happened, I am not supposed to comment due to the court order, but if you wern't ther keep it shut, Ok..

Harry,

As an a 8 year old Catholic boy I lived in Belfast in 1969. So YOU have no f@#king idea of the amount of shit we had to put up with from Protestants and military alike, so if you weren't there why don't you keep it shut?
I didn't want to mention that and I did warn that I was going to go off on one if someone made it an issue.

But simply, and let's keep it friendly here,if you don't know the background of a member on this forum, in this case me, then please just ask rather than going on the defensive and telling them to shut up.

As regards the paras putting up with shit, well you were professional soldiers in a conflict zone and shit unfortunately was what you were expected to deal with on a daily basis and as such, it being your job, there was no excuse for a group of stressed out paras to kill 13 unarmed civilians!

Now if you want to keep this up, I'm happy to, but I'm thinking of the forum's best here, so perhaps continuing is not the best idea.

Please don't forget I've been on both sides of the fence. As a boy in N.Ireland in 1969. And as a police officer at Chelsea in 1983 where I lost 3 colleagues from my shift to the IRA bomb at Harrods.

I'm not particularly political by nature. I just go by my own experiences and I've had it from both sides. And I judge each incident individually.

[Greenronnie]

London Boy, as Harry said, you weren't there, so don't judge the people that were. And by his comment, it sounds like he was. As everyone knows, there are two sides to every story. I think it would be very naive to think that 1 Para simply went around shooting anyone they felt like on that day, so don't imply it.

Let's just ignore the incredibly immature question that was asked by wacky-backy (cracking username there, by the way) in the first place.

[Wacky-Backy]

once again I apologise

[Sully]

Well, fortunately for some and perhaps unfortunately for others, the fella charged with determining what happened (the judge) wasn't there either . He did however consider evidence produced according to proper rules and statements given under oath from all kinds of people from both 'sides' who were and weren't there but whose actions shaped that day. Perhaps in mitigation he'll consider how highly trained soldiers of the Briish Army should react to provocation but to be fair to harry and GR the situation probably looks a lot different from a plush office 30 odd years later.

Perhaps we can all agree that whatever the findings, the killing of 13 unarmed civillians (five shot in the back) by soldiers may be standard sops in a banana republic but here it at least requires a judicial enquiry. A bit pricey at £181m though

[Greenronnie]

No one was saying that it didn't justify a judicial enquiry! There aren't many countries in the world that are willing to put their own soldiers on trial to the extent that we do here.

As for the 1 Para lads that were "stressed out", they were being shot at ffs! A good friend of mine was there, and knowing him, I know there must have been a good reason for what happened. Obviously what happened was terrible, but most people's misconception was that the Paras just went nuts, shooting anyone they felt like. Jesus, if it was the Yanks who were in the same situation there probably would have been trucks full of bodies.

[gunner75]

my family is irish. ill always be biased to maroon. i dont know the facts. all iv seen is ch4 documentry which i add was bloody good. fact is yeah we are well trained soldiers fight hard play hard be prats when we want but always have that voice on us shoulder about whats right and best for any scenario. i werent there but iv had relative(s) killed by ira. i can only imagine the scenario. i will say it would be impossible to imagine how you would react to that scenario given the politics of the day if you were involved. back then i would imagine tactics would be alot more different to the more publisized events/way of doing things of today.

[London Boy]

Right, this is my last word on this. Whether you were there or not on Bloody Sunday is totally irrelvant. The facts are the facts and the evidence is the evidence.

Taking the strop on defensive position of "if you weren't there then shut up" is childish and also ridiculously stupid.

Should everyone who wasn't in Germany then during the Second World War not have the right tp express opinions about the Nazis? And about what they did to the Jews all over europe? I refer you back to a sentence above: The facts are the facts and the evidence is the evidence.

EVERYONE has the RIGHT based on the FACTS to express an OPINION about Bloody Sunday or any other event that they weren't present at.

So don't ANYONE tell me to shut up if I express an opinion on this.

[Boxingmad]

Guys, I think this thread should be locked - not because it shouldn't be talked about but because it is obviously provoking a lot of heated debate. For many it is a very touchy subject both for members of the regiment and for civilians who were either there on the day or who have some connection to it. All it does is provoke very bad feeling and at a time when the Paras have just lost another 3 guys in Afghanistan then really our thoughts & focus should be on a current conflict where another group of families are today suffering terribly due to losing loved ones thousands of miles away.