Was Sinn Féin Traitor Assassinated by the Brits?
Ulster was thrown into crisis by the murder of Sinn Féin spy. The shooting and mutilation of informer jeopardises return of Stormont assembly.Denis Donaldson, the senior Sinn Féin administrator who had admitted being a British agent for 20 years, was yesterday found shot dead inside the isolated cottage to which he had retreated in Co Donegal.
Reports last night suggested his body had been mutilated and his right hand almost severed.
WHO KILLED DENNIS DOALDSON? WAS IT THE BRITS?
Denis Donaldson's death, after his being unearthed as an agent, would not have come as a shock several years ago. Traditionally, the price of informing on the IRA has been execution.
But last year the IRA, in laying down its arms, formally announcing an end to its armed struggle and exhorting its volunteers to work politically for the organisation's objectives, certainly eschewed action such as a revenge killing.
Ian Paisley's DUP, in particular, by blaming "Sinn Fein/IRA" and alleging continued IRA activity has exploited Donaldson's death as a golden pretext for the DUP's continued opposition to power sharing and the Good Friday Agreement.
The republican movement had nothing to gain by killing Donaldson. It needs peace in order to bed down the Agreement and work the all-Ireland bodies established by it.
Crucially, Sinn Fein needs peace to expand on its flourishing electoral base in the south of Ireland and perhaps hold the balance of power in a future coalition. It certainly does not need a fresh, brutal reminder of the old days.
For the IRA to be linked to Donaldson's death would completely undermine its strategy. Nevertheless, the DUP and sections of the media, largely because of their own bias, claim his killing could only have been carried out by the IRA.
Others allow for the possibility of IRA volunteers acting unofficially, individual republicans or dissidents aiming to scupper the peace process on the eve of a major announcement about the future of the Assembly by the British and Irish premiers in Armagh.
Few in the media or among mainstream political parties have dared to consider British involvement.
Denis Donaldson, for whatever reason, would not reveal to his former comrades how the British "turned" him into becoming an agent, nor the detail and extent of his betrayal.
He was a liability and still had secrets about Stormontgate, amongst others: dangerous secrets which could potentially damage his British superiors.
Why would British involvement, rogue or otherwise, seem so fantastical?
We know that members of British intelligence and the Special Branch ran loyalist murder squads; that as far back as the 1970s the Garda Siochana were infiltrated by the British; that during the conflict they allowed their agents in the IRA - such as "Stakeknife" - to kill.
They allowed other agents to kill soldiers and policemen in order to establish and maintain their subversive credentials. In a desperate attempt to thwart Sir John Stevens' inquiry they even burned down his offices! It was certainly a dirty war.
The media is so conditioned to be hostile to the republican movement that it does a disservice to the public by not exploring all the possibilities, however unpalatable the possible conclusions.
Why doesn't some MP ask the British prime minister in the House of Commons if he can he rule out the possibility of state involvement in the assassination of Denis Donaldson?
Was it the Brits???
Regarding the supposed killing/murder of Denis Donaldson. He isn't actually
dead. I've heard from a contact in the security services that this is a
set-up. The ROI and British governments want to make it look like he was
killed, but he has really been moved away to a new life under a new
identity.