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"The role of the press is
to hold power to account."
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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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Mr. Wallace who is presently serving 10
years for manslaughter in an English jail
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was known to have links
with British Intelligence.
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Wallace claimed he was
an Intelligence Officer.
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Wallace alleges he became involved in a black
propaganda campaign by the security services.
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There was no evidence to support
the claims of Mr. Colin Wallace.
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Until anybody can produce proper evidence
there is no need to have an inquiry.
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Colin Wallace had fractured Mr. Lewis’
skull with a karate style blow
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after he was accused of having
an affair with Mr. Lewis’ wife.
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He hid his friend’s body
in the boot of his car
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and later dumped
it in the river Arun.
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He says he was the victim of
an MI5 dirty tricks campaign.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much
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Northern Ireland 1969: Violence erupts between
Protestants loyal to the British Crown and Catholics.
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Information Policy: An information warfare
department is established inside the
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British Army’s Northern Ireland headquarters at
Lisburn, comprising Army psychological warfare and
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the Information Research Department (IRD), a
clandestine department in the British Foreign Office.
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The IRD as a Foreign Office department
had to justify their position
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in Northern Ireland and they
justified it by emphasizing
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the international links of the IRA. By saying this is
to do with Ireland, this is to do with the Communists
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and oddly this is to do with the Vatican
City as well, playing up the Catholic angle.
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The IRD tended to work
through newspapers.
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They would draft articles
in London and then
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distribute them through friendly
journalists to slip into foreign newspapers.
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They worked with
publishing houses,
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where they would write
some book about communism
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and then it would be distributed or published
through a private commercial company.
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Hugh Mooney of the IRD was sent as
an adviser to Information Policy.
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Northern Ireland was the most
surveyed country in the world.
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Every citizen
probably had a file,
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every household was under surveillance.
Down to minute things, like,
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extra pint of milk,
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just bought a new TV where has
the money come from, like that.
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Colin Wallace, a 27-year-old press officer was
asked to assist the psychological warfare unit.
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Because I grew up in Northern Ireland, because I
knew a lot of the background, I was then asked to
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explain some of the significance in terms of
emblems, in terms of labels and so on so forth.
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I was really bringing
into the PsyOps team
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the Irish dimension as it were, in terms
of history, emotion, symbols, sounds.
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Maurice Tugwell the head of the
Army’s psychological warfare school
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and a veteran of Britain’s colonial
counter-insurgency campaigns
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commanded the PsyOps unit.
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Maurice Tugwell believed that, "all
information agencies in Northern Ireland
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should speak with one voice:"
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any organization critical of
British policy was an IRA front.
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Information Policy, PsyOps was
a highly sensitive activity
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and it really needed some form of cover, that gave
its officers access to the public and the press.
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Information Policy was in the same building,
on the same corridor, as the press office.
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So, a visiting journalist going down
the corridor to the press office
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would almost see the whole corridor
as part of army public relations.
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Where as a key part of that had no
bearing on public relations per se.
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On the 9th of August 1971 the British government
approved the internment of dissidents without trial.
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Many of those imprisoned were not terrorists, but
civil rights activists and Irish nationalists.
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The perception at that stage
was a bad one globally.
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And of course,
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the IRA were very good from PsyOps point of
view, they used that to make Britain look bad.
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Reports of torture
surfaced in the Irish press.
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Where there were
allegations of brutality,
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the Information Policy unit
planted with selected journalists
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the fact that the techniques
used by the security forces
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in questioning detainees
were actually less
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demanding than the techniques
we used on our own soldiers
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when we were teaching
them how to avoid
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or deal with interrogation if
they were captured by the enemy.
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Stories of torture and arbitrary imprisonment
without trial fanned feelings of historical injustice
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and with that the popularity
of the IRA increased.
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The violence from
all sides escalated.
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In 1972, 479 people were
killed and almost 5000 injured.
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Each day the psychological
operations team would look at
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the violence of
the past 24 hours.
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Some activities would require a quick
response, we needed to do something that day.
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But sometimes there were
themes developing, that
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for example some type of terrorist
activity was creating a problem
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and therefore we would have to
take a more strategic look at that.
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A theme was a broad issue that Information
Policy identified as a concern.
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Major themes included community
support for paramilitary organizations,
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who were portrayed as
organized criminal groups
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that intimidated and
exploited local communities.
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Information Policy attempted to spread
uncertainty and conflict in target groups.
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The international perception of the
conflict was another major theme.
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Themes were used to color
events with a message
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that supported Information Policy’s
long term PsyOps campaigns.
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When journalists visited or
phoned the Army Press Office,
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they would be passed through to
Colin Wallace and his colleagues.
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We then from a PsyOps point
of view either had an agreed
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position which we would take on this, feeding in
the various themes that we wanted to put across.
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Or in certain cases we had a number
of journalists who were much more
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pro the role of the armed forces in Northern
Ireland and we would then call them direct
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and explain the background
that we wanted to put across.
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The propaganda was deliberately
designed to create conflict,
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to disorientate the IRA to unnerve
them and to again to separate them
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from the community whose support they needed
in order to remain a viable organization.
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We discovered at one
stage they were using
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nitrobenzene to mix with fertilizer
to make their bombs more effective.
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We discovered that nitrobenzene
had a carcinogenic quality
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and therefore there
was a real danger
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that people mixing these explosives
unless they were protected properly
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were likely to develop
cancer at a later stage.
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This was a
scientific fact. But
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exactly how much exposure
etcetera we had no idea.
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But because there were sufficient
scientific hooks with that,
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we circulated that
information to the press.
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And the good thing about it was lots
of experts from the scientific world
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agreed with the conclusion, that
nitrobenzene was a carcinogenic.
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Newspapers picked up the story and
quoted an anonymous army spokesperson,
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who was none other
than Colin Wallace,
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who claimed that "symptoms of nitro
poisoning are difficult to spot.
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By the time they are visible it
is too late to treat the victim.
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Vomiting and a coma follow and later
the glands and liver break down."
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The Guardian reported: "Children
finding it stored in a derelict house
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or people forced to store it by the
Provisionals could suffer from the poisoning."
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On occasion bombs would
go off prematurely
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and quite often the people
transporting the bomb would be killed.
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And where we got a bomb going off
prematurely, although we knew the reason
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from the subsequent
examination of the device
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why it had gone
off prematurely,
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we would quite often try to shift the
reason for that onto something else.
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In campaigns of a political nature army
PsyOps worked with Hugh Mooney of the IRD.
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One of the themes the IRD used in its propaganda
was trying to link the IRA to the Soviet Union
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and the broader communist
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threat.
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And so one of their plans involved
telling journalists or leaking a story
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that Soviet submarines
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were dropping subversives, who had been
trained by the KGB, off the coast of Ireland.
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IRD acquired at one stage some photographs
that the Royal Air Force had taken
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of a Soviet submarine off
the coast of Scotland.
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A dossier was then built up by
IRD, creating a credible story that
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this submarine which then
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had moved off the coast of Donegal rather
than Scotland, from the story point of view,
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that this was
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clear evidence that the Soviets were directly
involved in the violence in Northern Ireland.
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So IRD set up a meeting with
the News of the World in London.
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We took across photographs,
various other documents
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and material to
substantiate the story.
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This was given to the News of the
World, who ran it as a front page lead.
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It was a huge story and it got wide
circulation again around the world.
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Hugh Mooney identified himself to the
journalist as a member of the Foreign Office.
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The Foreign Office was a cover
for the activities of IRD
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and therefore he was listed as a
senior member of the Foreign Office
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and that is how they knew that
he was a genuine official.
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We would try to manipulate the terrorist
organization simply by information.
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Just to delay and get them to lose
faith in what they were doing.
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But at the other end of the scale there
may be a technical intervention, where
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again one would try to get
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for example a weapon to misfire or to
explode or something of that nature.
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On one occasion the IRA was struggling with
using heavier weapons such as bazookas.
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And it turned out that they were using
them with the safety cap still on.
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The IRD decided to conceal
this explanation and instead
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issue a dummy army order suggesting that
the shells be tested electronically.
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The IRD hoped
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that this would result in explosions
going off in the hands of IRA members.
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In Northern Ireland, a clandestine unit, the
Military Reaction Force, dressed up as civilians
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and injured and killed numerous
Catholics in drive by shootings.
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Information Policy would
point out to journalists
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that the weapons used were those
that the paramilitary groups carried.
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As a result, the press attributed the
attacks to the paramilitary groups.
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In one incident the
police discovered
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that an undercover army unit
had injured a group of people
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at a bus stop in a drive by shooting
on the Glen Road in Belfast.
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The police wanted
to press charges.
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PsyOps dissuaded the police by threatening
to reveal that the ammunition used
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had been given to
the army by the police.
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Information Policy established
close relationships with journalists
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and their publications.
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The whole thing is about
knowing the target audience
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but also knowing the
journalists as well.
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Sometimes you know
the relationship was
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very good and it was almost
at a humorous level.
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And journalists might ring me up, say "look
Colin I'm quoting you as saying this,"
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and I would say:
"but I didn't say that,"
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and they said "I know but
we knew you would say that."
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And it was at that level,
and unless
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that quote was really way off mark,
I would be quite happy with that.
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99% of the work I was doing
was un-attributable,
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and then you also have
off-the-record information, which
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you know, journalists would
know but couldn't actually
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report on. So literally that would
just be built into their story
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without any reference
to where it came from.
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Professional journalists are
very good, because they realized
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that if they didn't actually stick by what
was a journalistic agreement after all,
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then probably we would not cooperate
with them in the same way in the future.
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How important was it for
PsyOps to be believable?
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The press quite often said that PsyOps
was largely about propaganda and
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using disinformation.
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But in the vast majority of cases we
were working on real intelligence.
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See, real intelligence is much
more powerful, because
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when the terrorists check
out their own sources
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it has to be credible. They
have to be able to stand it out.
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If they can show it is false, then
of course it is a waste of time
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and really does
not go anywhere.
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So most of the material that we
used, the most effective stuff,
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was genuine intelligence,
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and had to be credible
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not just from a journalist point of view, but it had
to also be credible from a terrorist point of view.
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On the 5th of August 1973,
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an article in the Belfast
Sunday News reported
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that sheep had been sacrificed
in a black magic ritual
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on Copeland Island Beach
North East of Belfast.
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It was a front-page headline in the
Sunday News, which lots of people read.
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The story was that sheep had been ritually
killed and mutilated, that was the story,
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and that it was Satanists
who had done this.
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As a would-be anthropologist,
an undergraduate at the time,
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it tweaked my interests and I
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began to pay attention as other news
stories appeared in other the local papers.
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The more I looked the more I found
and I began to be really surprised
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at the degree to which this had been a
local news paper story in Northern Ireland.
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From August 1973,
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stories of witchcraft
and black magic
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began to surface in many
local newspapers.
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The first thing that I had to
do was try and understand
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what witchcraft
would look like.
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We had no idea so I bought
a book on the subject.
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Then the whole idea
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of the sacrifice of animals or
whatever it might have been,
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we got blood from the cook
house from the army cook house
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and we would
scatter that over the
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makeshift altars
that were there.
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Some of that
material then we left
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and it would be discovered by
local people and then eventually
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they would talk about
it to the press and
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gradually the story built up and
build up over a period of months.
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This was a way of really
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getting the interest of the press,
getting rumors going around and therefore
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doing the things that we
really wanted to happen.
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The ritual sites were often located in
old graveyards and abandoned properties.
227
00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:16,920
You have to remember
228
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,520
that this was a time in Northern Ireland when
all kinds of unusual things were happening.
229
00:17:23,120 --> 00:17:27,976
Assassinations were a very regular thing, some
of them were particularly bloody and brutal.
230
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:33,560
Torture, mutilation, using knives
and blades and things like that.
231
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:38,560
People were talking about ritual
murders and all kinds of things. So,
232
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,736
all of a sudden all of
the moral certainties
233
00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,960
no longer seemed to be
quite just as certain.
234
00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:49,160
Information Policy sent fake
Readers’ Letters to the local press
235
00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:50,960
to help fan the rumours.
236
00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:58,920
Quite often on different subjects
we would write to local newspapers
237
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,560
drawing attention to something
or criticizing something
238
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,360
and then the newspaper
would publish that. It would
239
00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,240
usually be about a local issue and it
was very much done at that local Level.
240
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,656
But then we would pick up the
publication of those letters and
241
00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:18,280
we would then circulate those
letters more to the national press,
242
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:23,400
to reflect what would be
portrayed as local views.
243
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:28,240
Don't forget that
244
00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,240
we were not just influencing the press. The
press is only one way of influencing the public.
245
00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:36,920
We had to be able to influence
all sorts of other people who were
246
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:43,360
you know communicating
with the public.
247
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:45,280
The churches then
248
00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,200
in the 70s had much more influence
of course than they have today
249
00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,960
and therefore this involvement of
witchcraft was quite important.
250
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,000
The key thing we
wanted the Protestant,
251
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,320
sorry we wanted the clergy
to do, I think was just
252
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:07,960
to try and go back to reject
all types of violence
253
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:13,640
and questionable behavior. And whether
that was drugs or witchcraft or terrorism,
254
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,440
it was to say that these
activities really have no
255
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,040
place in the society that
we were trying to create.
256
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:23,480
And because
257
00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:28,280
at that stage people's world was
dominated by the fear of terrorism,
258
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:34,776
we were directly linking a lot of these
things together. It was important to look at
259
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,360
evil bad and terrorism
all within one package.
260
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,040
They were particularly
interested in
261
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:48,680
getting at the Protestant population and
getting them to believe in this stuff.
262
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,330
They were trying to scare the
bejesus out of the local population
263
00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:59,400
and to attach that fright to the terrible
things that going on ergo the paramilitaries.
264
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:06,896
That is I think what the core
job of what they were doing was.
265
00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,676
They were trying to discredit the paramilitaries.
They were trying to associate them with
266
00:20:11,300 --> 00:20:17,880
bad things, drug dealing, dodgy
financial dealings, etc. Etc.
267
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,240
We were just saying, look, the
268
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:25,920
fact that the community has now sort
of dissolved into this violence,
269
00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:31,280
which is becoming more and more sadistic
in terms of sectarian assassinations,
270
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,376
you know, where do you
draw a halt as a community.
271
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,680
I think it helped to bring
home to people, that
272
00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,040
there was something going on
in their community that really
273
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,120
was not good for
them as a whole.
274
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:50,280
That is a strange
way thinking,
275
00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,520
because you know you are part of the army
and the idea is that you are fighting a war.
276
00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:00,456
But you are saying the
witchcraft campaign was about
277
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,160
bringing a sense of morality
back to the community,
278
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,360
you wouldn't really have thought
that the army would think about that?
279
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:15,216
Probably not but I think you see it is
a war but it is not a conventional war.
280
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:22,240
Terrorism is fundamentally a propaganda
war that is backed up by armed conflict.
281
00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:27,000
So, it was just I think
going back to
282
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:33,656
say to people "you know you have grown up as I
did in Northern Ireland with a very strong belief
283
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:38,760
in the community and in our own
church, whatever that religion was,
284
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,080
and surely we have drifted
a long way from that
285
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,000
as a result of the violence
of the last five six years."
286
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,480
On the 8th of September 1973
287
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,480
the burnt and mutilated body
of 10-year-old Brian McDermott
288
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,320
was discovered by the
river Lagan in Belfast.
289
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:10,136
People began to speculate: "was
this a black magic killing" and
290
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,760
it certainly contributed towards one
of the threads and the rumors and fears
291
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:20,480
that autumn, which was that Satanists
were looking for children to abduct.
292
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:26,840
Newspapers reported rumours that "a boy
or girl under seven would be sacrificed."
293
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,360
The police actually issued
294
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:35,640
a statement saying they believed that
the murder may have involved witchcraft,
295
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:40,880
that was a concern for us at that stage because
bearing in mind that we were creating this concept.
296
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:46,776
At that point we stopped using
witchcraft as a concept.
297
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,880
But that was in September
298
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:55,720
and according to Richard Jenkins
the witchcraft scare continued
299
00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,120
all the way to the
beginning of 1974?
300
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:05,360
I think that's right, and one of the points
we were making is that when you create a story
301
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:12,096
it gathers momentum over a period of time
and I think although we stop doing things,
302
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:16,880
there were lots of other stories and rumors
going around. There may also have been people,
303
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,760
you know, creating these
things for fun really.
304
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:25,496
But we certainly stopped after Brian
McDermott’s death. There's no doubt of that.
305
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,576
I’m absolutely clear. But it may well be
that the aftermath of that was still going on
306
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,700
for a period of sometime, even to
the beginning of the following year.
307
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,320
From early September
to December 1973,
308
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,560
there were more than 70 articles
referring to black magic and witchcraft.
309
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:53,380
By the beginning of the following year the topic
had almost completely vanished from the press.
310
00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:03,440
When the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson visited
Northern Ireland, he was briefed by Colin Wallace.
311
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,880
Would the Prime Minister
have been aware
312
00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:13,000
that you were in fact in
military intelligence?
313
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:20,600
Oh, I don't believe they would have been. I’m
sure he saw me simply as an army press officer.
314
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,160
Did you yourself have a brief
for when you interacted with him?
315
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:31,480
Yes, what happened was that there
were certain key things that we felt
316
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,560
the Prime Minister should
know. So, the idea is that
317
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,000
you don't want him to be wrong-footed
by not being able to answer
318
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,920
the basic questions about
security in Northern Ireland.
319
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,616
Influencing the press, the
clergy and key decision makers
320
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:56,440
was one aspect of psychological warfare, another
was influencing persons of interest directly.
321
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:02,360
Quite often we were trying to influence
people where we had no direct access to them.
322
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:08,040
And so when you are trying to move
somebody or change somebody's thinking,
323
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:15,120
sometimes you had to target them through one
or more sort of relays of other people. So,
324
00:25:15,140 --> 00:25:17,576
it is never straight
communication.
325
00:25:17,700 --> 00:25:21,276
A lot of information we were
disseminating was not through the media,
326
00:25:21,900 --> 00:25:23,417
it was also through people,
327
00:25:23,441 --> 00:25:29,400
and therefore it had to be cut out so
that the person handling it quite often
328
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,016
didn't realize who
the originator was.
329
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:36,136
And that made it all the more credible,
when that person who was known to the target
330
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,160
was passing this
information on to him.
331
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:45,120
Information Policy created profiles of persons
of interest and people in their social networks.
332
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,297
The key thing was that
333
00:25:47,321 --> 00:25:51,500
when you knew a lot about a person
and the people they worked with,
334
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:53,977
like any other
part of society,
335
00:25:54,001 --> 00:25:56,196
there were people who
didn't like each other,
336
00:25:56,220 --> 00:25:58,076
there were people who were
jealous of each other.
337
00:25:58,100 --> 00:26:01,060
Because we had the
relevant intelligence,
338
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,760
if we could plant
it the right way,
339
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:10,760
you could for example if one person was
suspicious of another for some reason,
340
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:12,920
you could increase
that suspicion,
341
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,820
by feeding information in that would tend to
reinforce their own views of that individual.
342
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,560
So, it was that type of activity.
343
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,177
Could you explain more about
344
00:26:23,201 --> 00:26:27,200
the kind of techniques you used
to create psychological conflict?
345
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:30,840
I have to be careful
with that because
346
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,640
what I don't want to do is actually share
techniques that are still having impact.
347
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,800
And so there is
a Grey area there.
348
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,960
But it is basically along the lines that
we are saying, first of all is to identify
349
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:51,720
relationships, look at how toxic
those relationships may or may not be,
350
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:57,660
and then try to maneuver them by planting
information in, to have that effect.
351
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:02,880
You build up quite a
comprehensive profile
352
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,120
of that person and
their associates.
353
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,680
Now it may be that
some of those associates
354
00:27:09,700 --> 00:27:13,136
are totally innocent of any
involvement in terrorism whatsoever.
355
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,800
They just happen to be good friends
from school days and so on and so forth.
356
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:19,200
It is really
creating a picture
357
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,640
of that person so
you almost know
358
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,840
what their response will be to
something that you do.
359
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,200
This is a very different
use of psychology
360
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:35,380
and I think a lot of people wouldn't
be aware that this knowledge exists
361
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:40,440
and that people study psychology
for these kinds of purposes?
362
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:48,720
I think that's true, but you have to be
careful because we did do lots of things
363
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,160
that had a positive
psychological effect.
364
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:56,360
Like for example we ran youth
clubs, we ran community relations.
365
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:01,240
I was the Army's Father Christmas going
around schools and hospitals at Christmas.
366
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,480
We actually provided funds for
projects. We took kids away from
367
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,000
the really bad areas
of Northern Ireland,
368
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:10,017
from opposite
sides of the fence,
369
00:28:10,041 --> 00:28:13,760
Catholic and Protestant together, we
took them away to the mountains camping.
370
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:21,320
Colin Wallace was refused clearance to
target high-ranking protestant paramilitaries
371
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:23,240
in psychological operations.
372
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:29,120
These individuals who at times colluded with
the British army were on an excluded list.
373
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:34,680
A number of protestant clergy and politicians
on the other hand were legitimate targets.
374
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:40,680
Psyops targeted individuals who were
not members of terrorist organizations,
375
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,440
but who had influence in
communities of interest to PsyOps.
376
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:48,417
In the Catholic community,
377
00:28:48,441 --> 00:28:52,960
personal conflicts were the most common
reason for a person to become an informant.
378
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:58,500
We couldn't admit to what we were doing, the army
didn't admit to what we were doing and so on so forth.
379
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:04,720
A senior figure political or
military might ask us to do something
380
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:08,640
and then for political
reasons usually
381
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,640
they would say it would be a
really good idea if X happened
382
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:15,880
but then they would
quite often say but
383
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,960
I don't want you to tell me how you go
about it because I may have to deny it,
384
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:27,080
and that was a classic example so in other words the
person doesn't want to lie that they were involved.
385
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:33,040
Senior figures were deliberately kept in
the dark about the specifics of campaigns,
386
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:37,520
so that they could deny involvement should
they be called upon to answer questions.
387
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,400
At the age of 29 Colin Wallace was the
youngest Senior Information Officer in the MOD.
388
00:29:45,980 --> 00:29:48,300
During his time in
Information Policy
389
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,840
he was put forward for New Year’s
Honors 3 times by his superiors.
390
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,840
In 1973, the IRD was withdrawn
from Northern Ireland.
391
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:10,000
The IRD focused on framing conflicts both at
home and abroad as part of a clash of ideologies,
392
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,120
between Communism
and the West.
393
00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:17,696
Army Intelligence saw the IRD as involved
in political propaganda of limited relevance
394
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,420
to their anti-terror and
counter-insurgency campaign.
395
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,400
The military feared that
396
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,560
having the IRD in Northern Ireland
was undermining the credibility
397
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,320
of their own PR campaigns
398
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:39,020
and Lisburn and the army headquarters was
becoming known as the Lisburn lie machine.
399
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,240
Not long after the departure
of Hugh Mooney and the IRD,
400
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:49,400
a meeting was convened at Stormont
Castle, the HQ of MI5 in Northern Ireland.
401
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:54,000
At this meeting a campaign code-named
Clockwork Orange was launched.
402
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,920
Colin Wallace was asked to liaise with an
operative by the cover-name, John Shaw.
403
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:04,320
He never came to army headquarters
at any time when I was there.
404
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:08,400
All the meetings I had with him
were at the White Gables Hotel.
405
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:13,776
I think the idea with that was
that there would be no direct link,
406
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:19,360
particularly with some of the information
that we were using, between him and the army.
407
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,776
Colin Wallace alleges John Shaw supplied
him with material that included smears
408
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,760
on politicians from the three
main political parties in Britain.
409
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:34,680
Why were you given that information,
considering the sensitivity of it?
410
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,880
As I say, this was background,
because if we are looking
411
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,816
for example at the
increase in violence,
412
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:43,417
that has to be put in context,
413
00:31:43,441 --> 00:31:47,416
particularly if you are briefing
journalists in depth or foreign journalists.
414
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:52,120
You have to explain at that stage
what led up to the violence.
415
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,696
So, in other words, the violence
was really the activity,
416
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,680
but the background was coming from
the briefing papers that I was given.
417
00:32:00,260 --> 00:32:03,976
Some of the forgeries that
Information Policy and MI5 and IRD
418
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,776
concocted in Northern Ireland
came into my possession.
419
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:10,000
To Merlyn Rees, who at one point was
the Minister for Northern Ireland.
420
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,736
This is apparently from the American
Congress for Irish freedom, 1971.
421
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:19,320
This was an IRA front in America. This is a letter
apparently thanking Merlyn Rees for his support,
422
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,880
which of course Merlyn Rees didn’t
support it, but there you go.
423
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:25,777
According to Stephen Dorril
424
00:32:25,801 --> 00:32:29,360
some of the smears Colin
Wallace received from John Shaw
425
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,040
were already in
circulation in Britain.
426
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:37,440
Britain had a very
sophisticated system
427
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,776
whereby there were scores
of people around the country
428
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,360
whose job it was just to
sit in bars, coffee bars,
429
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:51,200
talk to people, go to clubs
and spread rumors
430
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:57,120
and gradually kind of build up this
idea about someone or some operation.
431
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,080
It was smears about sex,
432
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,640
accusations that
Wilson had affairs.
433
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,416
The British Prime Minister,
Harold Wilson,
434
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,560
had been sexually compromised
on a trip to Moscow.
435
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,456
There were accusations about,
which is again kind of
436
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:20,720
interesting in retrospect, about him
being too close to Jewish people.
437
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,360
So, there were kind
of anti-semitic smears.
438
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:29,000
That Wilson was corrupt that
he had secret bank accounts …
439
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,040
A few years ago the
son of a MI6 officer
440
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:35,000
contacted me and said
441
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:40,320
"You've written about my
father, but did you know that
442
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:46,320
when he retired in 1970 he went into the
City of London and he started a newsletter
443
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:51,040
and spread rumors through this
newsletter and smears about Wilson."
444
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,580
Here's another fake - A Swiss
account supposedly held by
445
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,216
Edward Short, who was the
446
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,656
leader of the House of Commons at
the time I think, another Labour MP,
447
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,360
a fake bank account showing
he had 30,000 pounds.
448
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:10,560
A journalist who trusts somebody
like Colin can easily be manipulated.
449
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:15,216
He would say to somebody: "okay,
yeah, I think I know so-and-so,
450
00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:19,256
talk to that person or I can supply
you with this bit of information
451
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,376
or I have this document
I will allow you to look at
452
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:27,320
which will back up what I am saying
or what this person has told you."
453
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,640
It is a very sophisticated
kind of system.
454
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:37,920
This is thought out about what it is you
want to achieve with this particular story.
455
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:44,760
This might be part of a chain. It might
be part of an operation that is ongoing,
456
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,520
with the idea that you kind of
sway the argument or you
457
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:53,040
change the view of something,
smear somebody.
458
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:58,376
In October 1974 at a
meeting with John Shaw,
459
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,680
Colin Wallace demanded proof of
political clearance for Clockwork Orange.
460
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,040
He never saw or heard
from John Shaw again.
461
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:13,977
Colin Wallace
turned his attention to
462
00:35:14,001 --> 00:35:17,720
undermining the Republican support
network in the US and Ireland.
463
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,800
He created a dossier that linked
fundraisers and businessmen
464
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:25,040
supportive of Republicans
to weapons smuggling.
465
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:31,520
Colin Wallace traced the serial numbers of weapons
captured in Belfast to arms dealers in the US.
466
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,320
He identified a leading
fundraiser and major benefactors.
467
00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:39,680
The story was intended as an
exclusive for a major publication.
468
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,080
The Irish Joint Section
of MI5 and MI6
469
00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:49,320
reported in a telegram that "The
Managing Editor of the Daily Telegraph
470
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,360
was prepared to give the
article wide coverage…"
471
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,560
Colin Wallace was asked to
supply additional photographs.
472
00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:02,320
Information Policy ran a photography department
that gathered images for intelligence purposes.
473
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:07,280
These images could be used as
supporting material in press briefings.
474
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:13,600
The Daily Telegraph published a special
investigation. Reporter Christopher Dobson, wrote:
475
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:19,376
"I have spent the last two months investigating
the way in which the IRA gets its money.
476
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,096
I have traveled to the
United States and Ireland
477
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,896
in tracking back the serial numbers
of arms captured in Belfast,
478
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,960
and I have looked into the lives
of the paymasters of terror."
479
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:39,256
The press helped Information Policy to
target individuals and organisations
480
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:44,120
to which PsyOps had no direct access
due to their geographic location.
481
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,360
The article provided no evidence of
the funding or smuggling of arms,
482
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:52,330
however the reader was left
with the distinct impression
483
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,440
that the individuals and organization
highlighted were responsible.
484
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:08,560
William McGrath was a prominent individual in
loyalist politics, the Church and the Orange Order,
485
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,640
and the head of an
organization called Tara.
486
00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:17,376
I was asked to encourage the press to look
at what Tara and McGrath were all about.
487
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:21,480
Tara was an organization
488
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:28,040
that was really designed to prepare
for a doomsday situation by loyalists.
489
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,400
If there was an IRA Campaign,
490
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:38,160
or in fact as McGrath said the Irish
Army might even invade the North.
491
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:41,840
Attending the meetings of Tara
492
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,536
there were members of
the Ulster Volunteer Force,
493
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,720
which was then a proscribed
loyalist paramilitary group.
494
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,020
There were also police
officers attending it.
495
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,760
In 1973 McGrath issued
a proclamation,
496
00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:59,080
that was designed to make the
Roman Catholic Church illegal.
497
00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:03,080
William McGrath was also
the housemaster of Kincora,
498
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:07,880
a home for boys from troubled
backgrounds between the ages of 11 to 18.
499
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:15,120
Colin Wallace issued 3 separate briefings on
McGrath, the press did not follow up the story.
500
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:17,980
The Army was informed
by Special Branch that
501
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:22,616
if they moved against McGrath it would
be a great propaganda coup for the IRA
502
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:27,060
and significantly damage the political
structure in Northern Ireland.
503
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:37,760
In December 1974, Colin Wallace was summoned
to the Ministry of Defence in London.
504
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,520
Everything as far as I was
concerned, in terms of my job,
505
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:49,160
how I was regarded by annual performance
reports, all those things were perfect.
506
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:53,440
And so I was a bit surprised
to be told then by
507
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,920
the senior MOD official who saw me
that because my life was in danger
508
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:01,920
I had to be moved
out of the province.
509
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,280
A farewell party
was organized.
510
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:10,480
A prominent cartoonist recorded
Colin Wallace’s departure.
511
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,120
I moved to my new post and
512
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:18,680
a day after that a police officer
from Northern Ireland arrived
513
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,016
with a Special Branch officer
514
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:24,560
and said that they were
investigating the fact that
515
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:28,560
I had given a restricted
document to a journalist.
516
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,480
For the past six years
I had been supplying,
517
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:36,416
you know, as part of my job description,
highly sensitive information
518
00:39:36,740 --> 00:39:39,660
to journalists from different
countries around the world.
519
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:46,400
Unbeknown to Colin Wallace, MI5 had made an assessment
that he was disgruntled and a security risk.
520
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:52,720
The disciplinary hearing that followed concluded
that Colin Wallace should be dismissed.
521
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:56,800
But, that he could keep his
pension if he resigned voluntarily.
522
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:03,560
Peter Broderick, a colleague of Colin Wallace’s
in Army Public Relations, tried to support him
523
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,240
and was informed that Colin Wallace was
a member of a terrorist organization.
524
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:12,920
Peter Broderick was then transferred
out of the Ministry of Defence.
525
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:24,160
When my disciplinary hearing
was finished and I realized that
526
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,160
clearly it had been rigged,
527
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:32,576
I then engaged a solicitor purely for personal
protection to tell him what had happened to me.
528
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:34,760
He said that he was involved
529
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:40,136
in dirty tricks against
politicians in Northern Ireland
530
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:45,080
and he also said that this had now
started to move over onto the mainland.
531
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,080
That he was involved in
a dirty tricks campaign
532
00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:52,840
against mainland politicians and in
particular he mentioned Harold Wilson.
533
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,000
Colin Wallace moved
to South-East London
534
00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:00,760
and began to speak out about
his work in Information Policy,
535
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:06,400
he lobbied MPs, supplied information to the
press and wrote to the former prime minister.
536
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:12,856
Harold Wilson already held suspicions that
MI5 had undermined him and his government
537
00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,680
and had communicated
this to two journalists.
538
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:20,560
He thought they had mounted a campaign
of denigrating him personally,
539
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:27,560
of using official material that had been gathered
and then misused by leaking it to newspapers.
540
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:31,200
They released a book,
which was largely ignored.
541
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:37,096
In 1977 the IRD was
quietly closed down.
542
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:41,840
After an internal investigation into the
plot against the former prime minister.
543
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,456
I corresponded with Lord Hunt.
544
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:50,720
He was asked to carry out the investigation
into the alleged plot against Harold Wilson
545
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:55,960
and he spoke to a number of people
including the heads of MI5 and MI6.
546
00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,520
He said that there was a plot,
547
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:06,960
that there were dissident elements
within both organizations.
548
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:13,080
He wrote that report which
went to the new Prime Minister
549
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:19,000
and a copy of it was supposed to have
been deposited in the Cabinet Office.
550
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:25,040
I asked the Cabinet Office where was the
copy and they said they could not find one.
551
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:34,220
Colin Wallace unaware of the demise of
the IRD began a new life in West Sussex.
552
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:39,800
In January 1980
553
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:45,440
the Irish Independent published an article on the
abuse of boys at the Belfast boys home Kincora.
554
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:49,576
The Housefathers William McGrath,
Joseph Mains and Raymond Semple
555
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,360
had been sexually abusing
the boys in their care.
556
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,200
Politicians in Northern Ireland
demanded a full inquiry.
557
00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:02,440
Did you see this man in Arundel between
6:15pm – 11:30pm on Tuesday 5th August 1980?
558
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:12,320
The body which was found
last Friday in the river
559
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,640
had head injuries.
560
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:19,320
This is a matter for the pathologist
who is making his examination,
561
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:24,780
to find out whether in fact the person died as a
result of drowning or as a result of the head injuries.
562
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:30,240
Colin Wallace had fractured Mr. Lewis’
skull with a karate style blow
563
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:35,656
during a meeting at his house after he was
accused of having an affair with Mr. Lewis’ wife.
564
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:40,440
He hid his friend’s body in the boot of his
car and later dumped it in the river Arun.
565
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,176
Colin Wallace was charged
with the murder.
566
00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:48,920
The prosecution alleged he was infatuated
with Jane Lewis the deceased’s wife.
567
00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:55,680
He was found guilty of manslaughter and
sentenced to ten years on the 20th of March 1981.
568
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:08,960
65-year-old William McGrath
seen here in the foreground.
569
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,160
He ran two bible study centres
in Belfast in the 50s and 60s.
570
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:17,360
McGrath was also a founding member of
the protestant paramilitary group Tara.
571
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:20,240
This man was one of
McGraths victims.
572
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,296
He would come up when you
were getting dressed and
573
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:26,960
then he would start
doing things you don’t like.
574
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:32,216
There was one time I was bleeding. I
told him to stop. It was unpleasant.
575
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,620
You couldn’t turn
to no-one you know.
576
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:40,005
One of the Army’s former press officers at
Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, Colin Wallace,
577
00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:42,680
is now a key figure in
the Kincora investigation.
578
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:47,240
Mr. Wallace who is presently serving 10
years for manslaughter in an English jail
579
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,120
was also known to have links
with British intelligence.
580
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:55,920
Kevin Dowling, exactly what did
Colin Wallace tell you in 1973?
581
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:00,136
He certainly said that
McGrath was a homosexual.
582
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:04,480
You must remember that the conversation
I had with him was in 1973.
583
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:07,976
I don’t remember the
conversation entirely clearly.
584
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:12,856
It has been suggested to me that McGrath
was in fact some kind of an army informer
585
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,976
and that the police felt
obliged to protect him in order
586
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:18,536
to bring to book
greater criminals than he.
587
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:21,180
Exactly what part did
British intelligence play
588
00:45:21,260 --> 00:45:24,700
and were they aware that William
McGrath was employed at Kincora.
589
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:31,160
British Army files relating to the Kincora
Boys’ Home disappeared from army headquarters.
590
00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:37,280
It was rumoured that William
McGrath was an MI5 informant.
591
00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:43,336
McGrath, Mains and Semple, who
ran the Kincora Boys’ Home,
592
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,360
were sentenced
in December 1981.
593
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:48,640
All were released
in under 2 years.
594
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:53,120
Meanwhile, Colin Wallace was still only
at the beginning of his 10-year sentence.
595
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,880
When I first got to know him,
596
00:45:58,280 --> 00:45:59,320
he was in prison
597
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:02,720
and it was bizarre.
598
00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:05,680
He was actually
protected in prison.
599
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,240
Other prisoners believed him.
600
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:13,280
He actually had
kind of bodyguards,
601
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,320
because they thought probably
correctly that he might be
602
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:20,080
killed, assassinated in prison.
603
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:27,000
Clive Ponting was head of the legal
department at the Ministry of Defence in 1983
604
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:31,760
and remembers a meeting with MI5
where Colin Wallace was discussed.
605
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:34,297
There was never
any suspicion that
606
00:46:34,321 --> 00:46:38,280
Wallace was making these stories up and
that it was all totally unfounded and
607
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:40,200
very easy to rubbish.
608
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:44,736
It was very much a matter that the
story was being contained at the moment
609
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:46,480
because he was
in jail. But that
610
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,376
in a few years time, he would
be back out again and
611
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,500
could be expected to start
making the allegations again.
612
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:57,416
One evening in prison, Colin Wallace
read an article about Fred Holroyd,
613
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,640
a former Military Intelligence
Officer in Northern Ireland,
614
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:04,000
whose experience bore
some resemblance to his own.
615
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:08,000
Colin wrote a letter to
Fred asking for help.
616
00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:09,600
When I got to the prison
617
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:11,680
I realized this
was the same man
618
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:16,520
that I met in the secret corridor, who
had an office in army headquarters.
619
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:21,760
The MOD repeatedly were refuting
that he was anything more
620
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:26,880
than a civilian clerk with a Walter Mitty
complex. And yet here he is with an office
621
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:31,320
in this secret corridor with the political
officer MI5, MI6, all of the people
622
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,160
who were running the
army were in that office.
623
00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:39,456
I went on the same day that the murder
was committed, at the same time.
624
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:42,816
You know you have got every man and
his dog walking along that path.
625
00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:46,656
You have fishermen overlooking at
about a hundred yards away on a bridge.
626
00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:49,476
You have all sorts of courting
couples walking along and
627
00:47:49,500 --> 00:47:51,896
the river boats going
up and down the river.
628
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:55,000
The thing was, you know, it's
Trafalgar Square on a Saturday.
629
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:58,160
The story that the police
had put out was a lie.
630
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:02,560
I also discovered a witness
who had seen the dead man
631
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:08,440
after he had allegedly been killed by Colin and
the police persuaded her not to give evidence.
632
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:12,960
He was sitting by the window
with the gentleman he was with.
633
00:48:13,220 --> 00:48:17,616
A man approximately in his 50s with thinning
grey hair combed back over the top of his head.
634
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,200
And as far as I remember, I
think he was in a grey suite.
635
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:25,720
Whatever exchange came from Jonathan Lewis it was
sharp and back to fiddling with his glass on his knee.
636
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:27,600
He looked far from happy.
637
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:32,200
She was frightened of the police.
She thought the police were in on it.
638
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,760
Fred Holroyd door-stepped the
boatman who had found the body.
639
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,296
And he didn't know who I was. They
all get very frightened when I arrive
640
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:44,476
and start asking questions about things
that they are worried about themselves.
641
00:48:44,500 --> 00:48:48,936
And he said: "I can tell you that the buggers
wouldn't let me give the evidence I wanted to give,
642
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:51,256
which was you know
that I had reversed back and
643
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:53,320
my propeller had
hit the guy in the face
644
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:55,420
and that is what
caused the wound."
645
00:48:55,720 --> 00:48:57,776
And I said: "Yyou are kidding,"
and he said: "No."
646
00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:00,976
So I said: "Are you prepared to
put that down in writing?" He said:
647
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:05,736
"Well if I have to, but the best thing would be
to get me in a court and ask me questions and then
648
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:09,120
I have to answer in a courtroom and
the police can't do me any harm."
649
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:15,880
When Colin was still in prison he
was via his solicitor, he was sending
650
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,300
out various documents
that he had written.
651
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:20,800
I was unemployed,
and in those days in Hull,
652
00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:25,150
in Mrs. Thatcher's Britain in a place
like Hull with unemployment at 10 percent,
653
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:26,840
if you had something to do
654
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:30,336
and I did, the people on the
dole would ignore you for years.
655
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,080
So, I carried on doing
this journalism stuff.
656
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:39,336
Lobster, an obscure magazine made on a
photocopier, with a circulation of 150,
657
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,120
co-founded and co-edited
by Ramsay and Dorril,
658
00:49:42,600 --> 00:49:45,576
may at the time have been the
only publication in Britain
659
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:48,600
to take Colin Wallace’s
allegations seriously.
660
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:55,440
I wrote this, which was you know 50 pages,
an attempt to explain Colin’s story.
661
00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:59,960
We printed quite a lot of
these about a thousand copies
662
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:04,600
I think and we went to London
and had a press conference.
663
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:11,280
So, two hicks from the sticks turn up carrying
this big document and saying here's a big story.
664
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:15,960
The media were not impressed at
all, virtually no response to it.
665
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:20,360
In January 1987 Colin Wallace
was released from prison.
666
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:24,576
A journalist called
Julian O' Halloran
667
00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:29,296
went to Lewes Prison and actually filmed Colin
Wallace as he stepped out of the prison gate
668
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:32,676
and interviewed him and it was
going to be broadcast on Newsnight.
669
00:50:32,700 --> 00:50:36,696
I was actually watching Newsnight when
there was a great kerfuffle in the studio.
670
00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:39,816
Something had happened and bits
of paper were being looked at,
671
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:41,537
headphones were being checked.
672
00:50:41,561 --> 00:50:43,600
What happened was
the Wallace segment
673
00:50:43,680 --> 00:50:46,896
had been yanked at the last minute
by a man called Alan Prothero,
674
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:50,200
who at that point was
deputy director of the BBC.
675
00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:54,200
Prothero was a part-time army
officer in the territorial army
676
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:58,080
and his speciality was
media - military relations.
677
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,077
I went down to
visit him and Fred
678
00:51:04,101 --> 00:51:07,476
and it was in the middle of winter. We were
sitting in Colin Wallace’s unheated house.
679
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,500
He had come out of prison and
he couldn't afford to heat it.
680
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:14,440
So we were all sitting you know in
our coats in Colin’s living room
681
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:16,500
and I remember
saying something like,
682
00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:21,000
"So your plan is that me and you
two guys with no money between us
683
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:23,440
are gonna take on
MI5 and the MOD?"
684
00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:25,480
"Yes that's the
plan," they said.
685
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:29,720
Irish broadcaster RTE
picked up the story.
686
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:34,016
The record says that Colin
Wallace killed Jonathan Lewis.
687
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:35,737
- Oh yes, absolutely.
- Did you?
688
00:51:35,761 --> 00:51:38,216
No, I didn’t, I had nothing
at all to do with his death.
689
00:51:38,240 --> 00:51:40,277
I wasn’t involved in any way.
690
00:51:40,501 --> 00:51:43,976
But I mean if I am not calm
about it. If I panic about it.
691
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:46,036
If I create a fuss. If I
get excited about it,
692
00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:48,160
that is not going to
change the verdict
693
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:52,056
any quicker than if I stay calm and deal with
it properly through the correct channels.
694
00:51:52,680 --> 00:51:56,040
Eventually I was hired
by Channel 4 News.
695
00:51:56,540 --> 00:51:58,320
Colin had these
hand written notes
696
00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:03,200
that he claimed he had written down
from this MI5 disinformation project
697
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:06,160
against Labour MPs.
698
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:10,920
Robert Parker of Channel 4 News went to a
forensic scientist called Dr. Julius Grant.
699
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:16,480
What chances do you think there
are that these notes are forgeries?
700
00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:19,360
Well, from what I already said,
701
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,720
the chances that they are
forgeries seem to be rather remote.
702
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:28,600
And thus these documents were in fact written,
probably when Wallace said they were written.
703
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:32,160
While we were working together
on bits and pieces about Wallace,
704
00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:37,040
another journalist in ITN, who was
one of their crime correspondents,
705
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:40,656
began feeding information
he was getting from the MOD,
706
00:52:40,680 --> 00:52:43,200
the Ministry of Defense,
denigrating Wallace.
707
00:52:43,560 --> 00:52:47,136
We were also getting similar stuff
from professor Paul Wilkinson,
708
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:51,680
a terrorism expert, again denigrating Wallace
and saying he's a fantasist and a liar.
709
00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:56,800
Investigative journalist Paul Foot
wrote a book about Colin Wallace.
710
00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,760
Wallace began to appear in the
British media more frequently,
711
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:05,360
including on popular ITV weekly
debate show Central Weekend Live.
712
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:08,360
If you take the case
of Mr. Wallace here.
713
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:12,560
As every body else who is ever
convicted of any crime,
714
00:53:12,760 --> 00:53:18,096
poor Mr. Wallace was framed. I don’t
believe he was framed, it’s a fact.
715
00:53:18,120 --> 00:53:24,016
Any responsible journalist in Northern Ireland in
the early 70s knew what Colin Wallace was up to.
716
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:25,677
There was this
gung-ho character
717
00:53:25,701 --> 00:53:28,036
who was running around
in the dead of night
718
00:53:28,060 --> 00:53:31,816
shoving envelopes full of documents
into the letter boxes of journalists.
719
00:53:31,840 --> 00:53:34,040
And you would say
there is Colin at it again.
720
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:37,000
I for one I was probably
the first person in the CIA
721
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:40,896
who got into this dirty-tricks business. It
wasn’t as dirty as a lot of people think it was.
722
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:42,717
A lot of people find
it very objectionable.
723
00:53:42,741 --> 00:53:46,576
Just a minute. To blacken someone is a
hell of a lot better than killing them.
724
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:48,400
In World War 2
we killed people,
725
00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:50,477
and now we got
into the business
726
00:53:50,501 --> 00:53:53,616
where we are simply playing dirty
tricks, to prevent having World War 3.
727
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:55,936
You are the man that
sparked all this off.
728
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:58,337
I did not join the
security forces
729
00:53:58,361 --> 00:54:02,180
to discredit the Labour Party, the
Conservative Party or the Liberal Party,
730
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:06,456
and because I was deflected from my main
job into doing political disinformation,
731
00:54:06,480 --> 00:54:09,000
I was not actually doing the
job I had joined to do.
732
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:14,716
Good evening, a civil servant sacked after making
allegations about an MI5 dirty tricks campaign
733
00:54:14,740 --> 00:54:18,500
has been awarded £30,000
compensation by the government.
734
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:20,896
Calcutt QC was asked
to conduct an inquiry.
735
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:24,416
In his report he reveals
that MOD officials
736
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:29,200
contacted Mr. Wallace’s disciplinary hearing
beforehand, thus influencing the outcome.
737
00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:34,320
The Defence Secretary Tom King asked
Mr. Calcutt not to write a full report.
738
00:54:34,680 --> 00:54:38,720
Labour’s Northern Ireland
Secretary between 1974 and 76 said
739
00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:41,480
he had been the victim of a
dirty tricks campaign.
740
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:44,960
Who instructed Mr. Wallace
741
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:48,296
to do the job he and others did.
That is what we have to know.
742
00:54:48,320 --> 00:54:53,600
We want to be sure that this sort of thing never
happens again. I feel very strongly about it.
743
00:54:54,500 --> 00:54:58,056
Mrs. Thatcher having insisted there
was no evidence to back such claims
744
00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:01,056
was forced to admit in the
Commons that she had been misled.
745
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:04,496
This followed the discovery of
documents in the Ministry of Defence,
746
00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:08,240
which related to a propaganda
campaign code-named Clockwork Orange.
747
00:55:08,720 --> 00:55:11,436
He is calling for the government
to launch a full inquiry.
748
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:13,376
Injustice to me is really
a minor matter.
749
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:18,076
The much more important matters are the
allegations that there was an attempt to
750
00:55:18,500 --> 00:55:21,256
influence the general
election in 1974
751
00:55:21,280 --> 00:55:24,840
and indeed the assaults on the
children in Kincora during the 70s.
752
00:55:25,660 --> 00:55:29,120
My aspect of the story is only
a minor one by comparison.
753
00:55:29,300 --> 00:55:31,320
The government
specifically ruled out
754
00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:34,376
the re-opening into the
investigation of the alleged cover up
755
00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:38,080
of the homosexual abuse of boys
at the Kincora home in Belfast.
756
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:42,536
Information about homosexual
behavior at the Kincora Boys’ Home
757
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:45,400
was used to blackmail prominent
figures in Northern Ireland.
758
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:51,200
After I left Northern Ireland another
intelligence officer came in called Brian Gemmell
759
00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:57,440
he was told about the allegation
surrounding the abuses at Kincora.
760
00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:00,240
He wrote a report about
it and he submitted
761
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:04,240
that report to a senior
MI5 officer, Ian Cameron,
762
00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:07,440
who then told him
to stop investigating.
763
00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:10,520
You know on the phone we have
got phone calls of generals
764
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:13,320
who have said, "Yes I knew all
about Kincora, I was told and
765
00:56:13,360 --> 00:56:18,040
I took it to MI5 and they said it was none of my
business and I left it to them. It was their business,"
766
00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:23,200
and all this sort of stuff and you know the
realization, like me the light is dawning
767
00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:25,800
that we are not
who we say we are.
768
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:34,936
Journalist David Leigh tracked down Denis Payne,
the former head of MI5 in Northern Ireland,
769
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:37,160
to a sleepy village
in the countryside,
770
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:40,760
and confronted him with the
Clockwork Orange allegations.
771
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:45,776
I am under an obligation to say absolutely
nothing. I can’t say anything at all.
772
00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:50,476
I mean you have collected all the information,
I can’t believe anybody is in the slightest bit
773
00:56:50,500 --> 00:56:53,000
interested in it, but,
I have nothing to add.
774
00:56:55,560 --> 00:57:00,080
In 1996 Colin Wallace appealed
his conviction for manslaughter.
775
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:04,000
Today, 15 years after he
was jailed for manslaughter,
776
00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:06,800
Colin Wallace from West
Sussex, cleared his name.
777
00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:12,160
He served 6 years in the 1980s after being
found guilty of killing an antiques dealer
778
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:14,120
near his home in West Sussex.
779
00:57:15,280 --> 00:57:16,817
During the appeal hearing,
780
00:57:16,841 --> 00:57:21,656
the Home Office pathologist admitted that
a Secret Service agent had suggested to him
781
00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:27,640
that the injury was caused by a karate chop to
the head and not from the propeller of a boat.
782
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:32,496
The hearing at the Court of Appeal
focused largely on new medical evidence
783
00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:34,760
about the injury
Jonathan Lewis received.
784
00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:39,616
Jonathan Lewis was most probably attacked
at the river bank and not at his house,
785
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:44,760
and he said there was no evidence that his
body had ever been in Colin Wallace’s car.
786
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:48,880
He says he was the victim of
an MI5 dirty tricks campaign.
787
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:52,760
Now Mr. Wallace is demanding a
full investigation into his claims.
788
00:57:55,200 --> 00:58:00,920
Even after Colin Wallace had received
compensation his troubles with MI5 were not over.
789
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:03,657
While I was working at BAA,
790
00:58:03,681 --> 00:58:06,500
MI5 contacted the
head of security there
791
00:58:06,700 --> 00:58:10,020
and then I was made
redundant after that.
792
00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:14,640
Now I can't say MI5 was
responsible, but again
793
00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:18,240
why were they still meddling in
my case after all those years.
794
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:23,400
The media reported Colin Wallace’s
appeal and aired his allegations,
795
00:58:23,660 --> 00:58:25,497
but they did not
ask themselves
796
00:58:25,521 --> 00:58:28,856
what role they themselves had
played in spreading fake news
797
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:32,200
and what lessons they could learn
for their reporting in future.
798
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:39,440
Colin Wallace repeatedly called for
a full investigation into his claims.
799
00:58:40,080 --> 00:58:42,560
But there was to be
no full investigation,
800
00:58:43,160 --> 00:58:46,120
only an ever longer list of
inquiries and legal disputes
801
00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:50,240
spanning decades, as the
allegations faded from public view.
802
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:53,640
We now look at
803
00:58:53,720 --> 00:58:56,720
probably five inquiries
that all failed totally
804
00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:02,400
to do what Parliament assured
the public that it would do.
805
00:59:02,480 --> 00:59:05,840
Still to this day
Colin is a problem.
806
00:59:06,560 --> 00:59:12,280
There are major efforts
to restrict what he says.
807
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:20,140
Kincora is a prime example, the boys home
where it is alleged intelligence people
808
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:25,036
were involved recruiting people used
people etc the inquiries into that
809
00:59:25,160 --> 00:59:27,760
have been
incredibly restricted.
810
00:59:28,520 --> 00:59:34,560
And Colin on the one hand will be told: yes come
and tell us your story tell us everything.
811
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:40,096
Then when it gets nearer you get a
document from the minister that says
812
00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:45,840
I am sorry you can talk about that area
but no way he's going to talk about that
813
00:59:46,240 --> 00:59:53,240
or MI5 … he cannot talk about this area because
that gets him into an Official Secrets area.
814
00:59:54,000 --> 01:00:00,320
So even to this day 40 years on they
are still trying to shut him up.
815
01:00:00,680 --> 01:00:04,360
The whole system you see is
unaccountable and it's insidious
816
01:00:05,520 --> 01:00:08,536
it's easy for MI5 to
say no we don't do it
817
01:00:08,560 --> 01:00:11,300
because nobody can prove
what they did and they didn’t.
818
01:00:12,800 --> 01:00:16,416
Today, the role the military and
intelligence services can play
819
01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:18,840
in manufacturing and
manipulating the news
820
01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:21,176
is considered a conspiracy.
821
01:00:21,500 --> 01:00:25,540
Despite extensive press coverage
of Colin Wallace’s allegations,
822
01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:30,280
not a single person in a position of
authority has been held to account.
823
01:00:33,680 --> 01:00:37,776
When Hugh Mooney of the IRD was
asked under oath at a public inquiry
824
01:00:37,800 --> 01:00:39,480
about his PsyOps work,
825
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:43,080
he lied and claimed he was
never involved in PsyOps,
826
01:00:43,480 --> 01:00:45,960
despite overwhelming
evidence to the contrary.
827
01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:47,920
Hugh Mooney walked away,
828
01:00:48,080 --> 01:00:51,840
no questions asked and became
a successful businessman.
829
01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:55,520
This is a very,
very secretive society.
830
01:00:56,520 --> 01:00:58,080
It runs through everything.
831
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:02,360
Secrecy is the British disease. It's
not anything else, it’s secrecy.
832
01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:07,440
If you believe in the democratic
process there has to be oversight
833
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:10,400
and at the moment we
don't have oversight.
834
01:01:10,840 --> 01:01:15,200
Because vetting is an important issue
for politicians who are looking for
835
01:01:15,520 --> 01:01:17,400
ministerial appointments
836
01:01:17,880 --> 01:01:21,760
and service people or police officers
moving into the higher level,
837
01:01:21,960 --> 01:01:24,920
you must have access
to classified information.
838
01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:29,816
If MI5 don't agree to you
having that clearance,
839
01:01:29,840 --> 01:01:33,520
if they take that clearance away
from you, then your career is doomed.
840
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:39,376
So, you never know about it, it is an invisible
threat that is hanging over people all the time
841
01:01:39,400 --> 01:01:42,860
and therefore the
danger is that MI5
842
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:50,080
has almost an invisible degree of influence
that really is way outside what it should be.
843
01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:56,080
And it is therefore virtually impossible to
challenge MI5 on some of the decisions they make.
844
01:01:56,200 --> 01:02:00,720
Politicians are careerists, most of them they
want to go up the ladder, become ministers,
845
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:06,376
and if you start criticizing or investigating
the army or the intelligence services,
846
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:09,760
this will not do your career
any good whatsoever.
847
01:02:10,200 --> 01:02:15,080
And this is also true for journalists, not
a good career path. This is sticky stuff.
848
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,276
People are saying well
why are you fighting
849
01:02:18,300 --> 01:02:21,040
with the Army and the MOD,
surely you are a part of that.
850
01:02:21,560 --> 01:02:25,440
I am only fighting with the MOD
because I was given no choice,
851
01:02:26,040 --> 01:02:28,800
because the MOD didn't
even talk to me.
852
01:02:28,960 --> 01:02:30,960
If I hadn't fought when I did
853
01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:33,200
I would probably still
have a conviction
854
01:02:33,560 --> 01:02:37,800
and I still wouldn’t have got the admissions
out of the government that we have now got.
855
01:02:38,320 --> 01:02:44,936
People realize that the full truth hasn't come out and
although authorities think they may have been clever
856
01:02:44,960 --> 01:02:49,176
and believable to dodge around the issue
the public have a totally different view.
857
01:02:49,200 --> 01:02:54,176
People are pretty aware of when
things are not actually truthful
858
01:02:54,400 --> 01:02:57,456
and they know at the moment they
haven't had the full truth about
859
01:02:57,480 --> 01:02:59,200
what has happened
in Northern Ireland.
860
01:02:59,640 --> 01:03:06,160
So, can you give an example of the areas
of the troubles that are still closed?
861
01:03:06,720 --> 01:03:13,240
I can't say precisely, because
that would put me in jeopardy.
862
01:03:15,080 --> 01:03:18,520
And it would put
Colin in deep jeopardy.
863
01:03:19,400 --> 01:03:21,800
But there are certain areas
864
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:26,776
of the troubles which have simply
not been talked about at all.
865
01:03:27,400 --> 01:03:30,280
There are things about,
866
01:03:32,480 --> 01:03:35,280
there is a suicide
in Northern Ireland
867
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:41,260
of a military intelligence officer, one of
the key events. It is an official secret.
868
01:03:41,420 --> 01:03:47,940
A suicide is an official secret and
so far no one has written about it.
869
01:03:49,120 --> 01:03:56,000
And some of the events around that
are appalling, in that he ran agents,
870
01:03:56,320 --> 01:04:02,640
agents, who were 14 and 15
year old Catholic schoolgirls.
871
01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:08,880
This is how desperate the army at
some stage became to get intelligence.
872
01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:13,320
And you kind of say: "How do you run
a 14 year old Catholic schoolgirl."
873
01:04:19,200 --> 01:04:20,880
In the story of Colin Wallace
874
01:04:21,320 --> 01:04:25,120
the press helps direct the
present by spreading fake news
875
01:04:25,360 --> 01:04:30,120
and the media helps digest the past by
creating a discussion about the past.
876
01:04:31,000 --> 01:04:34,936
The role of departments of the state
in creating and shaping reality
877
01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:36,457
is not acknowledged.
878
01:04:36,481 --> 01:04:39,480
And even after the media
has become aware of this,
879
01:04:39,640 --> 01:04:43,520
it does not inform the public of
the implications of that omission.
880
01:04:44,520 --> 01:04:49,480
Power is not held to account, no key
decision makers are held to account,
881
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:53,400
and they and their organizations
make no admission of wrong-doing.
882
01:04:54,400 --> 01:04:58,920
The files that would serve as proof of
their actions either destroyed or hidden.
883
01:05:00,080 --> 01:05:03,800
In this story the press serves
as a complex mechanism
884
01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:06,840
that helps to reinforce
and legitimize power.
885
01:05:08,000 --> 01:05:10,456
Allegations of
wrong-doing and injustice
886
01:05:10,480 --> 01:05:13,216
become lost in inquiries
and legal disputes,
887
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:15,896
that drag on to this day
and that most people
888
01:05:15,920 --> 01:05:18,080
no longer
understand or believe.
889
01:05:18,560 --> 01:05:22,680
We are told that a free press
will hold power to account.
890
01:05:23,240 --> 01:05:28,216
But what of those individuals and institutions
that will never be held to account
891
01:05:28,240 --> 01:05:34,120
and have never been held to account. Should
the press include that truth in its reporting?
892
01:05:35,120 --> 01:05:40,120
Or are some truths destined to be
nothing more than versions of fake news?
893
01:05:42,680 --> 01:05:49,680
Former residents of the Kincora Boys’
Home are still fighting for justice.
894
01:05:50,320 --> 01:05:54,516
The British Home Office, Foreign Office,
MI5 and MI6 continue to engage in PsyOps.
895
01:05:54,540 --> 01:05:58,976
The British Army’s psychological warfare
unit is currently called "The 77th Brigade".
896
01:05:59,000 --> 01:06:03,600
Together they target Britain’s perceived
enemies, real and imaginary, with impunity.
897
01:06:03,800 --> 01:06:10,496
Colin Wallace continues to participate as a witness
in inquiries relating to his time in Northern Ireland.
898
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:14,176
He lives on the same street, in the
same house, in the same village where
899
01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:18,720
the unsolved murder of Jonathan
Lewis took place over 40 years ago.