For those arguing about religious "Godtards" - religion itself has long since ceased to have any true bearing on the situation. It's simply used as a "front" or an excuse. Being an atheist, I always get a bit twitchy when anyone claims to be right because god is "on their side" so I agree with you there Cambo.
During the civil rights marches, the reason for marching wasn't for any kind of true religious reasons per-se, more that the Catholic majority were unfairly discriminated against concerning mainly jobs and housing. The religious labels were used for convenience, rather than the "heritage" and "who's been here longer" argument and a general sense of equality among all people. Anyone heard of Wolfe Tone? One of the most famous Republicans in history, yet he was a Protestant.
Personally, I deplore the violence perpetrated by all sides, but due to some posts here, feel I should point out that more murders in the name of this "conflict" have been committed by Unionist paramilitaries, RUC and British troops than by all Republican factions put together if you take the statistics from 1969 to the present day.
The fact that one inquiry seems to have "dug out the truth" is a good thing - for the families of those involved. I have a vested interest there, I admit.
However, if these families have finally gained some "closure" regarding the events of Bloody Sunday, whatever the cost has been financially, I would argue that the same consideration is owed to the innocent victims and families of victims of violence on all sides - regardless of religious or political affiliation. The current British government has simply reported the findings of an enquiry started by their predecessors - financial constraints are sure to be the reason for no further inquiries into other incidents unless forced by law.
If one investigates further, rather than simply taking British news reports at face value, McGuinness was, at the time, both Quartermaster (weapons controller) and OC (Officer Commanding) of the Derry Provisional IRA. Many reliable Republican witnesses agree that he was carrying a Thompson 1921 model sub-machine gun on the day. This was later removed and hidden by "sympthisers" when it became apparent that he was one of those identified as a "ringleader" and had been marked down for immediate arrest.
To answer your question Cambo, "Why were Provisional IRA members there and why were they armed at a Civil Rights march?" Well, the reason was to cause panic, confusion and fear among their opponents, but above all, to escalate the profile of the situation. They were nothing to do with the true Civil Rights movement at the time. The pity of this is that because of their irresponsible actions, paratroops were called in and this resulted in the killing of peaceful, unarmed civilians, thus completely negating any protestation that they were there to defend - their presence merely worsened the situation.
They claimed at the time (and in subsequent interviews) that they were armed in order to protect marchers from the Protestant opposition - i.e. those who had firebombed houses, thrown bricks through windows and beaten up innocent Catholics in the street and to defend against the RUC and possible reaction by the British Army.
In interviews, many ex-provisionals have condemned the IRA's actions and involvement on that day - from using the Civil Rights march as a cover to transport and re-distribute weapons to the obvious rabble rousing and the later "violent protests" that occurred in the Bogside.
I don't think that any party involved in the whole sorry affair can claim complete innocence, apart from those who truly believed they were marching peacefully to protest for their civil rights and those of their families and community.
Many people that I've interviewed have reiterated the same belief - that anyone who claims to understand the situation in Ireland more than likely, doesn't have a clue.
I suppose we can all only go by the information presented to us, or better still, the information that we actively seek out, and attempt to form a reasoned, non-reactionary opinion for ourselves.
It's only when everyone puts aside their bigotry and biased views that the people of the Six Counties and those of the Republic can finally hope for a truly peaceful and optimistic future.
Finally, I don't think it does any of us much good to have any kind of slanging match about it all here. A sensible, reasoned discussion would surely be more productive?
