David Cameron’s response to the findings of the Saville Inquiry was pretty good. It’s not every day a British Prime Minister effectively admits that one of his army’s elite units was a murderous rabble. The response he got from the crowd in front of the big screens in Derry showed they were happy enough with his comments.
Then by way of contrast you’ve got Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell, a man so concerned about the state of the public finances that he also draws a salary from the Stormont Assembly. That’s him in the photo with Miss Norn Iron.
Campbell is one of that breed of loyalist politicians who conveys a strong impression that any cop or British soldier should be allowed to summarily execute any Fenian who gives a dirty look or drops litter in a public place. When large numbers of Fenians take to the streets he’d be pretty relaxed if an army unit were to re-enact the Amritsar massacre. This may not be what’s in his heart but it’s certainly in his tone.
He took the trouble to offer his opinion on Saville’s findings about the mass murder that took place in his city. From most politicians you’d expect some platitude about sympathy for the families and the shocking loss of innocent life. A tongue in cheek comment about how even law enforcers must be held accountable by society wouldn’t have been out of place.
Hypocritical comments are not the Campbell way. He doesn’t actually say that the Parachute Regiment should have murdered a lot more than thirteen but if you can listen to the silence it’s in there.
He makes two points.
The first is that an awful lot of money was spent on a bunch of dead Taigs. That’s true. But if Widgery hadn’t been such a screaming pack of lies it wouldn’t have been necessary.
His second point is that many more people were killed and this inquiry puts the Derry victims at the top of a hierarchy. It’s certainly given them a lot of posthumous attention but when agents of the state commit mass murder in public it’s only right that society holds them to account. Campbell would favour the El Salvadorian or Israeli approach to state murder. The British Army would too but on this occasion it was brought to book. However it did get away with a lot of other murders and arming the loyalist death squads’ campaigns.
We’ll have to assume that Campbell’s comments were gauged to please his electorate. Yet even the most ardent Fenian hater should feel slightly relieved that the state can be made to give a largely honest account of its crimes from time to time.
Liam redux 
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