Sinn Fein Official-Turned Spy Shot Dead

[warpedskydiver 0]

Sinn Fein Official-Turned Spy Shot Dead
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer
3 hours ago


File photo dated Dec. 9 2005, of Denis Donaldson, ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - A former senior official of Sinn Fein recently exposed as a British spy was found fatally shot in northwest Ireland, police said Tuesday. Denis Donaldson, Sinn Fein's former legislative chief in the failed power-sharing government of Northern Ireland, admitted in December he had been on the payroll of the British secret service and the province's anti-terrorist police for the previous two decades.

He then went into hiding because the traditional Irish Republican Army punishment for informing is death.

But Ireland's national police said it was not clear whether Donaldson, 55, had been killed or committed suicide. In a statement, the force said the scene around his body in Glenties, County Donegal, was cordoned off for a forensic examination planned for Wednesday.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern condemned what he called the "brutal murder" of Donaldson. The IRA said it was not involved in the death.

A Roman Catholic-Protestant power-sharing administration for Northern Ireland _ the central goal of the British province's 1998 peace accord _ fell apart in October 2002 because of an IRA spying scandal with Donaldson at its heart.

Donaldson, his nephew and a British civil servant all were charged with pilfering documents from inside the power-sharing government that identified potential targets of the outlawed IRA and detailed political opponents' private conversations. Protestants at the time accused the IRA of plotting a potential resumption of its violent campaign to oust Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom.

But British prosecutors mysteriously dropped all charges against the trio in early December. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams initially defended Donaldson and the others _ but a week later announced that Donaldson had confessed, under questioning by Sinn Fein officials, to being a paid British spy. Within hours, Donaldson admitted this was so in an interview with RTE, the Irish state broadcasters.

The IRA last year declared it was renouncing violence for political purposes and backed the pledge by handing over its weapons stockpiles to disarmament chiefs. Both moves were supposed to spur a revival of power-sharing involving Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party that represents most Catholics in Northern Ireland.

But Protestant leaders have refused to cooperate with Sinn Fein, citing the IRA's refusal to disband and its alleged involvement in a range of criminal activities.

If police determine that Donaldson was killed, it would be certain to fuel the hostility of the major Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, to cooperating with Sinn Fein.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ahern are expected Thursday to announce a new blueprint for reviving power-sharing. The joint governments' proposals, which have been 3 1/2 years of diplomacy in the making, recommend that Northern Ireland's legislature reconvene in May and face a Nov. 24 deadline to elect an administration jointly led by the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein.

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It's nice to see everyone getting along so well in Northern Ireland

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[LargeBoy 0]

Gerry Adams is a terrorist, so is Martin McGuiness

sectarian beatings and killings are still going on to this day, there will never be peace in NI. I can't understand why any of the countries involved in their war on terror hasn't gone into NI many years ago and tried to sort out it's problems

could it be due to NIi not having any oil? or of NI being of no significance in the middle east? surely not !

reminds me of a story i heard many years ago..... i used to know a chap who was in the parachute regiment, he was in a bar and got talking to a USAF pilot, he asked him about his medals, the USAF guy was proudly telling the para how he got his medals when he came to one the para didn't recognise, he asked what it was for and the USAF chap said it was for flying OVER Northern Ireland he followed it up with "it's a war zone down there"

he got a medal for flying his plane over Northern Ireland what a hero !

[bob.dino 1]

Not really a surprise is it? Admitting to being a British spy through the middle of the Troubles was always going to make him a target for a very large number of people, most notably current and former members of the IRA and British Intelligence.

[bob.dino 1]

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Gerry Adams is a terrorist, so is Martin McGuiness

The British ran an army of occupation in Ireland for several hundred years.

The sky is blue.

Water is wet.

I don't think any of these statements will come as news to anybody. What's your point?

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"The British ran an army of occupation in Ireland for several hundred years. "

Say what?

Northern Ireland is part of the UK.

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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[LargeBoy 0]

Northern Ireland is a prime example that you can't "win" a war on terror, you can only stop it by negotiation

[bob.dino 1]

I don't recall saying anything about Northern Ireland.

[LargeBoy 0]

just becasue we stole all their potatos

[bob.dino 1]

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Northern Ireland is a prime example that you can't "win" a war on terror, you can only stop it by negotiation

Yup. When the enemy can't retreat because they're already at home, you got a bit of a problem.

[Amazon 7]

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Northern Ireland is part of the UK.

BUT should it be.. different island....long bloody history....and after listening to some Brit Officers who had been posted there..and their racist rants.... well I think it will continue to be "trouble" for a very long time to come.