Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder

LONDON: -- Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has been arrested by Northern Ireland police in connection with the 1972 murder of Jean McConville.

He presented himself to police on Wednesday evening and was arrested.

Speaking before his arrest, Mr Adams said he was "innocent of any part" in the murder.

Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother-of-10, was abducted from her flat in the Divis area of west Belfast and shot by the IRA.

Her body was recovered from a beach in County Louth in 2003.

Police said a 65-year-old man presented himself to Antrim police station on Wednesday evening and was arrested.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731

-- BBC 2014-05-01

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

Freedom fighter????????

You mean TERRORIST!!!!

Looks like we have an IRA sympathiser here........ Child murderers.... Should never have been released, should have ALL been locked up for life and Addams should have been the first.

I will never forgive Tony Blair for apologising to those people.

Disgusting..... I hope he dies in the Maze.

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

Freedom fighter????????

You mean TERRORIST!!!!

Looks like we have an IRA sympathiser here........ Child murderers.... Should never have been released, should have ALL been locked up for life and Addams should have been the first.

I will never forgive Tony Blair for apologising to those people.

Disgusting..... I hope he dies in the Maze.

Sorry I just like freedom fighters

Expect more of this kind of thing. 29 of them gave candid interviews to a Voston oral college project. On the proviso each individual interviews were not published until their death. Well it looks like they have started dieing.

One man's terrorist...

However it would be churlish not to acknowledge attrocities were perpetrated on both sides. Especially in relation to killing innocent people.

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

Obviously you were never in the forces,do you remember what they did to the 3 Scottish soldiers.Just to remind you they killed them,cut of their penis"s and put them in their mouths.Now that is what I would call wonderful people by your reckoning.By the way I am a catholic.

Gerry Adams...murder...arrest. All I saw in this was a 37 year old widow and mother of 10?? What a factory! Hearts out to the 10 orphaned kids!

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

Freedom fighter????????

You mean TERRORIST!!!!

Looks like we have an IRA sympathiser here........ Child murderers.... Should never have been released, should have ALL been locked up for life and Addams should have been the first.

I will never forgive Tony Blair for apologising to those people.

Disgusting..... I hope he dies in the Maze.

Well, I don't think Tony Blair is interested in your words of forgiveness. We are lucky you were never in politics!

Gerry Adams...murder...arrest. All I saw in this was a 37 year old widow and mother of 10?? What a factory! Hearts out to the 10 orphaned kids!

Yes, and her family were harrassed by the IRA for many years when they refused to give up on getting the IRA to reveal where her body was.

My uncle and his friend were murdered as prisoners of the IRA in 1921. They were 18 years old and shot and their bodies dumped in a swamp - only 7 years later were their bodies recovered. That's what the IRA do - they specialise in punishing innocent members of the families of their enemies through sheer spite. They don't even have the backbone to admit it, either. Scum.

Gerry Adams has many enemies within the movement he was and still is involved in hence he needs to be very careful and watch out for the appearance of the old ''equalizer'' from many a direction.

The most effective way to deal with Gerry Adams would be to now release him on bail explaining in the press release that he (Gerry Adams) was so very helpful to the authorities concerning past matters and the people involved in them in Norther Ireland.

Indeed as a result and the consequences of such a statement as suggested above his (Gerry Adams) martyrdom status he so desires in Northern Ireland history would indeed be a non event unlike that of Bobby Sands.

Gerry Adams was and is an evil person whose loss would not be a great one to those currently involved in the Irish Republican cause.

Gerry Adams...murder...arrest. All I saw in this was a 37 year old widow and mother of 10?? What a factory! Hearts out to the 10 orphaned kids!

Yes, and her family were harrassed by the IRA for many years when they refused to give up on getting the IRA to reveal where her body was.

My uncle and his friend were murdered as prisoners of the IRA in 1921. They were 18 years old and shot and their bodies dumped in a swamp - only 7 years later were their bodies recovered. That's what the IRA do - they specialise in punishing innocent members of the families of their enemies through sheer spite. They don't even have the backbone to admit it, either. Scum.

I had a friend who was born on the Falls Road. His dad was a non practicing protestant. His mother a church attending catholic. The children were brought up as catholics, dad didn't care about it. The IRA told the mother's family, "If she does not leave her husband, they would kill him." They fled to Yorkshire instead.

Edit Re post #5. I meant Boston not Voston.

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

Are you a Celtic supporter too

I am neither Catholic nor Protestant, but I know evil when I see it. Jerry ''I am not a terrorist !!'' Adams is a very bad apple indeed.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

Cant think of many bombings that 'targeted' innocents conducted by the P.I.R.A. In war however, there is unfortunately collateral.

I do remember a british parachute regiment that slaughtered innocent women and children outside their homes in derry. I dont remember any of them serving any time for their war crimes. I could go on list further examples, but im beyond that now at this stage.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

 

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Oh right, so Jean McConville was a British spy like the IRA said, or was she a British army recruit? What did she do that led to her murder and her family were targetted?

The history of the island of Ireland is very sad and violent and yes the British Army were ruthless before and during the Easter Uprising. Eire got its independence, but that wasn't good enough for the likes of Adams and McGuinness years later. The big problem of course was the large, mostly protestant unionist population in the British north. They had been there for centuries, so they were never just going to pack up and leave. There was a lot of unrest at the time because the catholics were getting a hard time and the British Army were initially helping and protecting them, but the IRA saw their opportunity and after several incidents, the catholics turned against the Army and the troubles started. I have no doubt in my mind that Adams and McGuinnes have blood on their hands. No war, especially a civil, guerilla style war is pleasant, but the IRA were particularly vicious, murderous thugs led by those two.

A few weeks ago McGuinness was having dinner with the Queen. I never liked the peace deal, purely because the victims never got real justice. On the positive side, people are not being killed and properties and businesses are not being blown to pieces anymore (apart from a few isolated incidents).

As much as I despise Adams, I am not sure where this will lead to.

Cant think of many bombings that 'targeted' innocents conducted by the P.I.R.A. In war however, there is unfortunately collateral.

I do remember a british parachute regiment that slaughtered innocent women and children outside their homes in derry. I dont remember any of them serving any time for their war crimes. I could go on list further examples, but im beyond that now at this stage.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

 

I don't know of this case but sickening if true. However, there is a clear distinction between renegade members of the armed forces and a deliberate policy of the IRA to kill and maim innocent members of the public.

Cant think of many bombings that 'targeted' innocents conducted by the P.I.R.A. In war however, there is unfortunately collateral.

I do remember a british parachute regiment that slaughtered innocent women and children outside their homes in derry. I dont remember any of them serving any time for their war crimes. I could go on list further examples, but im beyond that now at this stage.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

 

Seems you conveniently forgot a bomb at a shopping mall in the UK, one at Canary Wharf in London and the one that killed many innocent folk in a N.I. high street. You also forgot the folk who where executed in their own homes in front of their family.....Real hero's eh...........

Cant think of many bombings that 'targeted' innocents conducted by the P.I.R.A. In war however, there is unfortunately collateral.

I do remember a british parachute regiment that slaughtered innocent women and children outside their homes in derry. I dont remember any of them serving any time for their war crimes. I could go on list further examples, but im beyond that now at this stage.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

 

I don't know of this case but sickening if true. However, there is a clear distinction between renegade members of the armed forces and a deliberate policy of the IRA to kill and maim innocent members of the public.

Further reading on that incident :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)

Atrocities were committed by both sides, no doubt about it. No point bickering about it. Whats done is done and people need to move on. More to the point, I reckon this has more to do with the upcoming elections in the republic. Sinn fein have been rising massively lately in popularity and Adams' questioning by police has been timed perfectly and is most likely part of a smear campaign by one either fine gael or fianna fail, releasing evidence so close to the elections.

Cant think of many bombings that 'targeted' innocents conducted by the P.I.R.A. In war however, there is unfortunately collateral.

I do remember a british parachute regiment that slaughtered innocent women and children outside their homes in derry. I dont remember any of them serving any time for their war crimes. I could go on list further examples, but im beyond that now at this stage.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

 

Seems you conveniently forgot a bomb at a shopping mall in the UK, one at Canary Wharf in London and the one that killed many innocent folk in a N.I. high street. You also forgot the folk who where executed in their own homes in front of their family.....Real hero's eh...........

Canary Warf was clearly a financial target. The Uk mall was most likely to strike fear into british citizens and have them pressure their government to withdraw their forces from N.I. These were the objectives of those bombings, but unfortunately, in war there is collateral. The PIRA gave one hours notice to prevent the deaths of innocents. One could easily ask, do the US or UK or any nations occupying troops give notice before a strike in Afghanistan / Iraq etc?

A post with messed up quotes has been deleted.

Canary Warf was clearly a financial target. The Uk mall was most likely to strike fear into british citizens and have them pressure their government to withdraw their forces from N.I. These were the objectives of those bombings, but unfortunately, in war there is collateral. The PIRA gave one hours notice to prevent the deaths of innocents. One could easily ask, do the US or UK or any nations occupying troops give notice before a strike in Afghanistan / Iraq etc?

If you take that logic to its conclusion, you are saying that the UK and US armys should warn the enemy of their intentions. Following on from that, then the IRA should have warned the UK that it intended to kill innocent men, women and children.

Canary Warf was clearly a financial target. The Uk mall was most likely to strike fear into british citizens and have them pressure their government to withdraw their forces from N.I. These were the objectives of those bombings, but unfortunately, in war there is collateral. The PIRA gave one hours notice to prevent the deaths of innocents. One could easily ask, do the US or UK or any nations occupying troops give notice before a strike in Afghanistan / Iraq etc?

If you take that logic to its conclusion, you are saying that the UK and US armys should warn the enemy of their intentions. Following on from that, then the IRA should have warned the UK that it intended to kill innocent men, women and children.

What about all of the malicious and false warnings? Even worse, the down right evil proxy bombs that were designed to cause indescriminate death and carnage, deliberately placed close to where it was thought people in the vicinity of a bomb were likely to congregate after the initial explosion.

Or planting a bomb under a car, not knowing who else but the target might be going along for the ride?

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I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

Wow, I thought you were OK from your posts, but with that little gem I think (and I am sure others do) you have joined the TV elite list of complete and absolute W******

No more will I even scan over what you write. The man was a cold blooded murderer who was let off the hook to serve a political purpose. I only saw the words "Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams.." on the main news page and clicked on it hoping the rest of the sentence said "found dead". And you feel terrible for him Harry because the Police have arrested him for Murder! Boy oh boy.

I feel terrible I met and had lunch with Gerry Adams about 15 years ago what a wonderful man a truth freedom fighter

I hope you meant this as a joke, if not i should like to meet you to sort this out with you.

I worked in Northern Ireland often during the troubled 70's and had the misfortune to see the results of IRA 'freedom fighting ' on more than one occasion. Anyone who believes such people are some kind of hero's or modern day Robin Hood's are naive, deluded and ignorant characters. Murdering, thieving butchers would be a more apt description.

Cant think of many bombings that 'targeted' innocents conducted by the P.I.R.A. In war however, there is unfortunately collateral.

I do remember a british parachute regiment that slaughtered innocent women and children outside their homes in derry. I dont remember any of them serving any time for their war crimes. I could go on list further examples, but im beyond that now at this stage.

Seems a lot of comments here are taking the guilty till proven innocent approach.

Comments mentioning some of the atrocities of war are fairly one sided. You cant forget the current form of the IRA are a product of the brutal and barbaric acts committed by the British Armed Forces in northern Ireland. Anything the IRA did was a reaction to injustices committed by foreign troops in their country. Labeling them as child murderers is a bit fresh, considering the british army are somewhat responsible for the deaths of people IN places like afghanistan today.

Didn't the IRA plant bombs to kill innocent men, women and children indiscriminately in N.I and the UK. ?

Is that what "the cause" hero's should do in your opinion ?

 

Targeting civilians by the IRA?

Harrods bombing 1983 (murdered civilans included 1 US citizen), Enniskillen 1987 and Omagh 1998 are just 3 of the more horrendous examples. So let's not be silly and claim that parailitaries did not target civilians.

Overall the IRA murdered 728 civilians during the Troubles. It should also be added that Protestant paramilitaries murdered 868 civilians. Civilian deaths attributed to the security forces was a regrettable 187, though some of these have been subsequently claimed as paramilitary members.

Armed insurgency and combating it is not a pretty activity but at least Northern Ireland has largely moved away from the horrors of the 1970's and 1980's. It will take several generations to remove the bitterness and anger held within the different communities, but normality is gradually returning.

It is no secret that both Adams and particularly McGuinness were active and senior players within PIRA with blood on their hands.But the same could be said for many of the first generation of Israeli leaders in relation to their insurgent activities prior to 1948.

If you want to resolve a conflict you have to suspend hostilities and deal with people who are not the most pleasant but need to be part of the deal if you want to make it work.Most conflicts are inherently political in nature and in their objectives. A solution has to be a political one. The military can merely hold the ring and attempt to minimize casualties and incidents, while waiting for a political solution to be arrived at.