British Soldiers Leaving Northern Ireland

With “The Troubles” dying down British soldiers are leaving Ireland and are down to about 5,000 from a peak of 27,000.  Kevin Cullen offers this commentary on National Public Radio:

Like all armies, the British army saw collaborators everywhere, so all Catholics were seen as IRA supporters.

Over the years, I met dozens of men who joined the IRA because a British soldier harassed or humiliated them or their families.

Thirty-six years ago this week, the army rounded up hundreds of Catholic men and teenagers, few of whom were actually in the IRA. Far from smashing the IRA, the army’s overzealous policy of internment without trial infuriated the entire nationalist community.

Image From:
The Ancient Order of Hiberians Division 61