Attack on NI military base

Moobert · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:08

Scuzi said:
I'll tell you more tomorrow when I get back home. As it stands I know as much as everyone else. I know the area like the back of my hand since it is where I was born and bred and I've thrown my fair share of stones at the army in days gone by but I can tell you that the majority of people in the area will show no support for these attacks at all. The problem is that Craigavon in particular is an absolute hole, rife with unemployment and drugs. There are plenty of 16-21 year olds who are more than willing to pick up a gun and shoot at the police and army simply because they have nothing else to do. The trouble is that there are ring leaders in these areas handing guns out to these kids.

There really are some amount of losers in the whole craigavon area

iamdjdz · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:10

Scuzi said:
I'll tell you more tomorrow when I get back home. As it stands I know as much as everyone else. I know the area like the back of my hand since it is where I was born and bred and I've thrown my fair share of stones at the army in days gone by but I can tell you that the majority of people in the area will show no support for these attacks at all. The problem is that Craigavon in particular is an absolute hole, rife with unemployment and drugs. There are plenty of 16-21 year olds who are more than willing to pick up a gun and shoot at the police and army simply because they have nothing else to do. The trouble is that there are ring leaders in these areas handing guns out to these kids.

I live in a Protestant area of Belfast, and have no bad feelings towards nationalists/catholics in any way, but the story is the same where I'm from, but the ringleaders have kept a tight line at the moment, but as soon as the UDA/UFF is remobilised there may be possible efforts to shoot the police and army if they try to control them, and if any are attacked then nationalists could be attacked. It's a stupid situation, fueled by thugs who cling to the past.

EDIT - fixed as I phrased it badly

jonesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:16

iamdjdz said:
I live in a Protestant area of Belfast, and have no bad feelings towards nationalists/catholics in any way, but the story is the same where I'm from, but the ringleaders have kept a tight line at the moment, but as soon as the UDA/UFF is remobilised there will be equal efforts to shoot army, troops and nationalists. It's a stupid situation, fueled by thugs who cling to the past.

you dont have a clue what your talking about

teaboy5 · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:21

jonesy said:
you dont have a clue what your talking about

odd to see someone from armagh in here

iamdjdz · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:21

jonesy said:
you dont have a clue what your talking about

Well I'm just saying there are thugs here (as Scuzi said aged 16-21) who would be as willing to shoot Police and Army, and I know my area. I'm not saying the UDA is going to authorise that though.

jonesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:25

What has any protestant paramilitary have to gain from shooting police/army? Surely the only way they will rise their heads is if protestant civillians are targeted etc.. and then retaliate against catholics... not the police/army.

Maybe im wrong..

CliffyBiro · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:27

I can't see loyalists attacking the police.

I'm pretty sure Scuzi meant the RIRA side of things.

iamdjdz · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:28

jonesy said:
What has any protestant paramilitary have to gain from shooting police/army at the moment? Surely the only way they will rise their heads is if protestant civillians are targeted etc..

Maybe im wrong..

You're not wrong, they have more to gain by staying out of it, and are unlikely to do anything unless Protestants are killed as far as I'm aware, however they still hate the police, and a certain number hate the army. (I'm not connected to any but I have friends etc, just keep my head down and stay on the good side of people)

Cob · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:30

Loyalists will not attack the peelers or the army.

To suggest otherwise is nuts. They'd have nothing to gain, and everything to lose.

iamdjdz · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:31

Cob said:
Loyalists will not attack the peelers or the army.

To suggest otherwise is nuts. They'd have nothing to gain, and everything to lose.

As said before this won't happen unless a full escalation into the troubles two breaks out, which imo it won't.

jonesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:32

iamdjdz said:
You're not wrong, they have more to gain by staying out of it, and are unlikely to do anything unless Protestants are killed as far as I'm aware, however they still hate the police, and a certain number hate the army. (I'm not connected to any but I have friends etc, just keep my head down and stay on the good side of people)

They are more or less on the same side, they having nothing to gain by attacking them. (Unless they stop them marching down a road!).

Cob · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:35

iamdjdz said:
As said before this won't happen unless a full escalation into the troubles two breaks out, which imo it won't.

Even if it escalates into all-out war the loyalists will not attack the police or the army.

They would share a common enemy, and the police and army are well known for being a little sympathic to the loyalist cause. They do after-all sware allegience to the same head of state (tho I admit to being a little fuzzy on the PSNI's current oath of allegience).

iamdjdz · 10 Mar 2009 at 01:37

Cob said:
Even if it escalates into all-out war the loyalists will not attack the police or the army.

They would share a common enemy, and the police and army are well known for being a little sympathic to the loyalist cause.

No, I see where you're coming from, and I know the sympathys but still I think it's hard to say what would happen if it returned to a situation like the late 70s. I think a lack of cooperation is more likely than attacks though.

Needles · 10 Mar 2009 at 08:38

teaboy5 said:
odd to see someone from armagh in here

Why is that ? I'm from West Belfast !! lol

Anyway this is an attempt, as others have stated to try and lead us back down the same old, dark path to nowhere.

The guys who are committing these acts are not entirely stupid, as scuzi said we are facing largest numbers of unemployed in the UK and Ireland since the beginning of the troubles. This means a lot of young people that are perfect fodder for these groups to recruit from.

I think the possibilities of loyalists entering the ring so to speak all depends on the dissident republicans, and if they decide to shoot at loyalist paramilitaries.

Bigpig · 10 Mar 2009 at 08:48

jonesy said:
They are more or less on the same side, they having nothing to gain by attacking them. (Unless they stop them marching down a road!).

You mean the queens highway!!!! :cool:

Bigpig · 10 Mar 2009 at 09:06

Scuzi said:
I don't know about the figures but Portadown and Craigavon have very high Loyalist paramilitary activity. Lurgan is pretty much LVF headquarters.

I just hope the Loyalist paramilitaries don't retaliate for these attacks. If they do, we're back to the same old crap of years gone by.

aye Mid-Ulster is very Loyalist but then South Armagh is bandit country areas such as Crossmaglen Stong IRA support

Orcish-Horde · 10 Mar 2009 at 09:29

iamdjdz said:
/snip

Loyalist will not attack the police or army, they at times throw hissy fits when they can't get their way. But they never set out to kill the police as for the army, I don't recall anytime in which they crossed them. Loyalist are pro-Union as in UK.

Orcish-Horde · 10 Mar 2009 at 09:38

Needles said:
I think the possibilities of loyalists entering the ring so to speak all depends on the dissident republicans, and if they decide to shoot at loyalist paramilitaries.

If they keep killing soldiers and police there is a good chance that they will respond in kind. It will be a while before they do anything, imo they will give the police a change to nip this in the bud.

teaboy5 · 10 Mar 2009 at 11:37

Needles said:
Why is that ? I'm from West Belfast !! lol

Anyway this is an attempt, as others have stated to try and lead us back down the same old, dark path to nowhere.

The guys who are committing these acts are not entirely stupid, as scuzi said we are facing largest numbers of unemployed in the UK and Ireland since the beginning of the troubles. This means a lot of young people that are perfect fodder for these groups to recruit from.

I think the possibilities of loyalists entering the ring so to speak all depends on the dissident republicans, and if they decide to shoot at loyalist paramilitaries.

NI might fair out of this ok - 3% if i remember correctly.

But that area is well known for being a high unemployment area.

TheMightyTen · 10 Mar 2009 at 12:40

Is it just me (Sorry haven't read whole thread) but the timings of these attacks seem more than coincidence considering the Special Reconnaissance Regiment have just been deployed to Northern Ireland in the last couple of weeks?

Is it a chicken and egg situation? did RIRA attack as a protest because they see it as a breaking of the peace process or were the SRR deployed because authorities were hearing that dissident paramilitaries were remobilising so asked for them to gather intelligence?

There just seems to be far more going on here than just the usual gangland stuff that paramilitaries occupy themselves with these days.