February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The death of Peter McBride, shot dead by two members of the Scots Guards regiment, remains one of the most controversial during the troubles.
The regiment was commanded at the time by Lt. Col. Tim Spicer.
Spicer, since retired from the military, now heads a private security company, Aegis Defense Services, which was recently awarded a $293 million contract in Iraq.
Fr. Sean McManus, president of the Washington D.C.-based Irish National Caucus, wants President Bush to scrap the deal.
“It has Irish blood on it,” McManus said of the contract in a statement.
“This (contract) could undo any credit you gained from Irish-Americans for your support of the Irish peace-process,” McManus said in a letter to Bush.
“U.S. dollars should not subsidize such a person as Lt.
Col. Spicer. And long-suffering Iraq needs him no more than Northern
Ireland needed him,” McManus added.
McManus said that the INC was “determined” not to accept what he described as a “terrible insult” to the McBride family and Irish Americans.
“I cannot believe that President Bush would have approved such an outrageous contract. He has got to undo this great wrong. This is going to be an election issue.
McBride, who was 18, was shot twice in the back by Scots Guards soldiers as he ran from a checkpoint in Belfast on September 4, 1992. McBride was unarmed. Two soldiers were jailed for McBride’s murder in early 1995 but were released in August, 1998.
In a letter to the Times newspaper of London, Spicer defended the actions of his men stating that they had been involved in a terrorist incident and had acted in accordance with the law and their military training.
ROLL UP FOR A SCHOLARSHIP
The U.S.-Ireland Alliance is again offering the chance of a four-year scholarship to an Irish university to people attending Irish festivals around the U.S.
The competition, which was first held last year, can be entered at the U.S.-Ireland Alliance booth. A finalist will be drawn after each festival and at the end of the festival season, one overall winner will be drawn. This year’s scholarship, redeemable for up to 18 years, will be for Trinity College Dublin.
Upcoming festivals where the Alliance hopes to locate its booth include the Newport Waterfront Irish Festival, Newport, R.I., Sept. 4-6; Pittsburgh Irish Festival, Sept. 10-12; Baltimore Irish Festival, Sept. 17-19 and the Celtic Classic, Bethlehem, Pa., Sept. 24-26.
The Alliance, which awards the annual Mitchell scholarships, is posting scholarship details on its website www.us-irelandalliance.org.
FERRY NEEDS BOOKS
Belfast man Ciaran Ferry is hoping that people will send him books and magazines to help him pass the days in a Colorado lockup.
All of Ferry’s reading material was confiscated during a recent cell search.
Ferry, according to his wife, Heaven Ferry, was also strip searched.
She said all the books and magazines in her husband’s cell were taken prior to the search, as was a “Bug’s Life” drawing that Ferry had just completed for their 3-year-old daughter, Fiona.
Ferry, a former IRA man, is appealing against a decision by the Virginia-based Board of Immigration Appeals to deport him to Ireland. Ferry has been held in a Colorado prison since Jan. 30 of last year.
He was detained when he turned up for a green card interview accompanied by his wife, who is a U.S. citizen. Letters can be sent to Ferry, who uses the Irish form of his name, Ciaran O Fearraigh. The address is P.O. Box 16700, Golden CO 80402-6700.
COLLUSION TALK IN NY
Paul O’Connor of the Pat Finucane Center in Derry is in the U.S. this week to talk about policing and collusion. O’Connor will give a talk on the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission and present a BBC video on collusion on Sunday, Aug. 8 at the Irish American Home Society in Glastonbury, Ct. and on Monday, Aug. 9, at Rocky Sullivan’s Pub, 129 Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. Details on O’Connor’s presentations are available from Jim Gallagher at (860)739-8216.
The Finucane Center, named after murdered Belfast attorney Pat Finucane, has campaigned on a number of murder cases in Northern Ireland including those of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Peter McBride. O’Connor’s visit is being supported by the AOH, Irish American Unity Conference, Irish Northern Aid and the Brehon Law Society.