Politicians were lauded while soldiers were persecuted and ignored – 50 years after troops went into Northern Ireland, why haven’t Brit troops got the credit they deserve? (2024)

THE Troubles in Northern Ireland, one of the most turbulent episodes in modern British history, were finally brought to an end by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

Praise was heaped on the politicians, especially Tony Blair, for successfully concluding the deal.

Yet the peace process was only made possible by the British army, whose heroic resolution destroyed the long-term capacity of the IRA to wage it's murderous war of terror.

It is exactly 50 years ago since the British troops first went into Northern Ireland, initially to restore order amid lethal rioting in the summer of 1969.

But soon, with the IRA exploiting the violent sectarian discord to launch its insurgency, they were engaged in a massive counter-terrorism operation.

As a six-year-old boy living in Ulster the arrival of the military had a huge impact on my life.

The Troubles were part of the fabric of my life

Despite my youth, I sensed that something dramatic had happened which would have major consequences for a bitterly divided society.

Indeed, the army’s deployment in my homeland, codenamed Operation Banner, became Britain’s longest ever continuous military campaign.

From 1969, a total of 300,000 troops served in the province, with a peak annual number of 21,000 in 1972 when the Troubles were at their most savage.

Altogether, 722 of them were killed by direct paramilitary action, while another 6100 were wounded.

But these sacrifices were not in vain.

Through its tenacity and bravery, the army ultimately defeated violent Republicanism, ensuring the triumph of democratic politics and the creation of peace.

Soldiers ignored despite bravery

Yet the army never received the recognition it had earned for its achievement.

The politicians took the garlands, while the soldiers were ignored.

Even worse than this airbrushing, many of these veterans have since been hounded for their past valour through a series of politically motivated witch-hunts designed to appease the hardline Republicans.

Just as worryingly, the current breed of leaders in Belfast and London seem determined to squander the legacy of the hard-won peace by clinging to their entrenched, self-serving positions.

Due to the narrowness of their vision, reconciliation is now at greater risk than at any time in the last two decades.

Excitement and anxiety at troops' arrival

Yet peace did not look very likely in 1969, as I remember from my childhood growing up in a Protestant household near Belfast at the time.

Against the backdrop of worsening chaos on the streets, reflected in these graphic photos, I felt a contradictory mix of excitement and anxiety at the arrival of the troops.

As someone who enjoyed military modelling, part of me was thrilled at the sight of heavily armed soldiers and armoured cars.

I was even more delighted when, as a result of an initiative by our local Anglican church, my parents invited three real squaddies for dinner at Christmas, though to my disappointment they neither arrived by helicopter nor wore their uniforms.

Daily terrorist incidents

But, even in my immaturity, another part of me was also grimly aware of the reason for the troops’ presence.

I cannot say, as the son of a successful professional couple living in an affluent neighbourhood, that I was badly scarred by the Troubles, but they were certainly part of the fabric of my life.

On a nightly basis, the local news was dominated by terrorist incidents.

Bomb explosions could be heard regularly. There were security checkpoints in every city centre street, bag searches in most shops.

In my teenage years, when I attended school in the west of Ulster, one of my fellow pupils was killed in the infamous IRA bomb attack on Lord Mountbatten’s boat off the Irish coast in 1979.

Attacked by petrol bombs, stones and bullets

Two years later, the terrorist and hunger striker Bobby Sands was briefly my MP before his self-inflicted death, an event that provoked more rioting.

Despite the ruthlessness of the IRA, the British security forces never wavered in their duty.

Even in the face of mortal danger from petrol bombs, stones and even bullets, the soldiers did not buckle.

In the cauldron of historic animosities, stoked by the venom of the IRA, they showed impressive forbearance, undermining the Republican propaganda about British oppression.

There were disastrous failures, however, like the loss of discipline at Bloody Sunday in Derry, 1972, when British paratroopers fired on a group of protesters, killing 14 of them.

A new era in Northern Ireland

Over the years, their tenacity gradually wore down the enemy, particularly through the use of sophisticated military intelligence.

Towards the end of the 1980s, the entire IRA network was riddled with British agents.

Even Frank Scappaticci, the Republicans’ own head of its feared Internal Security Unit – known as the “Nutting Squad” - was alleged to be an informer.

Such deep penetration made it almost impossible for the IRA to carry on using the bomb and the bullet effectively .

By the close of the Troubles, British security forces were estimated to be foiling two out of every three planned IRA operations.

One former IRA man, now a Dublin solicitor, admitted, “It was a complete and utter defeat, absolutely.”

It was a defeat that heralded a new era in Northern Ireland.

In practice, the peace process was a declaration of surrender by the IRA.

Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness did not suddenly see the light and become peaceniks.

They embraced democratic politics because they recognised that their terror movement, beaten by the British forces, could no longer function properly.

A gross betrayal of our veterans

After the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the Republicans agreed to decommission their weapons without achieving any of their key political aims. Northern Ireland remains in the United Kingdom, while the partition of Ireland continues.

For political reasons, the British army has never received the credit it deserves for its remarkable victory.

In the new climate of co-operation, there is an understandable wish to avoid any triumphalism.

But what is reprehensible is the persistent hounding of British veterans who bravely served their country in the Troubles, but are now the subject of official inquiries into past misconduct.

No fewer than 278 of these veterans are said to be currently under investigation, despite endless pledges from politicians about an end to the grotesque witch-hunts.

The gross betrayal of their service is bad enough, but even more offensive are the double-standards, for the Good Friday Agreement facilitated the early release of scores of terrorists, as well an amnesty for many on the run.

If the peace process is meant to draw a line in the sand about Ulster’s dark past, it should apply to everyone.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of the British army, the future should be bright for Northern Ireland.

Threatened by Brexit and in hock to the DUP

But clouds are gathering, due to suspension of the devolved assembly and concerns about a hard border because of Brexit.

The fragility of the situation means that British politicians should tread carefully, respecting the rights of both communities in the province, as well as the interests of Dublin, our closest neighbour.

But the Tories have done anything but that.

Having thrown away their majority in 2017, they have formed a dubious alliance with the DUP, a reactionary outfit which presents itself as the voice of Ulster but in fact won only 36 per cent of the vote at the last election.

As cheerleaders for unionism, the Conservatives now talk about “our precious union”, while regrettably Boris Johnson has even given himself the additional title of “Minister for the Union.”

Whilst many Brits feel passionate about keeping the union together, this rhetoric may not be whatNorthern Ireland needs.

The British Government is meant to be an honest broker rather than a partisan advocate for one side.
In 1990 Peter Brooke, then Northern Irish Secretary, famously said that Britain had “no selfish, strategic or economic interest” in holding on to Ulster and would abide by the democratic wishes of its people.

“Rigorous impartiality” was central to the success of the Good Friday Agreement. For the sake of harmony, that spirit cannot be allowed to disappear.

The campaign in Northern Ireland may not have had the glamour of victories like Egypt's El Alamein or Waterloo, but it was still one of the British army’s greatest achievements.

It would be a tragedy if past military determination were to be squandered by present political bungling.