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Military history: British / European Unassessed

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This article does not give a fair description of the events of March 1988, nor of the political circumstances. There is a better account at http://www.specialoperations.com/Counterterrorism/Operation_Flavius.html. In particular, I am concerned that you state the inquest "found that all three had been shot while laying face down on the ground" I can find no mention of this crucial detail elsewhere on the web; where is your source? Otherwise, it should be removed.

Death on the Rock

This article and the Death on the Rock article are practically identical, I suggest a merger and redirect. --Coroebus 09:46, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I think the Death on the Rock article is notable enough to deserve an article of its own. There is some overlap between the two articles, but that's not a major problem and is required to give the Death on the Rock article some context. Stu 10:33, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

It would be if the articles were not essentially exactly the same. --Coroebus 10:41, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

I think its good to have them seperate, the incident was important as was the attempt to supress an ill informed bit of TV journalism. The solution is to expand the two topics in different ways. One thing that is not mentioned is that Channel 4 did a reconstruction of the inquest. I have that somewhere on VHS. --Gibnews 19:35, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Further Detail

Someone added the following to the Mairéad Farrell page. I feel it is too specific and would be better suited here. However, the language appears to be pidgin-esque and requires a good deal of editing to be fit for inclusion. It also seems to lack any sources. (Copyright issues?)

The (British) intelligence service was now convinced that the bombing would take place on Tuesday 8 March, yet while the Joint Operations Centre was deliberating, there was still no sign that either (Danny) McCann or (Sean) Savage was getting ready to leave Belfast. They knew the third member and commander of the team was a formidable woman called Mairead Farrell, they knew what the target was, they were pretty certain they knew the date, and they thought they knew exactly how the bombing would be carried out. So far the whole operation had been a staggering success; seldom before had the security forces been in such an enviable position. On the afternoon of Sunday 6 March the MI5 observer is enjoying a quiet cigarette in the main square when he comes face to face with a man in a pin-striped jacket and jeans whose photograph he is certain he has ben looking at all week. It is 2.30p.m. Sean Savage has arrived on the Rock. With a start the watcher turns, walks away and then on the surveillance radio net reports back to the joint operations room the possible sighting of Savage. At almost the same moment other watchers stationed at the border report that two persons answering the description of Farrell and McCann have entered Gibralter on foot and are making their way past the airport terminal towards the town centre. Meanwhile Savage has wandered back across the square to a Renault 5 parked in slot 2 with its to the wall and its boot facing into the area where the band halts at the end of its parade. He unlocks the car and fiddles with something inside for two or three minutes. No watcher is close enough to see what he is doing but the significance is obvious. The waiting is over. The two SAS teams are now ready and awaiting instructions. Each soldier has brought with him from Hereford a 9mm Browning semi-automatic pistol, 9mm ammunition and empty magazines. Suddenly the active service unit is in the square not a stones throw from the operations room. It is 2.50p.m. Farrell and McCann have joined Savage and all three walk along the line of parked cars. They stop and look at the Renault. Not for long but long enough to chill the MI5 watchers. Now there can be no doubt. Identification is positive and the time to strike has arrived. At 2.55 p.m. Colombo (Deputy Commissioner Gibralter Police) agrees to the arrest and, verbally for the moment, passes the civil power to Soldier F and the military. At that moment the three bombers turn away and head out of the square past Soldiers C and D. The soldiers report in with a positive identification and set off in pursuit. Soldier E in the operations room tells them to hold back. Control is once more with the police. At 3.40 p.m. exactly the commissioner of police signs the document handing the power of arrest to the military. He (Detective Constable Charles Huart Special Branch) gets on his motorbike and heads for (Gibralter) town. Suddenly on the corner are all three terrorists, whom he recognizes instantly. At that moment the three separate. Farrell and McCann continue to head north towards the border. Savage turns round and heads back the way he has just come. In the words of Soldier A: "As I was getting close to Farrell and McCann, McCann looked over his left shoulder. He looked over but his body did not turn. He was smiling at the time. I was behind him, approximately ten metres... he looked straight at me. We had eye to eye contact. We looked directly at each other. The smile went off McCann's face ...it is hard to describe but it is almost like McCann had realized who I actually was ...I was just about to shout a warning to stop and at the same time I was drawing my pistol. I went to say "Stop" ...I don't know if it actually came out. I honestly don't know. He looked at me and all of a sudden his right arm, his right elbow, moved, in what I deemed an agressive action, across the front of his body. I thought Mad McCann was definately going for the button. To me the whole worry was the bomb in the assembly area." Soldier A, knowing that McCann is considered to be the IRA's greatest exponent of close quarter combat, now has his browning in his hand and fires one round into McCann's back. He sees Farrell out of the corner of his eye "going for her bag". By now the two soldiers are just three metre away from the bombers. Soldier A assumes Farrell is going for the button. He shoots her in the back and then shoots McCann three more times, one in the back, two in the head. In all, A fires five times. Soldier B is concentrating on Farrell. He draws his own gun as Farrell draws a large shoulder bag across her body. "In my mind she made all the actions to carry out the detonation of a radio-controlled device... I fired one or two shots at Farrell and then switched fire to McCann... in all seven shots." Soldier C fires four rounds to the chest and two the head. Soldier D fires nine rounds. In all, Savage is hit no less than fifteen times. At 4.06 p.m. soldier F hands over control of the military operation on the colony back to the police commissioner. The military operation has been running for just twenty-six minutes. Three of the IRA's most ruthless operatives are dead. By a majority of nine to two the (inquest) verdict was lawful killing.

GiollaUidir 17:17, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

wrong spelling of Gibraltar, My understanding was that all three were leaving Gibraltar at the time, not moving towards the town center. The reference to 'the main square' is bollocks as the bomb and holding car were parked further south. This sounds like a sensationalised version taken from a popular paperback about the SAS.

The terrorists had been spotted in Spain and tracked by the Spanish intelligence services, who declined to attend the inquest, but it is believed co-operated fully with the British.

The detail can be found in the ECHR review. A link is given on the page.

--Gibnews 22:02, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Theres a lot of overlap between the various entries in Misplaced Pages about this incident. Currently all of them are fairly accurate, based on the report of the ECHR, which included the evidence presented at the inquest. Probably because of the interest at the time, this was not published and was available for an outrageous fee per page, Channel 4 bought a copy and did a full reconstruction of the inquest. This was believed to be the closest thing apart from televising the actual proceedings. I could not find the ECHR report online so created a .pdf of the copy downloaded from their website and anyone interested in the details should read that rather than the sensationalised accounts in paperback form. I've added some photographs of the locations taken recently - they are much as they were then except there were more cars parked in front of the bank then. I used to watch the band assembling and think about the possibility of someone planting a bomb, sadly others did too.

--Gibnews

Keep it real

The intention of the PIRA was to blow up the bandsmen, there was evidence they were in possession of semtex, detonators and timing devices. There were experienced and had no regard for human life. The Inquest determined that was their purpose, the independent ECHR review confirmed it, and the IRA issued a statement that they were 'on active service' - so lets not introduce any doubt in their purpose and resolve. --Gibnews 23:59, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

• The were murdered before they took any action! They could have aborted the mission, got cold feet and decided not to carry it out or anything - we will never know! What we do know is the SAS killed 3 unarmed people on the bias and ALL of them reached for their pockets even though they were carrying nothing! Very interesting dont you think, smells like they all made the story up once they got back to the barracks to me! Vintagekits 00:22, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

They were lawfully killed, not murdered. That was the verdict of the inquest. You are free to imagine whatever you like, but there is no evidence. There was evidence of explosives and given the past history of the team they were fully committed. You might want to add some extra material describing how the PIRA bravely shot the ex-Governor of Gibraltar in the head whilst he was enjoying his retirement. --Gibnews 01:03, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Since they were immediately killed, they had no chance to defend themselves so we don't know what their personal intentions were. Meanwhile, since the British government had infiltrated the PIRA with numerous spys - including bomb experts - we don't know how reliable the evidence was against them. Do we? See the following references regarding just some of the 'outed' British spys within the PIRA: Matthew Teague talks about "Double Blind," his extraordinary profile of a double agent who helped undermine the IRA, 'Stakeknife' The Story of Britain's Army Spy at the Top of the IRA, Sinn Fein British agent shot dead Because of the infiltration with bomb expert spys into the PIRA, no one will ever know what false flag operations were carried out by the British spys - rather than any PIRA members.Bcsurvivor 02:09, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

There are few things in this life that we can be totally sure about, in relation to this incident everybody lied in places, however the idea is to present the official record and things that are evidenced rather than wild assumptions lacking any substance.

An interesting example of this is the story of the 'Mary Celeste' found with steaming mugs of tea and half-eaten breakfasts - none of which are true but yet many people accept.

There is reason to believe that the 'Gibraltar three' were bad people and that their elimination preserved the lives of many others, in that context I think the People of Gibraltar are due an official apology from the IRA for the attempt - which they have already acknowledged they maed - and that a line should be drawn under the matter and that we all move on. --Gibnews 09:59, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Again that is your POV, you should try and open your eyes a little wider what happens on that "Rock" which I hope Spain get back soon, and I support the idea that the British give all lands that the British thieved back - Hong Kong and most of Ireland has been returned, Las Malvinas, The Rock and The Occupied 6 Countries of the North East of Ireland are yet to come. Vintagekits 12:31, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for making your position clear; However, Gibraltarians have the right to live quietly in our homeland unmolested by foreign claimants and terrorists. Here Catholics and protestants live and work happily together, something you could learn from us. --Gibnews 14:08, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Amen to being unmolested from foreign claimants Vintagekits 14:50, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

In which case you should not promote irredentist Spanish and Argentine claims, renounce violence and the acts of illegal paramilitary organisations - then we can all have a peaceful christmas. --Gibnews 19:38, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Who determines what is an "illegal paramilitary organisation"? King George of England believed that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and all of the other U.S. Patriots were members of an "illegal paramilitary organisation" and they would have been hung as traitors if King George could have managed to capture them. They may even have been drawn and quartered like the Irish Patriots of 1798.Bcsurvivor 02:30, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Currently its the UN However, I believe the IRA has been an illegal organisation according to the laws of Ireland for some time.

Nobody denies that they were in Gibraltar to detonate a large bomb, so consider them 'casualties of war' like the attack on Sir Peter Terry, who was believed to have been playing golf in Spain when the original shooting occured. --Gibnews

Those involved with the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin were considered terrorist and criminals by the British Government also - they went on to form the first Irish government! Give the Rock back to Spain ye cuckoos! Vintagekits 12:53, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

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