Australia 1970's Cold Case: who's responsible for IRA bombs in Australia

petedavo.au said:

Russell says in his book http://www.writersandebooks.com/bookshop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=89 that the 1973 operation was ordered by the IRA (presumably the HQ based in Northern Ireland) at the behest of American financial backers (presumably NORAID or the ilk) to demonstrate that the IRA could undertake international operations. Russell further asserts that they communicated in stories or adverts placed in the New York Times. These assertions would point to a US citizen directly instigating these terrorist activities within Australia by the IRA

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petedavo.au said:

Russell says in his book http://www.writersandebooks.com/bookshop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=89 that the 1973 operation was ordered by the IRA (presumably the HQ based in Northern Ireland) at the behest of American financial backers (presumably NORAID or the ilk) to demonstrate that the IRA could undertake international operations. Russell further asserts that they communicated in stories or adverts placed in the New York Times. These assertions would point to a US citizen directly instigating these terrorist activities within Australia by the IRA

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Sherlockknows said:

There are Special forces killers living in Australia, involved atrocities in Northern Ireland, any chance you could focus on them too? Perfect thread.


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petedavo.au said:

Dunno whether there's any uninvestigated cases, or anyone on the lam in regard to this allegation. Please detail if you have links

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Sherlockknows said:

There are Special forces killers living in Australia, involved atrocities in Northern Ireland, any chance you could focus on them too? Perfect thread.


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petedavo.au said:

Why would the IRA seek to impress some yank by trying to assassinate members of the Royal family in Australia?
Here's why: The IRA had just split into two, and the newly formed Provisional IRA needed money and guns...
http://alphahistory.com/northernireland/provisional-ira/
"...in 1970 the Provisional IRA’s military effectiveness was negated by one critical problem: it had hardly any weapons.*In their first year or so the ‘Provos’ were restricted to a few small arms, perhaps as few as 60, as well as homemade devices like ‘Molotov cocktails’ and nail bombs. Most of the weapons belonging to the pre-1969 IRA remained under the control of the Official IRA. One of the Provisional IRA’s first priorities was the acquisition of weapons and money to purchase them. Provisional IRA agents targeted sympathisers in the Republic of Ireland and the United States, where a significant population of Irish expatriates and Republican sympathisers were resident. IRA propaganda chiefs developed material that was carefully targeted to American audiences; it played on anti-British sentiment and republican political ideas but downplayed or ignored the IRA’s links with socialism. The majority of American financial support for the IRA was channeled through seemingly innocuous organisations like the Northern Aid Committee (NORAID). Established in 1970, at its peak this group had 92 different branches and several thousand members. According to NORAID its collected funds were used to support the families of dead and interned Republican volunteers – but intelligence agencies like the CIA claimed most of funds were used to purchase and ship weapons to the Provisional IRA"

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Betty P said:

Wow. I googled a photo for Michael Flannery and realized I met him at a fundraising meeting for the IRA in Denver, CO around 1983 or 84. Some of our neighbors in our condo complex invited us to a fundraising party. Upon arriving, we discovered it was fundraising for the IRA. Hubs and I were pretty naive and sat through his presentation. He had photos of Irish children who had been wounded and killed when shot with rubber bullets from English troops. We asked if any donation would be used for bombs, weapons, etc. and he was vague about that. I'd read Leon Uris's "Trinity" a few years before and was somewhat sympathetic to the cause for Irish independence, but didn't support the violence. We told him we would think about it and get back to him later. We never did.

The next day I called one of my business clients who was a native Scotsman and asked him what he knew about this guy. He let loose a string of curse words in heavy Scottish brogue. "Hell no, don't give him any money!" He wanted me to report him to the police.

We had moved to Denver from Cleveland, OH in the early 80's and the IRA was widely supported by the Irish community (including politicians) on the west side of Cleveland. There are probably still people here who donate to the cause, though not like before.

Glad you brought that name up, though. I always wondered who it was we met at the neighbor's house back in Denver. Can't mistake him, he had that interesting forelock/curl he wore in the middle of his forehead.

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petedavo.au said:

IRA terrorist bomber, Philip McCullough, caught in Adelaide, South Australia 1975 http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com...px?href=IEX/1979/07/24&id=Ar01421&sk=8DC45090

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[FONT=&quot]Part of the mystery lies in the likelihood that any terrorist would have tried to blow up the train rather than derail it. Another is that there is no record of a D-Notice in the Fairfax archives. It remains possible that the NSW government – perhaps the then premier, Robert Askin – had ordered secrecy. It was suggested yesterday that ‘‘Australian republicans’’ were responsible but Mr McHardy said he did not know who the culprits were.

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