With every passing day, the SDLP comes closer to blanket surrender on the issue of support for the RUC. The para-military Ulster Defence Association have warned that there is little time left before they launch a 'vicious war' against the Catholic minority. If British imperialism succeeds in establishing some form of coalition based on an antiRepublican pact, it will represent a major defeat for the struggle that has been waged over the last seven years. Events in South Armagh may decide what happens throughout the North this year.
The isolation of South Armagh must be broken! Any pretence that a truce still exists must be dropped. Anti-Unionists must be brought back onto the streets in Derry, Belfast and Newry and throughout the Six Counties, to protest against any British imposed solution and to resist any concessions being made to the Loyalists or any Loyalist offenSIVC PRISONERS Key to such mobilisations will be a clear recognition of the need for solidarity with the 1,200 political prisoners 'behind the wire", firm opposition to any return of the RUC to nationalist districts, and a grim determination to secure the immediate withdrawal of the SAS and the rest of the British Army from IreAt the present time this would be the most effective way of identifying with the anti-Unionists in South Armagh, the best barrier to assassinations, and a real step forward on the road to getting rid of British imperialism so that the Irish people as a whole can begin to determine their own future. Unfortunately. whether such a course will be taken in 1976 still has a very big question mark hanging over it. retly in various parts of the world science Armagh.
Dirty tricks well known The SAS (Special Air Service) is the Army's crack coun ter-insurgency squad. They are trained in intelligence, surveillance and torture. Their specialities include electric shock torture and the use of drugs. During the Second World War, SAS duties included sabotaging enemy installations and assassinating leaders. Since then it has operated in Kenya, Malaya, Aden and many other counter-insurgency campaigns waged by the British Army. It still operates sec- above all, against the revolutionary forces in the Dhofar province of Oman SAS members are hand-picked officers from other regiments, and are directly under the control of Whitehall. They generally move about alone or in pairs, and rarely wear Army uniform. Some members have voluntarily undergone torture during their training period. The Army claims that this makes them more resistant - but it is known that such "training' has a brutalising effect, making it easier for them to torture their victims without suffering any pangs of conIt is not surprising that the British Government's announ cement last week provoked an outcry not only from the anti-Unionist community of South Armagh but also from the collaborationist Social Democratic & Labour Party. As one of its leaders, Seamus Mallon, pointed out: The unconventional and often dubious methods used by this unit implies punitive action against the ordinary people of South The dirty tricks of the SAS are well known in Northern Ireland. Its involvement there goes back to 1970, and both Republican and Loyalist organisations have blamed it for numerous unexplained bombing and shooting incidents. In May 1972, for example, three men in a car shot and killed Patrick Mc Veigh of Andersonstown. The car then drove straight through a military checkpoint without being stop. ped. In 1974, 45 SAS men were sent to Northern Ireland attached to regular army units. Posing as civilians, they mata0211100110REATENICE EBOR
anuary 1976