Britain\u2019s sectarian army<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nHis 1970s role in the early days of the violence in Northern Ireland has had most attention. But as recently as 2006 US General David Petraeus (then commander of US Central Command and coalition forces in Iraq) visited<\/a> Kitson at his home in Devon, apparently for advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor those of a right-wing persuasion he was a far-seeing prophet of counter-terrorism. For those on the left, he was a bogey-man: one left-wing journal went as far as describing<\/a> him as the \u201cFailed Boot Boy of Empire\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThis, however, fails to hold his masters in London to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nairobi to Belfast<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAs early as 1972, Kitson\u2019s fame in Belfast was such that the now defunct This Week<\/em> (describing itself as \u201cIreland\u2019s Quality News Magazine\u201d) featured a broadly smiling Kitson on its front cover, with the headline \u201cKitson\u2019s War Against The IRA\u201d and a seven-page inside feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\nPaddy Devlin, a founding member of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said Kitson “probably did more than any other individual to sour relations between the Catholic community and the security forces” in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kitson brought to Belfast his experiences in Kenya, fighting the Kikuyu Land and Freedom Army (exotically dubbed the \u201cMau Mau\u201d by the British) in the early 1950s where he honed a practice of using \u201cturned\u201d or \u201cconverted\u201d rebels into \u201ccounter-gangs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his book Gangs and Countergangs<\/em> Kitson wrote: \u201cThere are innumerable ways in which the principle [of counter-gangs] can be applied and it is up to those involved to invent or adapt such methods \u2026 as may be relevant to the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn estimated 90,000 Kenyans were slaughtered in the Kikuyu uprising while just over a thousand were hanged on a portable gibbet. Some 160,000 were detained in internment camps where torture was routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of Britain\u2019s victims was US President Barack Obama\u2019s paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, who was arrested in 1949, and tortured<\/a> by having pins inserted under his fingernails.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWild animals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nKitson later wrote in his memoirs, Bunch of Five<\/em>, \u201cMost soldiers [regarded the] finding and disposing [of Mau Mau] in the same way as they would regard the hunting of a dangerous wild animal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Northern Ireland, Kitson sought to duplicate his Kenyan experience, forming the Military Reaction Force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“In Northern Ireland, Kitson sought to duplicate his Kenyan experience, forming the Military Reaction Force”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This consisted of covert units liaising with local \u201cproxies\u201d to carry out deniable murders and foment internal dissent within republican paramilitary groups – along with mass screenings of the \u201csuspect community\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former SAS man Tony Geraghty claims that, in Northern Ireland by the spring of 1971, the British authorities, desperate to penetrate the IRA, did so by adopting Kitson\u2019s counter-gang tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kitson himself wrote in December 1971 that successes against the IRA would be hard to achieve without radical change and \u201cwe are taking steps to do so in terms of building up and developing the MRF\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deadly lesson<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe outcome, however, was not the defeat of the IRA (its campaign continued for a further 30 years) but the killing of uninvolved civilians, including women and teenagers, and the further alienation of the Catholic community from Britain\u2019s security apparatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In April 1975, Father Denis Faul, a Catholic priest antipathetic to the IRA, wrote that the British are teaching: \u201ca deadly lesson to the people \u2013 that power came out of the barrel of a gun \u2026 that police and army can betray their trust and not be the impartial servants of government and people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Low Intensity Operations<\/em> Kitson infamously wrote that, although the law must be respected when fighting opponents, it can be changed to fit the circumstances so that it equates to \u201clittle more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n RELATED<\/h3>\n \n \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n Bombing the \u2018Irish Beatles\u2019 – who ordered their murder?<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nEven more sinister is a further quote from the same book, that if \u201cthe fish [terrorist] has got to be destroyed\u201d but it proves impossible to do so \u201cdirectly by rod or net\u201d then \u201cconceivably it might be necessary to kill the fish by polluting the water \u2026\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This appears to be a generalised justification for terrorising an entire community, such as the nationalist community in Northern Ireland, hoping it will repudiate its presumptive defenders \u2014 republican paramilitaries such as the IRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jolly good men<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For those of a right-wing persuasion he was a far-seeing prophet of counter-terrorism. For those on the left, he was a bogey-man: one left-wing journal went as far as describing<\/a> him as the \u201cFailed Boot Boy of Empire\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This, however, fails to hold his masters in London to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As early as 1972, Kitson\u2019s fame in Belfast was such that the now defunct This Week<\/em> (describing itself as \u201cIreland\u2019s Quality News Magazine\u201d) featured a broadly smiling Kitson on its front cover, with the headline \u201cKitson\u2019s War Against The IRA\u201d and a seven-page inside feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Paddy Devlin, a founding member of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said Kitson “probably did more than any other individual to sour relations between the Catholic community and the security forces” in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kitson brought to Belfast his experiences in Kenya, fighting the Kikuyu Land and Freedom Army (exotically dubbed the \u201cMau Mau\u201d by the British) in the early 1950s where he honed a practice of using \u201cturned\u201d or \u201cconverted\u201d rebels into \u201ccounter-gangs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his book Gangs and Countergangs<\/em> Kitson wrote: \u201cThere are innumerable ways in which the principle [of counter-gangs] can be applied and it is up to those involved to invent or adapt such methods \u2026 as may be relevant to the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An estimated 90,000 Kenyans were slaughtered in the Kikuyu uprising while just over a thousand were hanged on a portable gibbet. Some 160,000 were detained in internment camps where torture was routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of Britain\u2019s victims was US President Barack Obama\u2019s paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, who was arrested in 1949, and tortured<\/a> by having pins inserted under his fingernails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kitson later wrote in his memoirs, Bunch of Five<\/em>, \u201cMost soldiers [regarded the] finding and disposing [of Mau Mau] in the same way as they would regard the hunting of a dangerous wild animal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Northern Ireland, Kitson sought to duplicate his Kenyan experience, forming the Military Reaction Force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “In Northern Ireland, Kitson sought to duplicate his Kenyan experience, forming the Military Reaction Force”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This consisted of covert units liaising with local \u201cproxies\u201d to carry out deniable murders and foment internal dissent within republican paramilitary groups – along with mass screenings of the \u201csuspect community\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former SAS man Tony Geraghty claims that, in Northern Ireland by the spring of 1971, the British authorities, desperate to penetrate the IRA, did so by adopting Kitson\u2019s counter-gang tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kitson himself wrote in December 1971 that successes against the IRA would be hard to achieve without radical change and \u201cwe are taking steps to do so in terms of building up and developing the MRF\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The outcome, however, was not the defeat of the IRA (its campaign continued for a further 30 years) but the killing of uninvolved civilians, including women and teenagers, and the further alienation of the Catholic community from Britain\u2019s security apparatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April 1975, Father Denis Faul, a Catholic priest antipathetic to the IRA, wrote that the British are teaching: \u201ca deadly lesson to the people \u2013 that power came out of the barrel of a gun \u2026 that police and army can betray their trust and not be the impartial servants of government and people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Low Intensity Operations<\/em> Kitson infamously wrote that, although the law must be respected when fighting opponents, it can be changed to fit the circumstances so that it equates to \u201clittle more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even more sinister is a further quote from the same book, that if \u201cthe fish [terrorist] has got to be destroyed\u201d but it proves impossible to do so \u201cdirectly by rod or net\u201d then \u201cconceivably it might be necessary to kill the fish by polluting the water \u2026\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This appears to be a generalised justification for terrorising an entire community, such as the nationalist community in Northern Ireland, hoping it will repudiate its presumptive defenders \u2014 republican paramilitaries such as the IRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNairobi to Belfast<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wild animals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Deadly lesson<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
RELATED<\/h3>\n
Bombing the \u2018Irish Beatles\u2019 – who ordered their murder?<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Jolly good men<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n