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\u2018A kind of monster\u2019<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The UDR was formed in April 1970, supposedly to replace the discredited \u201cB-Specials\u201d, a quasi-military force. All the UDR\u2019s original seven battalions, however, were led by former B-Special county commandants. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHardly surprising, then, that the UDR is described by French political scientist, Anne Mandeville, as \u201ca kind of monster\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile it was supposedly an arm of the British state, she says, in reality it was \u201cdeeply in solidarity with the Protestant community\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nIntegrated into the British Army, it was also divided from it \u201corganically, geographically and by its specificity\u201d, a toxic recipe for any law-enforcement unit seeking cross-community support.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nFor many Catholics, the slogan \u2018UDR by Day: UVF by Night\u2019 was a lived reality, referring to the oldest loyalist paramilitary group in the conflict, the Ulster Volunteer Force. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nStories abound of people stopped on the roadside in the dead of night \u2013 or on the way home from church or Gaelic sporting fixtures – to be insolently abused or worse.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe one-time leader of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Nobel peace prize winner, John Hume, described the regiment as a \u201cgroup of Rangers supporters put in uniforms, supplied with weapons and given the job of policing the area where Celtic supporters live\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nMore officially, a 1984 briefing document prepared for the then Northern Ireland Secretary, Douglas Hurd, concluded: \u201cThe regiment is mistrusted, even hated, in much of the Catholic community, and by many Catholic politicians\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nIt added: \u201cMore significantly, it is not held in the highest regard by the RUC itself (including the Chief Constable \u2026) even amongst regular soldiers it is not universally popular.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe UDR was also seen as an impediment to peace. In 1986 a Foreign Office official noted in a memo to a Ministry of Defence colleague that: \u201cFor all its courage and dedication (which I certainly do not underestimate), and despite its incorporation into the British Army, the UDR is an inescapably sectarian body and an obstacle to reconciliation between the two communities in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hardly surprising, then, that the UDR is described by French political scientist, Anne Mandeville, as \u201ca kind of monster\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n While it was supposedly an arm of the British state, she says, in reality it was \u201cdeeply in solidarity with the Protestant community\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Integrated into the British Army, it was also divided from it \u201corganically, geographically and by its specificity\u201d, a toxic recipe for any law-enforcement unit seeking cross-community support.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n For many Catholics, the slogan \u2018UDR by Day: UVF by Night\u2019 was a lived reality, referring to the oldest loyalist paramilitary group in the conflict, the Ulster Volunteer Force. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stories abound of people stopped on the roadside in the dead of night \u2013 or on the way home from church or Gaelic sporting fixtures – to be insolently abused or worse.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The one-time leader of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Nobel peace prize winner, John Hume, described the regiment as a \u201cgroup of Rangers supporters put in uniforms, supplied with weapons and given the job of policing the area where Celtic supporters live\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n More officially, a 1984 briefing document prepared for the then Northern Ireland Secretary, Douglas Hurd, concluded: \u201cThe regiment is mistrusted, even hated, in much of the Catholic community, and by many Catholic politicians\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n It added: \u201cMore significantly, it is not held in the highest regard by the RUC itself (including the Chief Constable \u2026) even amongst regular soldiers it is not universally popular.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The UDR was also seen as an impediment to peace. In 1986 a Foreign Office official noted in a memo to a Ministry of Defence colleague that: \u201cFor all its courage and dedication (which I certainly do not underestimate), and despite its incorporation into the British Army, the UDR is an inescapably sectarian body and an obstacle to reconciliation between the two communities in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n