June 28, 2006

PC Spooks: Index to posts

PC Spooks?

PC Spooks? II: The Godsons, the IRD and Fr Denis Faul.

PC Spooks? III: Information Policy on Fr Denis Faul.

PC Spooks? IV: The IRD in Northern Ireland

PC Spooks? V: Northern Ireland as a casebook for the War on Terror

28 Jun 2006 23:25:13 | Britain, Ireland

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEXT POST
PC Spooks? V: Northern Ireland as a casebook for the war on terror So what is the point if this series of posts? Well to sum up, Dean Godson, son of Cold War warrior Joe Godson, has been doing something very similar to what Clifford Hill of the IRD advised in 1971, using the British experience in Northern Ireland as a 'casebook' for other situations, in this case the War on Terror. In particular, he has used the Northern Ireland example to argue three things: 1. Defeatist officials advocating negotations with terrorists are a threat to the policies of elected politicians. 2. That Western states should be wary of engaging with supposed moderates in insurgent communities. 3. That cold war outfits such as the Information Research Department are a model for prosecuting the idealogical battle in the War on Terror. In reality, a look at the historical record on Northern Ireland turns these propositions on their head.
PREVIOUS POST
British Imperialism and English patriotism Writer Mike Marqusee is unusual for an American in being a cricket buff. Despite his affinity for the quintessentially English game, he's suspicious of the resurgence of English identity visible at recent sporting events. Marqusee makes his arguments at Comment is Free and in a debate with Mark Perryman on his site. Perhaps his most significant point is this one. Recasting English national identity as forward-looking, inclusive, free of chauvinist aggression is a more complicated business than merely "reclaiming" the St George's flag from the far right (which is not in the least depressed to see its favoured emblem so widely adopted). The reclaimers want to skip over a vital step in the process: a realistic examination of British imperial history and its current role in the world. In a climate shaped by paranoia about immigration, demands that minorities "integrate", the war on terror and the presence of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, an uncritical, ahistorical celebration of England remains, at the least, problematic. (CommentIsFree)

TomGriffin

London Irish journalist

The Typepad Team

Search

My Other Accounts

Recent Comments