B Robson wrote:
> Declan Murphy wrote:
> 
>> Barry was a soldier, involved in an ambush on enemy combatants. 
> 
> unless he had been shot in combat, then he would have been a civilian.

Well he was shot in combat, since being wounded was what led to his 
capture. Had he died of his wounds prior to being executed then he would 
just have been listed amongst the other IRB/IRA KIA during 1919-21, and 
if such had been the case, perhaps no one would remember him at all.

The modern IRA is no different.

 From the 4th edition of Tim Pat Coogan's "The IRA", pg 576 - "Heavy 
surveillance was instituted and by 8 May, the authorities were in 
possession of sufficient intelligence to enable them to ring the 
Loughall area with hundreds of hidden, armed police and soldiers. The 
actual killing was left to the SAS who were deployed in and around the 
barracks a few hours before the attack was scheduled to begin. Five of 
the IRA party from the van were killed in the opening fusillades. The 
two in the digger managed to detonate the bomb, destroying the barracks. 
Then they and the single survivor from the van were captured. All three 
were ordered to lie on the road and shot dead. The IRA's view, said my 
contact, was that this was 'fair enough', the wiping out of an enemy 
unit. 'It was war. They'd have done the same'."

If disguising dead soldiers as civilians was the IRA's thing, they 
wouldn't have had so many official military funerals. That they did was 
partly because a dead IRA soldier was what what he was, and also because 
a good funeral always brought in new recruits to take his place.

>> Despite 400 days of evidence from 900+ witnesses, it is still unclear 
>> *which* paratroopers shot the 27 civilians. 
> 
> who would have been soldiers had they have been captured.

If each of the 27 had been arrested instead of shot, they would have 
been either interned (long term internments were usually without charge) 
or released.


-- 
Non gratum anus rodentum