by Ann Williams
POLITICAL CONTROVERSY
The main criticism to be levelled at the SAS was that, instead of bringing out the terrorists alive, they had shot at least two of them in cold blood. In some cases, the soldiers could claim self-defence; but in others, it was claimed that the terrorists would have surrendered had they been given the chance. Indeed, commentators pointed out that the surviving terrorist, Fowzi Nejad, was only allowed to live because he pretended to be a hostage and was brought outside with the others on the pavement. At his trial, witnesses recounted how soldiers had been on the point of dragging him back inside the building to shoot him, but they had been stopped by officials.
The SAS responded by claiming that the government had unofficially instructed them to shoot all the terrorists dead. They claimed that the Prime Minister herself had commented before the attack that she did not want an ‘ongoing problem’ of terrorists in the country, and that the soldiers had taken this to mean that they should shoot the perpetrators.
Whatever the truth of the matter, few people had much sympathy with the Iranian terrorists, who had subjected the hostages to a nightmare ordeal for nearly a week, brutally murdering one of them in the process. Not surprisingly, the surviving terrorist Fowzi Nejad was charged, brought to trial, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the atrocities.
Today, the siege of the Iranian Embassy continues to be discussed as one of the most fascinating – and disturbing – terror attacks in mainland Britain. As one of the first high-profile events of its kind, it raises many questions for our times: about the role of the media in portraying violent attacks as they take place; about the role of the British army, especially the SAS, in combating terrorism; about diplomacy and negotiation in such times of crisis; and finally, about the limits of government and military secrecy within a democracy.
The Bologna Massacre
It was with shock and horror that I learned of the tragic loss of life following the explosion at Bologna railway station . . . Following as it does our discussions in Venice, this deplorable incident only confirms the need to pursue unrelentingly the common struggle against terrorism in all its forms.
Letter from Margaret Thatcher to Francesco Cossiga, Italian Prime Minister, August 5, 1980
The bombing of the Central Station at Bologna in 1980 killed and wounded so many people that it has become known in Italy as the Strage di Bologna: ‘The Bologna Massacre’. In a terror attack that has gone down as one of the worst in the history of the Italian nation, a total of 85 people lost their lives and hundreds more were injured. The atrocity took place when a home-made bomb hidden in a waiting room ripped through the station building, also hitting a train full of passengers.
The incident was just one in a string of Italian terror attacks during the 1970s and 1980s that many ascribe to neo-fascist groups, working to create a ‘strategy of tension’. According to this theory, extreme neo-fascist groups in Italy, such as the Fronte Nazionale, Ordine Nuovo and Avanguardia Nazionale, were committing these atrocities and blaming them on the extreme left, so as to influence public opinion against communism. Some believe that right-wing government intelligence agencies were also involved. Whatever the truth of the matter, successive Italian governments have seemed unable – or unwilling – to confront and resolve the internal political problems that have led to such attacks over the decades since the 1960s.
A SCENE OF CARNAGE
The morning of the August 2, 1980, was a beautiful, sunny one in the town of Bologna, Italy. Tourists crowded into the busy station, as they did every summer, to catch their trains for destinations all over Italy and the rest of Europe. It was a hot morning, and the heat in the station had become unbearable, so many travellers had taken refuge in the air-conditioned waiting room, trying to get away from the heat of the sun and the bustling crowds on the platforms. As it turned out, they could not have chosen a worse place to take a quiet break.
At 10.25 a.m., a home-made TNT bomb that had been hidden in a suitcase left unattended in the waiting room suddenly detonated. The explosion not only ripped the room itself apart, but shattered most of the station building and also hit a train waiting at one of the platforms. The deafening blast of the bomb could be heard right across the city, and within minutes people came running to the station to find out what had happened.
The scene they found was one of devastation. People were screaming in panic as they tried to help the dying and injured in the waiting room, many of whom were bleeding profusely. The emergency services were immediately called in, but the local ambulances could not cope with carnage on this scale, so buses and taxis were commandeered to take victims to hospital. Meanwhile, workers sifted through the wreckage, freeing the dead and injured trapped beneath it, and beginning the long work of clearing up the debris.
GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE
As the chaos subsided, it became clear what the extent of the damage was. Eighty-five people were dead, and a further 200 were injured. The train station was completely wrecked. Someone was to blame for this terrible crime perpetrated against the people of Bologna – but who?
At first the government and the police announced that they believed the blast to be accidental, possibly triggered by an electrical fault. However, when evidence of the improvised TNT bomb hidden in a suitcase emerged, they had to revise their initial theory. They then put the blame on the left-wing, militant group The Red Brigade, despite having very little evidence to show its involvement in this particular incident. And, as the police investigation got underway, it became clear that there were political factions, both inside and outside the government, who were making it their business to disrupt the process in every way possible.
After the bombing, there was considerable social unrest in Bologna and throughout Italy. The Italian people were understandably angered by a government who appeared unable to control the situation, and moreover who seemed to have their own political agenda to pursue, at the expense of public safety. There were a series of strikes, most notably in Bologna, where workers took action only two hours after the bomb exploded. The handling of the massacre itself, and the bungled investigation that took place afterwards, seemed to point to government and police incompetence to a greater degree than ever before, and Italy was once more plunged into political crisis.
A ‘STRATEGY OF TENSION’
But worse was to come. A number of political analysts then made the shocking claim that the government itself – or agencies close to it – were in fact responsible for the massacre. According to this theory, the authorities were in league with violent radical groups from the far right, working to create a ‘strategy of tension’. These groups would conduct terror attacks, and the government would then blame left-wing factions for the atrocities. The ultimate aim of these ‘false flag’ operations, as they were known, was to discredit the Communist Party in Italy, who had for many years played an important role in the country’s political life.
This allegation may seem extraordinary, but in the context of the cold-war political landscape of the time, it was perhaps not so far-fetched as one might think. The Italian government, like many European governments, feared that a strong communist presence in their country might make them vulnerable to attack from the Soviet Union, which at that time was still a massive world superpower, and whose record on democracy and human rights was abysmal. It was argued – and still is, in some quarters – that Western governments were right to use any means necessary to ensure their sovereignty as free, democratic countries – even if that meant mounting ‘false flag’ terror attacks to discredit Soviet sympathizers in the West.
OPERATION GLADIO
Whether or not the Italian government were in any way connected to the Bologna Massacre remains unclear, but it has certainly been well documented that, during the Cold War years, US and European governments were involved in many kinds of covert, anti-Communist operations. In Italy, one of these was the CIA- and NATO-sponsored group known as ‘Operation Gladio’, whose
purpose was to counter communist influence in Italy after World War II. (Many ‘stay-behind’ operations, as they were called, also existed in other Western European countries.) It has since been shown that Gladio had links with neo-fascist Italian groups, and it had begun to operate in a maverick, independent way after the Cold War years. Since the most likely suspects for the Bologna bombing were the neo-fascists, and Gladio was in league with them, it follows that the Italian government, through their sponsorship of Gladio as an intelligence agency, may have been indirectly connected to the attack.
PROPAGANDA DUE
Not surprisingly, given the shady political dealings going on behind the scenes, the investigation into the bombing was a long and tortuous one. Frustrated by the constant delays in bringing the perpetrators to justice, relatives of the victims formed an association to try to keep up pressure on the authorities, but it was not until 15 years later that the Italian Supreme Court finally convicted two neo-fascist terrorists, Valerio Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro, of the bombing. The pair had pleaded innocent throughout their trial.
In addition, the court sentenced a number of individuals for the crime of obstructing the investigation: officers Giuseppe Belmonte and Pietro Musumeci of the Italian security service SISMI (Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare); Francesco Pazienza, a consultant to the service, who was deeply involved with CIA operations in Italy and worldwide; and Licio Gelli, the head of the Italian Masonic lodge Propaganda Due (P2), which boasted many powerful figures among its members. An associate of Gelli’s, Stefano Delle Chiaie, who was also a member of a revolutionary wing of the neo-fascist group Ordine Nuovo, was also named as an instigator of the attack.
It was well known that, ever since the mid-1960s, P2 had attempted to control the political situation not only in Italy, but also in South America, via the influence of its high-profile members, in a covert, entirely undemocratic fashion. Gelli himself was a neo-fascist who had been involved with a number of far-right political organizations, including the CIA-sponsored group Gladio. He was also thought to be a player in several major political scandals, including the murder of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.
HONOURING THE DEAD
Today, the victims of the attack are commemorated with a concert in Bologna’s central square, which takes place on August 2 each year. The station has been rebuilt, but some cracks in the pavement and walls remain, and the clock still stands at 10.25 a.m., as a reminder of the devastation that was wrought there on that fateful day in 1980. The town council and the family members’ association have done their best to ensure that the victims of the attack are remembered by all who visit the city. However, the fact remains that, to this day, the full story of the Bologna Massacre is still not known; and until it is, the victims who lost their lives in the attack will never be properly honoured.
Hyde Park And Regent’s Park Bombings
The Irish people have sovereign and national rights, which no task or occupational force can put down.
IRA
The Provisional Irish Republic Army got just what they wanted when they bombed military targets in London in July 1982 – sensational media coverage. It was one of the most serious terror attacks by the IRA since the Balcombe Street siege eight years earlier, and a lot of what happened that day was caught on camera and replayed around the world. People watched in horror as scenes of horrendous carnage were unveiled before their eyes.
HYDE PARK
The Changing of the Guard in London is one of the oldest and most familiar ceremonies associated with Buckingham Palace. The actual ceremony involves a new guard exchanging duty with the old guard, and both guards are drawn from one of the regiments of foot guards. A band accompanies the new guard from the Wellington or Chelsea barracks to the forecourt of Buckingham palace, and when the ceremony is over, leads the old guard back to his barracks.
The attack at Hyde Park took place along the route used by the household cavalry during the changing of the guard ceremony, on July 20, 1982. The plumed members of the Blues and Royal were a magnificent sight as they rode proudly on their shiny, black horses through London’s Hyde Park. Unaware of any danger, the cavalrymen rode past a parked car. Little did they know that it contained a hidden nail bomb. As the car exploded, windows shattered in nearby buildings, flames burst high into the sky and nails, which were wrapped around the bomb, shot out like bullets. Horses fell, writhing in agony, with their riders lying on the ground bleeding, their uniforms in tatters.
Three members of the Blues and Royals were killed instantly and another died three days later from his injuries. The Blues and Royals were formed in 1969 from an amalgamation of the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues) and the Royal Dragoons (the Royals) and, not surprisingly, they have served in Northern Ireland.
The remainder of the soldiers were badly wounded, and members of the public watching the parade were also injured by the flying shrapnel and nails. Added to the horror was the fact that seven of the regiment’s beautiful horses also died, either as a direct result of the blast or from being put down due to the severity of their injuries.
The IRA admitted carrying out the attack, which they had timed perfectly to coincide with the passing of the household cavalry. They claimed the attack was a result of the words of self-determination said by Margaret Thatcher when she announced that Britain was to enter the Falklands War: ‘ . . . people have sovereign and national rights, which no task or occupational force can put down’, a phrase that the IRA claimed they could totally identify with.
REGENT’S PARK
Regents Park in London is a magnificent open space situated in the heart of the city. It offers a large boating lake, an open-air theatre, a rose garden, a large sports area and the world-famous London Zoo. In the heart of the park is a picturesque bandstand that offers lunchtime and evening concerts, where people can sit and relax.
On July 20, 1982, the band of the Royal Green Jackets was playing music from Oliver to a crowd of 120 spectators. It was the first concert of a season of lunchtime venues for tourists and local office workers. People were enjoying the music in the warm sunshine.
Unaware that a bomb had exploded just a couple of hours earlier in Hyde Park, people were simply unprepared when a second device was detonated beneath the bandstand. The blast was powerful and literally blew the bandsmen off the bandstand, one of them becoming impaled on iron railings over 27 metres (30 yards) away.
Nearby spectators and workers from shops and hotels in the vicinity rushed to help the wounded. The police were worried that their might be a second device and tried their hardest to clear the area while they searched for further bombs.
One member of the audience later said, ‘Everything seemed to come up from the bottom of the bandstand and flew right into the air, the bodies, the instruments, everything. A leg came within five feet of me.’
Seven members of the band were killed instantly and once again there were many injuries from the flying nails and shrapnel. The wounded were treated at the Westminster Hospital where, workers that were supposed striking, returned to work and helped handle the large number of casualties.
In one day the IRA had brought their war with the English to England and wrought havoc. The blast at Hyde Park killed four cavalrymen and injured 22 guards and civilians. It also took the lives of seven of the treasured cavalry horses. In Regent’s Park, six bandsmen died and 24 musicians and 4 civilians were injured.
WELL-PLANNED ATTACK
The bombing of Hyde Park and Regent’s Park were two well-planned attacks. The terrorists had parked a blue Morris sedan car on Carriage Road, about 549 metres (600 yards) along the cavalry’s regular route. Hidden inside the car was a 4.5-kg (10-lb) piece of gelignite wrapped with literally hundreds of 10- and 15-cm (4- and 6-in) nails. As the cavalry passed by, a member of the IRA, possibly hidden among the trees of Hyde Park, pushed the remote-controlled detonator exactly at the right moment.
The bomb in Regent’s Park was probably planted so
me weeks before the explosion. It was similar to the earlier bomb, but was probably equipped with a timer that was set to go off at the time and day of the well-advertised concert.
DANNY MCNAMEE
On August 16, 1986, members of the Scot’s Guard broke down the door of an apartment owned by an electronics engineer named Danny McNamee. He was arrested and flown to London to face conspiracy charges regarding the explosions in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park. He was accused of making the bombs for the IRA that were used in the London bombings in 1982. McNamee denied having any sympathy with the IRA, and no evidence was ever presented at his trial that he had paramilitary links.
Despite this, McNamee was found guilty at the Old Baily of bombing offences and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was convicted on the evidence that his fingerprint was found on an electronic circuit board, which was linked to the Hyde Park bombing. He explained that he had handled many circuit boards when working for a previous employer, but had no idea that they had IRA connections.
In 1998, he was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and a year later his case went to the Court of Appeal.
At his second trial in 1998 his conviction was overturned because they found more prominent fingerprints on the original circuit board that belonged to a known IRA bomb maker by the name of Desmond Ellis. This evidence was not disclosed in the first trial. His sentence was quashed on the ruling that the verdict was unsafe because there had been a failure to disclose relevant evidence.
