Panorama- What the Police were never told.

[Zapatista]

Seven years after his award-winning programme Who Bombed Omagh? Panorama reporter John Ware returns to the subject in Omagh: What the Police Were Never Told.

He has learnt that the UK's electronic intelligence agency, GCHQ, was recording mobile phone exchanges between the Omagh bombers on the day of attack as they drove the car bomb into the town.


Special Branch officers say they asked GCHQ for live monitoring

The claim, confirmed by Ray White, former assistant chief constable in charge of crime and special branch for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, raises new questions about whether the attack could have been prevented or the culprits brought to justice.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7611300.stm

[Hereiam]

Missed the show last nite, but I said it from the moment this bomb went off that the brits knew about the bomb and it was allowed to happen so it would turn public opinion more against the I.R.A. Its my thought that the brits have/had a high ranking mole who organised this event for this very purpose. One thing that still bugs me about this whole thing is why would the provos target the center of omagh on that day (a holy day). What was the target for that day..... i don't believe that they would just set out to hurt there own people, (and not a policeman or solider hurt) there was more behind it the brits knew they only way to beat the I.R.A was to turn the public against them, and what better way to do it.

[Tubberman]

Missed the show last nite, but I said it from the moment this bomb went off that the brits knew about the bomb and it was allowed to happen so it would turn public opinion more against the I.R.A. Its my thought that the brits have/had a high ranking mole who organised this event for this very purpose. One thing that still bugs me about this whole thing is why would the provos target the center of omagh on that day (a holy day). What was the target for that day..... i don't believe that they would just set out to hurt there own people, (and not a policeman or solider hurt) there was more behind it the brits knew they only way to beat the I.R.A was to turn the public against them, and what better way to do it.

So it was the Brits fault, and the poor ould IRA (god love them) were being used - sure they hardly knew it was happening at all....

[Boolerhead Mel]

Hereiam-apart from a few DUP nutjobs you must be one of the few people who believe the Provos bombed Omagh- It was the Real IRA that bombed Omagh-I agree with your theory-it could have been allowed to happen to kill the RIRA of before the gathered any support-a public enquiry woyuld be a good idea-although the Brits would not be very keen-the reason the Bloody Sunday enquiry cost so much was that MOD laywers-used every stalling tactic and diversion to delay and thus increase the cost to the enquiry-they would do the same with an Omagh enquiry.

[Down Gael]

One thing that still bugs me about this whole thing is why would the provos target the center of omagh on that day (a holy day). What was the target for that day..... i don't believe that they would just set out to hurt there own people, (and not a policeman or solider hurt) there was more behind it the brits knew they only way to beat the I.R.A was to turn the public against them, and what better way to do it.

Firstly it wasnt the Provos, it was the so called Real IRA. A group who were heavily infitrated by the various strands of British Intelligence. Some of the Intelligence Agencies knew a bomb attack was to take place that day, though they may not have known the exact location. The top man in the Real IRA, who we shall call Liam, suspected the man of supplying cars to that organisation of being an informer, so didnt use the car he supplied and used another, which had been recently stolen in Carrickmacross. The original car had been bugged by the Irish authourities and this move may have caught everyone out as they were probably waiting on the other car to move. The man who parked the car in Omagh did not park it where he was supposed to and then did not relay this message on to anyone, so when the bomb exploded it went off in an area where people thought they would be safe. It wasnt a British conspiracy, it was f**k up from start to finish, but you would have to ask questions of both Governments as to why they have failed to prosecute anyone when everyone and anyone knows who was involved in it. Even more surprising is that GCHQ were listening to the phones on the day of Omagh and did not pass information on to anyone in NI.
The families of the vicitms of this attrocity deserve better.

Over the weekend a viable device was left on the outskirts of Jonesborough village. The area was cordoned off for more than a day and there was a heavy police and army presence searching for this device. Two and sometimes 3 helicopters  were photographing the area and beyond, but seemed to be unable to locate it until none other than Wee Willie Frazer turned up with his camera and a TV crew. Willie even gave an interview and was very concerned about the welfare of "Catholic children". Has Willie turned? Or did he have knowledge of the bomb before he got his camera out. Something strange here and also strange that the usual suspects ie. Robinson, Donaldson and Ian Og arent on our TV screens saying how this will wreck the peace/political process.

[Hereiam]

I can tell you now that there will be no public inquiry into this bomb. The brits would risk to much detail being made public about the sources they used and how much they actually knew. You can be sure that any un-solved murder in this part of the world the British government has their bloody fingers in it. Sorry I meant the P.I.R.A.

[Zapatista]

The top man in the Real IRA, who we shall call Liam, suspected the man of supplying cars to that organisation of being an informer, so didnt use the car he supplied and used another, which had been recently stolen in Carrickmacross. The original car had been bugged by the Irish authourities and this move may have caught everyone out as they were probably waiting on the other car to move. The man who parked the car in Omagh did not park it where he was supposed to  and then did not relay this message on to anyone, so when the bomb exploded it went off in an area where people thought they would be safe.

Can I ask how you know this or where you got this information?

[Zapatista]

I can tell you now that there will be no public inquiry into this bomb. The brits would risk to much detail being made public about the sources they used and how much they actually knew. You can be sure that any un-solved murder in this part of the world the British government has their bloody fingers in it. Sorry I meant the P.I.R.A.

Please don't intentionally ruin the thread.

[Down Gael]

The top man in the Real IRA, who we shall call Liam, suspected the man of supplying cars to that organisation of being an informer, so didnt use the car he supplied and used another, which had been recently stolen in Carrickmacross. The original car had been bugged by the Irish authourities and this move may have caught everyone out as they were probably waiting on the other car to move. The man who parked the car in Omagh did not park it where he was supposed to  and then did not relay this message on to anyone, so when the bomb exploded it went off in an area where people thought they would be safe.

Can I ask how you know this or where you got this information?

Its common knowledge. The man who was supplying the Real IRA with stolen cars was a taxi driver from Dublin, he was stopped at a Garda checkpoint and told his life was in imminent danger and sprited out of the country. He had been allowing the Garda special branch to bug the cars and a lot of the bombs were being caught on route to their destination. It was a simple process of elimination. The man who actually made the bomb is also supected of being an "agent". He is now back living in Newry after being on the run for over 20 years in the south.

[Zapatista]

Its common knowledge.

I see. Do you have a credible link?

How do you know it was left in the wrong place and nobody was alerted to this?

[Main Street]

Whether the bomb could have been prevented is questionable but the cover up afterwards to avoid any possible blame was criminal.
No wonder people chase after far flung conspiracy theories.

"The fact that the bombers had used mobile phones, and that GCHQ had voice recordings and their telephone numbers, was withheld.
Consequently detectives were forced to spend nine months trawling through 6.4 million telephone records to finally identify 22 suspects' phones active in Omagh and four other bombings".

[Zapatista]

Whether the bomb could have been prevented is questionable but the cover up afterwards to avoid any possible blame was criminal.
No wonder people chase after far flung conspiracy theories.

"The fact that the bombers had used mobile phones, and that GCHQ had voice recordings and their telephone numbers, was withheld.
Consequently detectives were forced to spend nine months trawling through 6.4 million telephone records to finally identify 22 suspects' phones active in Omagh and four other bombings".

This makes it much less far flung than you suggest.

[Main Street]

That the conspiracy theories are less far flung because there was a cover up?

I see what you mean but I am not au fait with the inns and outs of the story.
Have the voice recordings been wiped out ?
Are there transcripts?

Just in general I go along with the idea that the security forces/surveillance are not perfect and not immune to bungling a job.
And are quite capable of a cover up to avoid taking blame.

[laceer]

Hereiam - who is that on your avatar? can't stop looking at it 

[Main Street]

Open up the avatar link in a new page to get a better look