The British army’s role in support of the civilian police forces in Northern Ireland is officially over today some 38 years after they were first deployed. Kevin Connolly, the BBC’s Ireland correspondent, has written a very nice piece on what was called Operation Banner.
There will be no bugles at sunset this evening at the British army’s remaining bases in Northern Ireland and no symbolic striking of the Union flag; nothing in short that smacks of withdrawal, or departure or re-redeployment.
But make no mistake, this is a significant day in Northern Ireland’s recent history and a sure sign that the foundations on which it has built peace and power-sharing, devolution and development are holding.
Over the last few years, as the peace process has bedded down, military engineers have taken bolt-cutters and bulldozers to the highly-visible infrastructure of observation posts, barracks and road blocks which the Army haphazardly created over the 38 years of Operation Banner.
On Tuesday, the stroke of an administrator’s pen will do even more to bring normality back to Northern Ireland.
From now on, the legal status of the Army here will be same as it is in Wales or Scotland - no longer will it be “operating in support of the civil power”.
A garrison of 5,000 or so soldiers remains, but they will be living and training in Northern Ireland, available for deployment to other theatres of conflict around the world.
In truth, the Army melted away, rather than marched away from the conflict in Northern Ireland.
As it became clear that the paramilitary ceasefires of the mid-1990s were holding, patrolling was gradually phased out, smaller rural bases were closed and the profile of the Army was steadily lowered.
Where once it was commonplace to find your route across the border or along a country road blocked by squaddies manning a checkpoint, it became something of a rarity. Now it is unheard of.
The whole piece makes for worthwhile reading.
As a native of Northern Ireland, I regard this as good news.
When the army arrived I was one and a half years old. Many of my earliest memories were of gun and bomb attacks when the country drifted to the brink of civil war back in the early 1970s. Fortunately the security forces were able to bring us back from the brink and the pattern of violence was largely a decline from about 1976 onwards.
The unfortunate thing is that, even at its height, the “Troubles” were nothing compared to later trouble spots, such as first Yugoslavia and now Iraq.
People used to say that Northern Ireland, with its ethno-religious violence was still in the middle ages. Nobody says this any more, as it looks like we just got to the 21st century early.
It’s funny–I remember Northern Ireland, like Lebanon, was considered an area of violence and chaos when I was younger.
The youth of today would probably be shocked to hear Belfast described in such a fashion.
So much about life is relative. As bad as the situation was during the 1970’s in Northern Ireland, if Iraq were in THAT state today (or anytime soon) we would probably see it as “progress.”
Part of me wonders, if things go well in Iraq will the U.S. still have forces there in 2042?