WHEN there is a report of the significance of Operation Greenwich, exposing to the world the depth of collusion during the conflict, there is often a reaction in our community that says, ‘We shouldn’t be surprised.’  Should we not?
 
I’m surprised that Ulster Resistance took the weapons they had from the South African shipment and billed the UVF and UDA when they distributed them. Should we not be surprised that Ulster Resistance, an entirely legal entity that boasted of members including the leadership of the DUP, doing the invoicing?
 
I’m surprised that a report tells us that in February 1991, a cache of military documents which included the names of over 250 individuals was discovered in a raid on a UDR member’s home and that in on May 31 s Assistant Chief Constable saw fit to direct the RUC not to warn the 250-plus individuals that they might be at risk.
 
And that the names included those of Thomas Donaghy and Bernard O’Hagan, who were killed weeks later, the person whose home had been raided a suspect in the killings.

I’m surprised that when the RUC discovered two of their members had close links to the local UDA, still legal at the time but not for much longer, they were merely transferred to Belfast. I’m surprised these characters were named by UFF suspects as being involved in paramilitary organisations. And nothing further was done.
 
The Police Ombudsman’s 336 pages, with details of 19 murders, attempted murders and injuries in the north west of our island, all hold details of systemic collusion between the state, both British army and the RUC, and the UDA/UFF that should shake us to the core.
 
But somehow our Justice Minister Naomi Long had nothing to say last week when it was published. These 19 Irish citizens were targeted and assassinated because they were Catholic, nationalist and republican, yet neither the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs nor the Taoiseach had anything to say last week either. Was that because they too were not surprised, or because somehow this was not important enough for them to comment on?
 
As for the Secretary of State, he was able to turn over and put the clock on snooze because he was under zero pressure about these findings of state complicity in paramilitary killings.
 
When these killings were happening and families were pointing to clear patterns of collusion, they were being called conspiracy theorists and accused of feeding republican propaganda. Today, as collusion can no longer be denied, the families do not receive even cursory acknowledgement of their achievement in correcting our common historical narrative, let alone of their lonely, traumatic grief. Statements like ‘We shouldn’t be surprised’ feed the complicit silence of far too many.
 
Thankfully, Michelle O’Neill and Colum Eastwood were not found wanting. They both delivered exceptional press interviews, which reflected the justifiable anger and calls for accountability that should surely flow.
 
And therein lies the rub. We know that this report and the Police Ombudsman report on the Ormeau Road, which is due in a few short weeks, may well be the last reports of their kind, as the proposed legacy legislation will take away the opportunity for other families affected by state collusion to see their own vindication. Silence or complacency makes that all the easier for this British government.