"The Falklands Society believes that it is in the best interest of the Unionists (sic) to join the current peace talks. This will help to insure the continued union between Northern (sic) Ireland and Britain.

However, we would also urge the Unionists (sic) not to negotiate with Sinn Fein, the PUP, or the UDP. All three are connected to terrorist organizations and one must never negotiate with terrorists."
--Falklands Society.

President of the Falklands Society, William Cooke (left), pictured with David Trimble (right), leader of the Ulster (sic) Unionist (sic) Party (UUP).

Or so said the American-based pro-British Falklands Society. The quote you see here was on their web page after being criticized for having anti-Sinn Fein pages during the peace talks. The Falklands Society insisted they were making a statement against terrorism by making fun of Sinn Fein and Bobby Sands. When the Loyalists parties were revealed to have connections to paramilitary groups, the Falklands Society added the statement on peace and removed the anti-Sinn Fein pages. The other Loyalists parties, here referred to as Unionists, were encouraged to take part in the peace talks. However, this text has now vanished from Falklands website but they do sponsor a bulletin board with the Irish American Lobby. The Irish American Lobby ended its cooperation with the Falklands site due to protests.

In addition, the anti-Sinn Fein, the anti-Bobby Sands and the anti-Ancient Order of Hibernians web pages have been re-installed. The anti-Bobby Sands is a parody of the Bobby Sands diary. For those not familiar with Bobby Sands, he was an IRA member who starved himself to death in making five demands of the British Government to grant him political prisoner status. Both Republican and Loyalist prisoners have received better treatment a the Maze prison due to the hunger strikes. As of March 13, 1998, the anti-Sands pages disappeared, but will likely return.

The Falklands Society also has accused organizations of cooperating with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) (also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA)or Provos or Provisional IRA). This attack is done by accusing another Irish organization, such as the Irish Northern Aid Committe, of being a front for the IRA. Ironically, in making the accusation, the Falkland Society asks people to lodge a complaint with the Maryland Chapter of Ancient Order of Hibernians to stop funding "terrorists" front groups, an organization which the Falkland Society has already attacked! Such accusations are made after the United States Government has removed the IRA from its list of terrorist organizations. The Falkland Society also has an "IRA Board Watch" which monitors the RM Bulletin Board and reposts diatribes from it.

With the recent murders of Catholics by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the Falklands Society added an anti-LVF webpage. Apparently our criticism has had an impact on the Falklands Society which, for a time, required you to log-in to see their obscene sites.

Point of Information: Sinn Fein is actually the Provisional Sinn Fein and is allied with the PIRA, claiming historical ties to the names Sinn Fein and IRA. On Irish Nationalists there is also Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) associated with the militant Continuity Army Council (CAC) and the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRS) which is connected to the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Progressive Unionist (sic) Party (PUP) is allied with the paramilitary Ulster (sic) Volunteer Force (UVF). Ulster (sic) Democratic Party (UDP) is associated with the paramilitary Ulster (sic) Defence Association (UDA) and the paramilitary Ulster (sic) Freedom Fighters (UFF). Some paramilitary groups are more militant and appear to have no connections such as the loyalist Red Hand Commandos (RHC) and the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). The flag here is the British "Ulster" flag.

Note, the difference between Loyalist terrorists and the Irish paramilitary resistance are their targets. The IRA strikes at British Crown Forces while Loyalists attack Irish Nationalists. This does not excuse violence but it does make a defining difference between the two. The allegations of IRA violence is complicated by the actions of other paramilitary groups. December 27th of 1997, the INLA killed Billy Wright (at right), leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) as he was leaving prison. Both the INLA and LVF are opposed to the current peace talks. The LVF, a splinter group from the UVF, has been linked to the murders of Catholics, such as Gerry Devlin, civilian, father of two, shot dead on December 5th of 1997. The LVF reponded by going on a retaliatory killing campaign. The LVF is believed to be linked to David Trimble as documented by the Committee, a book on political assasination. More information here. To confuse matters further, there is a group called Direct Action Against Drugs which engages in punishment beatings.

Furthermore, notice the use of the word "Ulster". Three of the nine counties of Ulster are in the Free State of Ireland, of the six occuppied by the British, Protestants hold the majority in only two. See this map for the color version of the 26 districts of occupied Ireland. The Loyalists' use of the word "Ulster" is an act of arrogance, inspite of their numerical majority, the land is mostly in the hands of Irish nationalists. To the left, is the real flag of the province of Ulster bearing the red hand of the O'Neils of Tyrone with red cross and gold field of the De Burgos, the last Earl of Ulster. Also, the word "union" is most often used in reference to Loyalists. UNION rejects this reference. Unionism should be an Irish word for a united Ireland, not for British partitionists.

As for the cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom during the Falklands War; President Ronald Reagan (pictured at right with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) abandoned the Monroe Doctrine protecting the western hemisphere from foreign aggression and violated the treaty of the Organization of American States, an organization composed of countries from both south and north America. With the end of the Cold War, the relationship between Britain and the United States has changed, which has implications on events regarding the six counties.

The Falklands Society wasted no time in making an allegation of copyright infringement regarding the top photo. We contested the matter and the Falklands Society finally granted us permission to use the photo. We have agreed to remove the Falklands banner to reduce confusion. Below is the permission, granted by Mr. Cooke, for use of the photo. President William Cooke of the Falklands Society did make a sincere effort to confirm the photo above is of David Trimble. We will maintain a constant watch on the Falklands Society.

--the webmaster

Thu, 25 Dec 1997
From: William Cooke
Subject: Re: Copyrights
“The picture sure is of David Trimble. I had him speak at my College last year. Ask Bill Hughes of The Irish People. He was there and saw us together. I have no problem with your organization using the Falklands Banner or the picture. I withdraw my complaint from geocities.com.
Have a nice day,
William Cooke
http://www.falklands.org”

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page