As if this wasn't known all along...

In international news, hard evidence has finally surfaced linking the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Not like everyone didn't already know the British government was colluding with and protecting the loyalist paramilitaries. When I heard the news last night it reminded me of Ken Loach's film Hidden Agenda, which has bigger fish to fry but maintains the same damning condemnation of the British Intelligence and Security communities. The lead to the Guardian article goes like this:

Special Branch officers protected loyalist paramilitary informants and failed to stop them committing up to 15 murders, according to a damning report by the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland published yesterday.
There was clear evidence of collusion between members of the banned Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in north Belfast and police officers over a period of 12 years, the ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, declared.

Nothing like getting in bed with the same criminals you are supposed to be protecting the populace from. The Washington Post also notes that the RUC actually paid these criminals rather handsomely while they went around drug-running and murdering:

To protect informers, police officers blocked weapons searches, created fake notes of their interviews and even "babysat" informers so they wouldn't incriminate themselves in crimes that included drug-dealing and a bomb attack. Police paid one informer, believed to be involved in more than 10 murders, more than $150,000 a year, the report said.

Not bad work if you can get it. All the current charges stem from the 1990's forward, which really makes you wonder how bad it was during the 1970's and 1980's.