by Angus Adair Twenty years ago on January 30th 1972 what had been a civil rights protest in Derry, Ireland would become an infamous loss of innocent civilian life. The event would become known as Bloody Sunday. The evidence, of eye witnesses and of photographs,suggestsa deliberate military strategy conceived and implemented by three high ranking British officers. The official conclusion of the Widgery Inquiry, commissioned to examine the events of that day, suggests it was a freak accident. The assertion of this article is that the Widgery Inquiry at the very least erred in it’sconclusionand atthe worst co-operated in a government cover up. Here is the evidence the Widgery Inquiry didn’t consider. The civil rights march planned to march from Creggan through the Bogside to the Guildhall Square. Both wings of the IRA had been told by the march organizers that, there were to be no guns brought on the march. The IRA agreed and in fact, realizing that the Creggan would be virtually void of people during and vulnerable to Britishinvasionand armssearches,stayed behind. to protect their stronghold. British Army Land Commander Ford knew this and device a plan to draw them out into the Rossville Street area, which was amore favorable urban battleground for the British troops. His plan, assisted by Colonel Maurice Tugwell ( asenior operations officerin Derry)and Lt.Colonel Derek Wilford of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, was to use the civilians in the march that day as bait. The march ecountered barricades in Williams street and retreated from the riot police. At 3:40 pm , as the crowd retreated a British arm sharpshooter used his vantage point to fire upon twomarcherson the fringe of thecrowd. Hehitan old mananda boy in thelegsand one of them was furthered injured by ricochet. Ricocheting bullets at targets is not an uncommon practice for British troopsin Northern Ireland as it makes ballisticID very difficult . Land Commander Ford anticipated that this would be enough to provoke the IRA forward to engage Wilford’s Para’s who were prepared to attack. The IRA never received word until it was over. The march back to the Creggan was too far on foot and contrary to Ford’s suspicion’s there weren’t even a few armed IRA volunteers in the crowd. Ford hadallowed twenty minutes for the IRA the Other Press March 17, 1992 Bloody Sunde Evidence the Widgen full of Wilford’s paras roared into the fleeing civilians. The Parasdeployedin military precision and preceded to follow Land Commander Ford’s edict of shooting any male of military age. All thirteen civilians to die that day were men and only one was notof military age. He was one year old. Only 120 yards from kneeling soldiers, Michael Kelly met the first fusillade of bullets, and God, shortly past 4 pm that day. The combination of live rounds and rubber bullets being fired produced a “mingling sound”. As a result only those futilely trying to help Michael knew he had been hit. The second fusillade hit three boys standing next to him. They never knew they were under fire. All were aged 17. “Tt was like in that film ‘Soldier Blue’ , where this boy’s face suddenly disintegrated. Well , Barney McGuigan came out with his hands raised in supplication and the next thing half his face disappeared.” were the words Barry Liddy ,a British Army war veteran, used to describe the shooting of Barney Mc Guigan as Mc Guigan ran to help a young boy dying from gunshotwounds. Barry Liddy was sheltering a priestat the time and had jusi pulled a young girl from the paras line of fire. Pictures in the newspaper “The Sunday, Independent” show Liddy holding a white handkerchief. Itwouldbeshotfromhis hands as he attempted to get Father Bradley to the barricades where people wheredying. The Paras had sent a message. No Mercy, No Surrender. Bernard Gilmour would watch as “half the flesh on the lower part of [a] boy’s back came away in the blast” as a para would shoot a young boy at point blank range. A boxer who lived in the flats engaged the troops with his fists. Even his skilled fists were no match for the butts of the paras rifles. Just atthe moment they had subdued him his life was spared. The paras who had just smashed the boxer into the ground were distracted briefly by a young boy : who had seen them shoot at Father Mulvey , one of themany priests on themarch that day. The boy shouted “Shoot me but don’t shoot the priest”. The paras obliged and shot him through the leg. One of the most horrific events that day can Y onlybe politely described as sadistically cruel. The circumstances surrounding the death of Mickey McDaid are so nightmarish they would behard tobelieveifnotfor the factit was witnessed by several differentindividuals including priests, the Head of The Knights of Malta and an ITV film crew. John Begley was the first to see the apprehension of McDaid. As he lay in the street , taking what little cover he could heshouted to the man behind him that they had “got young Mickey McDaid” The mother of Michael Kelly, the first boy to die that day, watched through a window which had been blown out by a soldier that had fired on her sister. She watched as McDaid and twootherboys being forced into a Saracen carrier. An ITV film crew would show this footage and Margaret McDaid would wrongly conclude her brother was safe. The paras fired CS gas inside the carrier. The British military’s knowledge of the effects of CS gas was not limited.CS gas had been “tested” on humanbeingsin Vietnamand Cyprus. The British Government replaced the use of tear gas with the use of CS gas knowing , as their report on CS stated, that “ a concentration of between one part in ten million and one part in a million is enough to drive all but the most determined person out of the area.” Clearly, the concentration inside the carrier would have far exceeded that concentration. All British troops who use CS are well aware CS gas produces “extreme burning sensation of the eyes and copious flow oftears; coughing, difficult breathing and chest tightness;involuntary closing of the eyes plus sinus and nasal drip; nausea and vomiting”. Given it’s effects and it’s extreme concentration inside the carrier, it came as no surprise when Mc Daidandoneofthe others stumbled out of the carrier. The lastboy was slow to come out of the carrier but bolted for safety .He (Lae never made it. Y All three were : uF lined up facing a Sea wall and shot in the back, for attempting to escape. They were then dumped in a pile in the back of the carrier and as the carrier drove away McDaid’s body fell out. The driver didn’t even stop. He would drive all the way to the barricades and pause before hereturned toretrieve McDaid. Awitness to thiseventran to get Father Irwin. She insisted that there were three boys in the back of the carrier and despite the insistence of a soldier that there weren’t any boys in the carrier Father Irwin ran past the para.