A SMOKE-SCREEN has been blown intelligeace report which came into the hands of An Phoblacht/Republican News.
The Army is desperately trying to rove that the document accidentlly came into the hands of an ordinary thief. Naturally newspapers have preferred to dwell on this topic rather than what the document actually said.
Their reticence is understandable.
The press projects the official view ol he IRA as criminals with no popula extracts document this public position is very different from the private assessment of British military intelligence.
In examining the membership of the IRA the report says about the men they choose to "Godfathers':
"LEADERSHIP. tially a working class organisation based in the gheito areas of the cities and in the poorer rural areas. Thas it members of the middle class and become more Involved they have to forfeit their life Nevertheless there is a strata rorists ento provide die backbond terrorists who provide the of the organisation.?
imilarly the document goes on to blow up ideas of IRA militants a CRANK AND FILE *RANK Our evidence of calibre of rank and file terrorists does not support the view that they are mindless booligans drawn from the unemployed and unemployable.
ArmI
most portray PIRA is essendeeply TERthe position.
1PIRA now trains and uses its members with some care. The Active Service Units (ASUs) are for the most part manned by terrorists tempered by up to tea years of operational AS AP/RN points out: In not one single sentence does the whole report suggest that the IRA is "criminal' In fact the report goes out of its way to say that it has no evidence that Republicans line their own pockets.
Among the chief conclusions of the The Provisionals' campaien of violence is likely to continue while the British remuin in Northern Ireland. We see little prospect of a political development of the kind which would seriously undermine the Provisionals" We belterothere in little chance nid tron overseas. sources of incore and t The purchase they toy DGOS.
FIRS assortertal Comeste Me Tus posh acos!
Ma-sun 43 - Koc.