The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students'at the
University of Michigan
Wednesday, July 16, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
Equal justice for some...
HARDLY A WHISPER of establishment protest was
heard as the trial of Joan Little, accused of murder-
ing the jailer who allegedly attempted to rape her, be-
gan two days ago In Raleigh, N.C.
But, in light of the apathy which surrounded the
rape-related murder conviction of Inez Garcia, it is only
appalling and not surprising that the establishment has
not rocked the nation with demonstrations in support
of the two molested women.
The accepted notion, which pervades the so-called
well-educated echelons in this country, that if you are
innocent or justified in your actions, you will not go to
prison, has been proven false in case after case. Garcia
who shot her accused rapist is one of the most striking
examples of this injustice.
ITTLE is apt to be the next example of this injustice.
Because she killed her jailer and escaped. However,
she was arrested only after turned herself in.
- Moreover, the dead officer was found in Little's cell,
amidst her strewn cloths, with his pants down and what
appeared to be seman stains on his trousers.
THE TIME HAS COME- for the establishment to accept
reality, accept its responsibility and uproot the re-
curring inequities of the legal system.
The courts must not be allowed to shove Joan Little
as they did Inez Garcia. The right of self-defense for a
black woman being raped by a white man must be pro-
tected. But until law enforcement officials prove their
willingness to improve and enforce the rape laws, the
people must voice their dissent.
FBI: What else is new?
lXTRA-CURRICULAR burglary, wiretapping, and sabo-
tage by governmental agencies under the time-
honored guise of national security Is hardly a revela-
tion in this post-Watergate political climate. Thus, FBI
Director Clarence Kelley's disclosure on Monday of his
bureau's consistent program of illegal break-ins con-
ducted since the end of World War Two brings no sur-
prise - only anger at the latest demonstration of the
federal government's willingness to condone the blatant
abuse of power by its law enforcement and intelligence
agencies.
Compounding the offense is Kelley's incredible off-
handedness about the entire matter. While contending
that none of the break-ins have occurred during his
tenure as bureau director, Kelley announced he did not
"note in these activities any gross abuse of authority
... or a corruption of the trust that was placed in us."
Corruption indeed.
IT IS POSSIBLE that a congressional investigation
along the lines of the Church committee's probe of
the Central Intelligence Agency may be long overdue.
If Mr. Kelley truly feels that surreptitious entry is in the
national interest, maybe it is time to ask whether the
existence of the FBI as presently constituted is also in
that same interest.
Editorial Staff
JEFF SORENSEN
Editor
PAUL HASKINS
Editorial Director
BETH NIssiN.. .. .... Editorial Page Asst.
JO MARCOTTY .. ............................Night Editor
ROB MEACHUM ......... Night Editor
JEFF RISTINE ..........Night Editor
TIM SCHICK .. . . .......................... ........ Night Editor
DAVID WHITING.. ................................... Night Editor
VILL TURQUE ...................... ....... .. Night Editor
ELAINE FLETcHER ....................... M... ..... Ass't. Night Editor
TRUDY GAYER .................................. . Asst. Night Editor
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI ............................... Ass't. Night Editor
PAULINE LUBENS ............... ....................... Ass't. Night Editor
Gray skies,
By RICHARD BOYLE recently kille
'TiHE IRISH Republican Army, intelligencea
in a confidential report ob-Road"found
showed he wa
taed by Pacic New from ist (Protesta
Dublin, warns that the fragile teamswihp
cease-fire may soon break down. with p
The inteligence report issued pected IRA s3
by the Sinn Fein, the political Last month
arm of the IRA, is the strongest aArmy which c
statement since the February testant Action
1975 ceasefire began. It threat- sponsibility f
ings and ass;
ens a full-scale resumption offat But 51R
open war in Northern Ireland. he.Bt
they have e
"No one should doubt that the mttrderes were
Provisional IRA are standing ish mltr
by ready and fully prepared to hmilitaryves
take tip battle agan,'' the memo SINCE 1969
stated. mainly been
Thin time the BritishArmy ish Army, d
could be faced with an IRA British: troops
force of between six and' n in e land.I t five
brigades fully equipped w i t h Crown forces
modern weaponry. This could in combatI
transform what had been small g to a
scalebactions to regular war-February 10
fare by mainline units.
Warning of a further outbreak BetS -5i o
of hostilities unless the British "The B
publicly commit themselves to Th E
withdrawal, the IRA statement IRA force
said that if the British Parlia-
ment is "incapable of making equippedi
the right decision, then the Re- full-Scale
wublican movement will be ready
to take the fight once moreinto Ireland."
their backyard, and this t i m e
there will be no quarter asked fN>55fa.
for, and none given until vic- The U.S. pr
tory so richly deserved is at last most exclusiv
achieved." ious feud bet
THE MEMO is a response to Protestants.I
what the IRA considers 'serious year the two
hretches of the truce" by the ities have be
British. together. In
After the British agreed to year, a grot
release the hundreds- of IRA clergymen, at
men held at Long Kesh and with the IRA
Cr'ltin orisons, "special cate- of Ireland to
gory" political prisoners h e I d ctssed the i
witho-it trial, the IRA high com- There have
mond aereed to halt all offen- meetings betw
sive military operations. B u t officers in a
the British did not release the Europe.
oclitical prisoners, and them- The Loyalis
selves escalated military opera- posed of Prot
tions. of-Scots and
A report from the Terry Bri- Britain centu:
gade stated that in-reased Brit- slate Ireland
sh Army harassment in th e native Irish I
City of Derry Craggan Estate sacre, starva
has placed the shaky truce there exile. Most e
is ,jeopardy, settled in tUls
The IRA intelligence section most province
of the Belfast Brigade w h i c h Despite the
over Ulster
A a British Army
agent on Falls
evidence wtch
as supplying Loyal-
at) assassination
hotographs of, .us-
ympathizers.
a new Loyalist
alls itself the Pro-
Force claimed re-
or several bomb-
ussinations in Bel-
A officers report
vidence that t h e
e planned by Brit-
inteligence opera-
, the. IRA h a s
fighting the Brit-
emanding that all
s get out of Ire-
years of war, 300
have ueen killed
before both sides
bilateral truce on
this rear.
of Loyalists and British fight-
ing against Catholics, mountOng
tensions between the British and
Loyalist armies have resulted ts
several shootouts. At the same
time, there have been secret
meetings between afficers of the
IRA and Loyalist armies.
In 1972, I witnessed a three-
way gun battle between Repub-
lican, Loyalist and British
troops, all blasting away at each
other on Belfast's Shankill Road.
The British Army, which, by
its own admission, has suffered
a bad "kill ratio," losing about
three men in combat for each
IRAsoldier killed, ban had ser-
ious morale problems. Members
of an elite volunteer British par-
atrooper regiment quit when-or-
dered back to Ulster. A Brit h
Army deserter who defected to
the IRA after killing a Protest-
ant militiaman, told IRA intel-
ligence in Dublin that his fellow
ritish Army could be faced with an
of between six and nine brigades fully
with modern weaponry. This threatens
resumption of open war in Northern
mmmmasmanese - , - .m a --w
ess has focused al-
vely on the relig-
ween Catholies and
Yet in the pas t
religious commun-
en cami'.g closer
December, 1 a s t
ap of Protestant
t a zcret meeting
A in the Republic
wn of Feakle, dis-
dea of a truce.
been subsequent
ween IRA and UDA
country outside of
t armies are com-
estant descendants
Brit>ns sent by
ries ago to repop-
where millions of
had died by mas-
ation, and forced
of the Protestants
ster the northern-
of Ireland.
prevalent image
soldiers were losing their will to
fight. It was for these reasons
that the British were willing to
accept the truce when offered
by the IRA earlier this year.
THE PROSPECTS of war in
Northern Ireland, and the spec-
tre of a "second frot ' in Brit-
ain itself, is alarming to the
British Government in the face
of their present economic crisis.
The IRA states its willingness,
in its report, to continue negotia-
tions with both the British and
the Loyalists. The alternative to
an end of the truce, the report
warned, is war - "War is not
a pleasant thought but it is a
possible reality that muat b? fac-
ed."
Richard Boyle is a veteran
combat reporter for N e w
Times and the Pacific News
Service. Copyright, Pacific
News Service, 1975.
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