'No plan' to tempt IRA - general

'No plan' to tempt IRA - general

Sir Mike was a captain in the Parachute Regiment at the time

Army chief General Sir Mike Jackson has told the Saville Inquiry that there was no plan to tempt the IRA into a gun battle on Bloody Sunday.

General Jackson, 59, has suspended commanding British forces in the war in Iraq in order to attend the Bloody Sunday inquiry.

He was a captain in the Parachute Regiment at the time of Bloody Sunday and was adjutant to its 1st Battalion.

The tribunal has agreed that depending on the situation in Iraq, General Jackson can withdraw from the witness box at very short notice.

GEN JACKSON'S EVIDENCE

Army not trying to tempt IRA into gun battle

Jackson believed he was being shot at

Arrest operation not used to teach IRA a lesson

There was expectation of IRA activity

Army did not deliberately set out to shoot people

Paratroops intended to arrest as many rioters as possible

The Saville Inquiry is examining the events of 30 January 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by soldiers during a civil rights march in Londonderry. Another man died later from his injuries.

General Jackson was in Derry with 1 Para's commanding officer Colonel Derek Wilford as the paratroops entered the Bogside to arrest rioters.

Christopher Clarke QC, counsel for the inquiry, asked him on Monday whether tempting the IRA into a fight on Bloody Sunday was any part of the operation.

General Jackson replied firmly: "No."

All around me the soldiers that I saw had the postures of men who were under fire, who had been under fire or thought they were going to be killed

General Sir Mike Jackson

General Jackson said that he believed he was being shot at.

He had been at a look-out post behind Barrier 12 with Colonel Wilford near the Presbyterian Church.

General Jackson said that he "ran like fury" across the waste ground with Colonel Wilford, who wanted to get among the paratroops to see what was happening.

General Jackson said in his inquiry statement: "As I sprinted across the waste ground, I had an absolutely firm impression that I was being shot at.

"What I thought was 'some bugger is firing at me'.

"I could hear the crack of incoming rounds but cannot describe this further or distinguish it in my memory now from the noise that was all around. I did not see the strike of rounds.

"All around me the soldiers that I saw had the postures of men who were under fire, who had been under fire or thought they were going to be killed."

Pincer

General Jackson was a captain in 1972, and said he did not know how, when or at what level the decision to deploy 1 Para was made.

However, he said he was "quite clear" that the arrest operation was not being used as an opportunity to teach a lesson to the IRA.

We believed there would be a reaction out of the IRA because we would be 'invading their turf' when going in for the arrest operation.

General Sir Mike Jackson

He said there was an "increasing sense of confrontation and lawlessness", in Northern Ireland at the time, and civil rights marches were "frequent and confrontational".

He said that security forces believed that their presence in the Bogside area would spark a reaction from the IRA, "because we would be 'invading their turf' when going in for the arrest operation. We therefore had an expectation of IRA activity".

General Jackson rejected suggestions that the Army had deliberately tried to shoot people.

A memo from General Sir Robert Ford, the Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland, three weeks before Bloody Sunday, said the best way to help maintain law and order was to "shoot selected ringleaders" of the Bogside's stone-throwing rioters.

General Jackson said: "People should be careful not to make a ridiculous jump from a memorandum like that to an allegation that there was a deliberate policy to shoot people."

He said an instruction to kill would have been reflected by a written order, and it would be "absurd" to suggest that a "secret oral instruction" would take precedence over written orders.

Administration

General Jackson said that paratroops intended to arrest as many rioters as possible on the day.

He said logs of orders were often incomplete and inaccurate and were not intended to be legal statements.

General Jackson's duties at the time of Bloody Sunday were involved with administration.

Inquiry is being held at the Methodist Central Hall in London

However, he joined Colonel Wilford and Major Ted Loden, a company commander, on the ground, once the operation began.

Last week, Colonel Wilford rejected a suggestion that his men shot at anybody who moved in the Bogside area of Derry.

The inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.

Lord Saville of Newdigate and the commonwealth judges accompanying him on the Bloody Sunday inquiry began their work nearly four years ago.

They are not expected to report back until 2004.

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.