02-05-2014, 12:47 PM
Quote:http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014...mcconvilleBrendan Hughes: the IRA veteran who pointed the finger at Gerry Adams
Before his death in 2008, former friend claimed Sinn Féin leader ordered death of Jean McConville
- Henry McDonald
- The Guardian, Friday 2 May 2014 07.06 AEST
Gerry Adams, right, helps carry the coffin of Brendan Hughes in west Belfast in 2008. Photograph: Peter Morrison/ap
Brendan "The Dark" Hughes was a legend within the IRA, rising to become the Provisionals' Belfast commander and leading the first hunger strike for political status in the Maze in 1980.
Once a close friend of Gerry Adams, he spent time in jail with the future Sinn Féin leader after the pair were interned in 1971.
The Falls Road republican who once sported a Sancho Panza moustache and swarthy complexion came out of prison a disillusioned man and became a bitter opponent of Sinn Féin's peace strategy, believing it would not deliver a united Ireland.
Before his death in 2008, Hughes gave an interview to the Boston College-Belfast Project history archive detailing his life in the IRA.
On tape he claimed his former friend Adams had ordered the death and disappearance of Jean McConville.
Hughes' testimony against the man he once shared a prison compound with in Long Kesh remains among the most damning of Adams. The Sinn Féin has always denied the claims.
Although cynical about the direction Sinn Féin took after the 1994 IRA ceasefire, Hughes was not personally in favour of a return to "armed struggle".
He also played a key part in preventing a shooting war between the IRA and the anti-ceasefire Real IRA in October 2000.
The IRA had shot dead dissident republican Joe O'Connor in west Belfast after a dispute in the Ballymurphy area. To prevent further bloodshed, Hughes used his influence and the respect he commanded among younger Real IRA members at O'Connor's funeral to persuade them to avoid getting into a murderous feud.
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"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.