Unit linked to scandals may be in Iraq

Thursday, February 22, 2007
 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2294205.ece
By Chris Thornton

Questions have been tabled in Parliament about reports that the shadowy Army unit linked to Troubles intelligence scandals is now operating in Iraq.

The Joint Services Group (JSG), which allegedly operates out of Baghdad's Green Zone, is said to be the new name for the Force Research Unit (FRU) - the Army outfit that ran notorious agents like Brian Nelson and IRA mole Stakeknife.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan has demanded answers from the Ministry of Defence about the group's reported operations in Iraq. His party has called for their withdrawal from that country.

The JSG is alleged to be running Iraqi agents using techniques learned in Northern Ireland, where FRU ran key informers inside the IRA and loyalist groups - but may have allowed them to get away with murder in order to preserve their cover.

SDLP justice spokesman Alban Maginness said the unit "will only make it worse" for the people of Iraq if they operate in the same way that they did in Northern Ireland.

FRU's work with Nelson, a UDA intelligence officer, was exposed when he was jailed for conspiracy to murder. But full details of his work, including links to the murder of solicitor Patrick Finucane, have never been fully explained.

The Army unit also operated the IRA agent known as Stakeknife. He is alleged to have operated within the IRA's internal security department, which involved him in the deaths of alleged informers.

Four years ago, up to two dozen members of FRU were named in criminal investigation files sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions by Lord Stevens, the head of the Stevens Inquiry. No public action has been taken on those

In his 2003 report, Lord Stevens said collusion had taken place involving members of FRU and loyalist and republican paramilitaries.

The unit is said to have been renamed as the JSG in the wake of that report.

Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the JSG is said to have operated exclusively in Northern Ireland. But as terrorist units spread throughout Iraq, it was deployed to develop intelligence gathering.

British defence sources are reported to have claimed the group has saved hundreds of lives, prevented suicide bombings and gathered intelligence that helped coalition forces kill Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, last year.

But Mr Maginness said the unit has "never been called to account for their actions" in Northern Ireland.

"The FRU has been involved in murder and mayhem in the North," he said.