Deathly archive

摘要

Truth and justice will inevitably clash when the history of terrorism is concerned. From a police point of view, all such serious crimes must be investigated, using all available evidence. But academics want the historical record enriched, eventually, with as much first-hand testimony as possible. If necessary, this may be gained by promising lifetime secrecy to those who provide it. That was the undertaking given by Boston College when it started collecting interviews from 26 former members of the Irish Republican Army about their paramilitary campaign against British rule. But the Police Service of Northern Ireland wants to examine the material, chiefly because it may shed light on the notorious murder in 1972 of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten children. The ira killed her, believing, almost certainly wrongly, that she was an informer for the British.