British Army assessment of Irish operations released by Pat Finucane Centre

A statement from the Pat Finucane Centre released on 6th July 2007 reveals its discovery of a document outlining the British military view of its own role, function, successes and failures in the north of Ireland from 1969 to 2006.

The PFC statement says, "The document, Operation Banner - An Analysis of Military Operations in Northern Ireland, offers an unprecedented and deeply worrying insight into the thinking of senior military officers and civil servants at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. Above all the document betrays a profoundly colonial mindset towards the conflict here and those involved in it. From the perspective of Whitehall the rolling hills of Tyrone and Armagh might as well have been the Hindu Kush a century ago."

The statement in particular notes "Loyalist violence and the links between loyalist paramilitaries and the state has been airbrushed out of this military history," in the paper prepared under the then Direction of the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Mike Jackson (pictured) who drew up the notorious 'shot list' in the hours after Bloody Sunday.

BBC coverage draws out the papers assessment that the IRA acted professionally, saying it was "a professional, dedicated, highly skilled and resilient force", while loyalist paramilitaries and other republican groups are described as "little more than a collection of gangsters".

The Pat Finucane Centre also stated "It is clear that the document was not intended to be put in the public domain. We are making it temporarily available on our website in case the MoD attempts to restrict access." The document can be seen here.