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Secret Victory

The Intelligence War That Beat the IRA

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Secret Victory

By: Dr William Matchett
Narrated by: Nick Cracknell
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Summary

Terrorist leaders are not benevolent men inclined to make peace but vicious bullies. The IRA was the Islamic State of its day. Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan are similar wars. In these, an insurgency like the IRA/Sinn Féin mix is the main problem.

A proven solution is the rule of law, where police intelligence dominates because investigative practices fail. The approach - widely misrepresented and commonly misunderstood - devastated the IRA. Some terrorists were killed, most were in prison, many were on the run, and the rest feared the same fate. The IRA was forced into a ceasefire.

Had this been disclosed in promoting the peace, nations would have benefited and lives saved. But the political endgame was botched. Unrepentant insurgents in government tainted security to sanitise their past. IRA leaders became peacemakers. Others contemplating conflict watched. Al-Qaeda was encouraged. New York's twin towers stood tall. Peace had a price.

©2016 William Matchett (P)2017 William Matchett Freedom & Security Political Science Politics & Government United States War & Crisis World National Security War Thought-Provoking United Kingdom
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Critic reviews

"William Matchett's Secret Victory provides a vital case study in counterterrorism at a time the West needs every lesson it can get. It may deal with Ireland, but it provides vital insights into both the value of human intelligence and the limits of force." (Anthony H. Cordesman, Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington D.C.)
All stars
Most relevant
I have been in Belfast recently and have been reading about and thinking about the so called Troubles, and the equally so called Peace Process. Much as it can be argued that Unionist politicians made a mess of running Ulster and sowed the seeds of much grievance there is nothing that remotely justifies the psychopathic violence of the irregular war that was launched by the provisional IRA. The RUC and Special Branch have been treated disgracefully and the version of the conflict that has gained ascendancy since 1998 is, quite simply, wrong. A strange state of affairs. However, if the truth, rather than the sinister fairy tales of Sinn Féin is what you are after, then this is the account for you.

Important, and corrective

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This book is an excellent account of what really happened and how the Government of the time fell for the ruse of the terrorist machine. The professional criminals played them like an old fiddle. Well read and made my commute that bit more interesting. Highly recommended.

The Truth at Last

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being a native of northern ireland and lived through the troubles etc and have some inside knowledge. I found this book is more useful as a reference book for academics rather than a story . found the way it was written it wasn't a story more of a history book you should read in uni or other law enforcement departments. the story teller was not very good very monotone and I found it hard to get excited about the contents and keep attention . in conclusion this book instead a book with a story but more of a reference book for reference and research ,but still interesting .

more reference than story

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A couple of the one star reviews here either come from another side in the conflict or objected to the narrator reading out lists. He only does that in a couple of places and those can be skipped if it really irks, but I listened through it ok. I guess these are just tables in the actual printed copy.

I'm old enough to have lived through all this but only ever saw it via the news. I was interested to hear an insider's view and it was worth listening to. The narrator has a good voice for the listener and there's lots of stuff in here which never made it onto the news / into the public domain - and therefore never to people like me.

If I have a complaint then it does seem a bit longer in places than it needed to be (aside from the lists) and I think that an abridged version could probably hit all the important facts in about half the time, but I stayed with it and I'm pleased that I did.

Worth sticking with

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I have been privileged to know a number of people who played senior roles in the intelligence and military community in "The Troubles", including one at the very centre of its most controversial incident. As a consequence, I have always had an inherent respect for the hard-won success of the security services in "The Troubles". So I listened to this book hoping for an analysis of the approach that was taken and how it led to the undeniable military victory over the IRA and on to the Good Friday Agreement.

I was disappointed.

A minor point, but this is drawn from the author's PhD thesis and there is no harm in that, but it bears the traces of such and as a result lacks some readability. Other reviewers have criticised the lists of murders. which do go on for 10 minutes or more. I have a mixed view. They add little to the narrative, but deserve remembrance.

Where I take exception to this book is at its core purpose; to provide an academic-standard analysis of what, by any standards, was a complex and multi-faceted conflict. He also attempts to draw parallels with Iraq in the post 2003 period. The analysis is weak and scant, but the author shows his hand pretty early on with references to "bleeding heart liberals". His bottom line is that the Special Branch-led approach was effective and everything else failed; it felt like he was saying: "Trust me, I have interviewed SB members and they have told me so".

Having had similar conversations, I know this to be correct, but I am not purporting to write a book on it. But the real issue is the lack of balance and analysis. Anything outside of his core thesis is belittled out-of-hand. The world was much more complicated than that. Further, the peace settlement is portrayed as a cynical betrayal of all that had been achieved. I wonder how many people walk the streets of NI today who would not have had that peace not been forged when it was?

In terms of the parallels with Iraq, the analysis is plainly naive. It clearly scored points for his PhD that he interviewed David Patraeus and learned that Patraeus drew parallels with NI, but to suggest that the Special Branch model bears any relation to Iraq skims (again) across still more vast chasms of complexity. It escapes the author's attention that the armies of 2003 were a foreign force of invasion and occupation to ALL the citizens of Iraq, and that this invasion was a matter of months ago as opposed to centuries (for a minority) in the case of NI.

All in all, a bit of a wasted opportunity to get a thorough, balanced narrative when so many of the architects of victory are fast disappearing.

Flawed history

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