Bye Bye Operation Banner

[leprechaun]

Over the last few years, as the peace process has bedded down, military engineers have taken bolt-cutters and bulldozers to the highly-visible infrastructure of observation posts, barracks and road blocks which the Army haphazardly created over the 38 years of Operation Banner.

The Army killed 301 people on operations, around half of whom were nothing to do with any paramilitary organisation. And 763 military personnel were killed - many of them murdered in defenceless moments off duty.

Peace - already happily taken for granted in Northern Ireland - will seem a little more permanent and a little more real today but before the last traces of the Army's presence fade as the fields grow back over the old check-points, it is worth reflecting again on the price at which that peace was achieved.

SLÁN - Full Report HERE