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There is somethign very strange about the 'war' waged by the Provisional IRA and the Loyalist Paramilitaries throughout the Troubles in the UK and Irish mainlands, and that is 'coded messages'.

Whenever there is bomb threat by an irish group, be it unionists, or republican, a phone call is made. That phone call is coded. The codes are used as a way of defining genuine threats and hoaxes, they are also used by different groups so that blame can be apportioned correctly.

Of course, this means that MI5 and MI6 must know what the codes mean. These codes are found out through James Bond style espionage, oh no. A trusted communication channel between the terorists and the intelligence services is established, and the codes are passed on.

quote:

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From the Northern Irish Forum Member (names have been ommitted to protect the innocent.

The local radio stations etc. -- and especially the BBC's Belfast news rooms -- receive lists every month of recognised codewords from MI5.

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Last edited by Spooky on 12-12-2001 at 09:14 AM

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Presumably they also do it so that their bombthreats get acted on; they get to cause maximum disruption that way without a bomb being there (like at the Grand National) and if they do want a bomb to cause physical damage they can give difficult to interpret or late warnings.

I am not sure how much it benefits us really, more that it is good for the terrorists. It's not like any bomb threats are really ignorable.

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I presume by difficult to intepret and late warning you are referring to the warning that the RUC got about a week before Omargh and decided not to act upon?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Spooky
I presume by difficult to intepret and late warning you are referring to the warning that the RUC got about a week before Omargh and decided not to act upon?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
That was an intel report I think rather than a warning. The actual warning given allegedly contained the wrong information.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Spooky


thats not what the report published today said, at least according to Sky News (on in background).

As I say, the point is that the coded messages, in a surreal way are funny don't you think?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
Are they saying that there was a warning given with 'ample' time?

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Last edited by Spooky on 12-12-2001 at 12:38 PM

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