Thursday, 27 August, 1998 by Christy Ward (for the Irish People) It was 27 years ago this August when the then Stormont government implemented internment without trial in an attempt to shut down those in the nationalist community who were leading the march to a changed Ireland. Internment was a knee-jerk response that failed in 1971, and it would fail today. In the early hours of August 9th, hundreds of men were rounded up and thrown into prison camps, without charge or trial. Many were in their teens; some past 70. All were from the nationalist community and had suffered greatly under the Stormont regime that was subsequently closed down by the British. Internment was an effort to break the back of the reborn IRA that had grown by leaps and bounds after Unionists had systematically burned Catholics out of their homes across the North. Thousands of Catholics, in fear-driven caravans, had fled the six counties for the safety of border towns. They had lived under a Belfast government that had declared itself "a Protestant Parliament for a Protestant people" -- a government that included not one Catholic. Beyond discrimination in housing and employment, Catholics saw themselves as targets of a bigoted establishment that ran "Northern Ireland." They witnessed the Royal Ulster Constabulary assault peaceful protesters during civil-rights marches and watched as RUC men stood by inert as Protestants burned Catholic homes and businesses. There was not one shred of evidence that a Catholic could get a fair shake in the North. Then came internment. The key to understanding internment is that phrase often omitted by those who support it. "Internment" would be nothing if it were not "internment without trial." Hundreds were lifted and herded into cages -- as in Long Kesh -- on the say of a single member of the RUC, that same force that stood by while nationalist homes were burned to the ground. Some have called for the reinstitution of internment without trial. They should recall that by and large the men who were lifted on August 9, 1971, were innocent of any involvement with the IRA. In fact, the IRA was barely scratched. Its leaders and Volunteers went to ground well before the assault on the nationalist community. Some say the climate has changed and that selective internment will work North and South. They say intelligence is better and that all the bad guys are known. If that's the case, why use special laws? Why not arrest them on one of the vast number of charges that already exist? The danger of internment to civil liberties can clearly be seen in an incident that occurred back in February of this year. Not only did it affect the lives of three young Catholics from West Belfast, but it nearly wrecked the peace process. On the word of chief RUC man Ronnie Flanagan, three young men were arrested and jailed without charge after a killing in Belfast. The three were lifted as they repaired an automobile near Twinbrook. The IRA was on cease-fire and Sinn Fein was in the talks. The RUC claimed the men were IRA and responsible. The men denied it through their attorney, but they ended up in Long Kesh anyway. Flanagan claimed he had proof that the IRA had committed the killing and that these were the men. Sinn Fein was punished for a violation of the cease-fire (despite the fact that Sinn Fein is a legal political party and not a combatant group): The British expelled Sinn Fein from the talks. About a week ago, the three were released, having spent six months in prison without ever being charged with a crime. They went to court repeatedly to ask the RUC to produce the evidence. That never happened. Now these men must put their lives back together, and they'll not likely receive compensation -- because they were never charged. Finding a job is difficult enough for any young Catholic man from West Belfast; it's near impossible if he has spent six months in the Kesh. So here lies the great fallacy. First, internment is not needed because the RUC can already lift anyone it likes without due process. The word of a single RUC man (or Garda in the South) is sufficient for arrest. Second, more often than not, those arrested are not members of any proscribed organization, and some might argue that interning young men results only in driving them to proscribed groups. Thirdly, internment has always been used exclusively against the Catholic community -- never against those who support British rule in the North. No one suggested internment without trial after the three Quinn brothers were murdered in cold blood during the Protestant Drumcree Church orgy last month. There is also plenty of real evidence that the system can be manipulated. Just mention the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, the Maguire family -- and injustice springs to mind. Sadly, David Trimble, the new "First Minister" in the North, and Seamus Mallon, his deputy, looked first to London and Dublin to deal with the devastating bomb in Omagh. Perhaps what they should do is call the new Assembly to order a week early and work with Sinn Fein and others to tackle this problem by implementing the changes set out in the Good Friday Document, including a police force that is acceptable to both communities in the North. At some point in the coming weeks, Trimble will have to talk with the Sinn Fein members elected to the Assembly. He can't avoid it. What he can avoid is a repeat of history's failed policies that caused more harm than good. But he has to have courage and desire change, two words often uttered but rarely acted upon in Ireland.