Customer Reviews

Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland (History of Ireland & the Irish Diaspora)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wish I could give this book 6 or 7 stars, it's simply explosive, even revelatory.

Stakeknife is coauthored by Martin Ingram, the pseudonym of a former case officer from an ultra-secret British military intelligence unit referred to as "FRU," for "Force Research Unit," who describes how Britain in it's decades long dirty war with the IRA gave it's agents literally a license to kill.

Many spy novelists make too much use of the spying as chess analogy, however in the case of FRU's most prized agent Fred "Scap" Scappaticci this notion is most apt. He was the executive officer (XO) of the IRA's counter-intelligence unit or "knutting squad," as it was responsible for "knutting" or putting bullets into the heads of suspected informants. And it was in this position that his case officer's at FRU allowed him to abduct, brutally torture, interrogate, and execute upwards of 50 other informants of lessor importance than himself, to build his credentials and keep him in place. In addition, to using Scap as the head witch hunter in divisive mole hunts that helped demoralize the organization by feeding paranoia to the paranoid, his other duties included vetting all new recruits to the IRA which meant that the IRA ceased to be a secret organization.

Stakeknife is also the story of FRU agent Brian Nelson, who as the head of intelligence for a Protestant terror group at war with the IRA was given intelligence dossier's by his FRU handlers that he used to brief hit teams who then assassinated IRA member's. This "collusion," a type of state sponsored terrorism, previously unheard of in a western democracy demonstrates that the British government was not above using tactics previously thought to be the lone preserve of totalitarian dictatorships and central American death squads.

Although British military intelligence broke the law by giving criminals like Fred Scappaticci and Brian Nelson literally a license to kill, FRU's actions certainly weakened the IRA militarily, and dissuaded it from it's stated goal of a united Ireland through force of arms, and thus brought about the Good Friday agreement and a cessation of hostilities.

Other reviewers have been very critical of this work, citing the author's lack of impartiality on the topic. I found the work to be well written and intriguing to say the least. I have long been interested in the "Informant War" waged between the IRA and the British intelligence and this book is an important part of that history. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the work was the detailed look at the IRA's "Nutting Squad" (because they put a bullet through an informer's head or "nut" after interrogating them). To date, this is the most relevant work about the Nutting Squad and its deputy commander, Alfredo Scappaticci or codename "Stakeknife", who the author of this book convincingly exposes as an agent for the British. If you want to learn about the intelligence war that raged hot between the competing factions of The Troubles, and specifically the IRA's efforts to squash informants in it sranks...this is the book. I learned a lot from it.

This provides a detailed,fantastic portrayal of intelligence operations conducted by the British Army in Northern Ireland .It shows the brilliance of British Intelligence in recruiting and preserving a mole at the highest ranking level within the IRA.It details the skill and the disturbing moral questions in doing so.It also describes the skill and ruthlessness of the IRA.The one problem with this book ,is that it does not list any evidence to back up its main theme and various allegations,we can only infer that it is credible,so becuase of the way that Scappaticci was exposed oto the British media

Martin Ingram is the pseudonym of a former member of the Force Research Unit of British Intelligence. His coauthor is a journalist. Ingram, who was the insider, provides most of the information about British activities.

Ingram spent quite a few years in Northern Ireland. He took part in the events he decries. He appears to have decided that what he and his fellows did was wrong regardless of its success for moral reasons. He seems to think they should be punished but because he is a whistleblower, he should be let off the hook instead of facing charges for violating the agreements he made to keep the secrets he knew.

Ingram and others like him were ultimately successful because they were willing to do things the IRA never thought they would. By taking advantage of the preconceptions of their enemies, the FRU and other intelligence groups were able to infiltrate the IRA and destabilize it from the inside. This book tells that story. It would be worth five stars if it weren't for both authors attempts to play on morality.

This is an interesting book, that shows the cunning and skill of both British Intelligence and the IRA. The first part of the book examines how in the late 1980's, British Intelligence (MI5) was frustrated by thier inability to defeat or even weaken the IRA. British Intelligence decided to work with the Army to recruit Loyalist terrorists as a "secret army" against the IRA. As the book shows this idea backfired with horrendous consequences. the plan fell apart when The amateurish UDA and UVF members recruited by MI5, proceeded to kill only a few IRA/Sinn Fein members while killing dozens of innocent civillians. The book looks at how the IRA responded with a vicious assassination campaign of thier own against the UDA and UVF, which led to the deaths of dozens of Loyalists and many civillians who were caught in the crossfire.

The second part of the book deals with a top level IRA "Internal Intelligence" man named Freddie Scapaticci, who was recruited by the British Army in the 1980's. The book explains how this was done, and how other people within the IRA were recruited. The book also shows the other side of the intelligence war, focusing on the IRA's ability to root out and kill many top level informers, while missing a few like Scappaticci. The author also points out that the cell structure of the IRA, allowed for even high level spies like Scappatici to do only moderate harm to the overall organization. It is a good book about the tactics and skill used by both Britian and the IRA during the tragic conflict in Northern Ireland.

I've read better written books, but what made this one hard to read was not being familiar with the situation in Northern Ireland. It took me half the book to finally figure out which groups were Protestant and which were Catholic - I couldn't tell the players without a program!

Britain spent a lot of intelligence resources to penetrate not only the IRA but also the loyalist groups. As to Stakeknife in particular, it didn't matter how many innocent people, including British soldiers, civilians or other agents were murdered as long as their well positioned asset in IRA Internal Security was safe. The British used their informants, and when they were through, just discarded or abandoned them, most usually leading to their deaths.

It is interesting that Martin Ingram is one of the few intelligence operatives who believes the end does not justify the means. I'm sure one of the main reasons for that is the intelligence organizations usually identify this type early and don't put them in the system.

This book is worth reading just for the individual stories alone.

This book could have been great, sadly it was written by a self agrandizing propogandist, who is obviously trying to cover up the massive failings of the British Army against the IRA.

The book details one of the few members of the IRA (Freddie Scappatici) who British intelligence actually managed to turn into an informant against the IRA, (According to military analysts, some 70% of IRA informers were exposed and executed by the IRA's Internal Securities Units).

Scappatici (code name: Stakeknife) was the second in command of an IRA Internal Securities Unit, but made a habit of playing both sides of the field. According to the book, he passed information about IRA operations to British Intelligence, but also killed IRA informers, British Soldiers and Loyalist paramilitaries at the same time.

The British and Irish Governments have disputed much of what is in the book, even though it tends to be "Pro British", one should consider that when thinking of buying it. The writer of the book goes by the name Martin Ingram (a false identity). He is supposedly a former British Army intelligence agent, but this claim has been disputed by the British Army and MI5. The book deatils "Stakeknifes" contrabutions to helping Britian finally get a handle on the IRA in the early 1990's, but also admits that the IRA's infamous "cell structure", allowed it to continue highly successful operations, including the extensive bombing of British economic sites from 1990-1997. In the end the book admits that the British Army and Loyalist Paramilitaries were unable to defeat or substantially degrade the IRA's military capability, thus leading to the Irish peace accords of the late 90's, and the GFA agreement in 1999.

The book isn't horrible, but it could have been much better in the hands of a credible author.