The Irish American Law Association of Georgetown University and the Irish American Unity Conference, a lobbying organisation on the Irish question, heard a panel of experts discuss the Northern Ireland peace process in Washington this week.
The moderator was Prof Sam Dash, who was invited by the British Civil Liberties Association to examine the evidence and findings of the Widgery Commission on what happened in Derry on Bloody Sunday in January 1972 when British troops opened fire on civil rights marchers and killed 13. Another died of his wounds later.
Prof Dash is director of the Institute of Criminal Law and Procedure at Georgetown University. He has a doctorate of law from Harvard Law School and was staff director of the Watergate Committee in 1973-1974. He was an independent ethics counsel on the investigation of President Clinton in the Whitewater, Arkansas affair. He is on the board of directors of the International League for Human Rights, a consultative body for the UN. Under its auspices, he investigated the British army's role and responsibility for Bloody Sunday. The British government compensated the families of the dead and wounded and agreed to set up the recently opened Saville inquiry into the killings.
Edward Joyce, president of the Georgetown Law Irish American Association, introduced Prof Dash. Peter Smyth, a member of the panel, directs the Northern Ireland bureau at the British embassy in Washington. He worked on the Northern Ireland Fair Employment Act in the 1980s. Anne Smith, also a panel member, is the North America representative of the Ulster Unionist Party and monitors US Congressional activities on Northern Ireland. Tom Russell, deputy chief of mission at the Irish Embassy, was director general of the International Fund for Ireland for four years.
The Irish American Unity Conference is headed by Judge Andrew Somers (retired), who was an assistant attorney general in Wisconsin for 16 years. Judge Somers says his organisation is working for peace in Ireland and "the civil rights of all in a sovereign and independent [Irish] nation".
Other speakers included Richard Harvey, chairman of the UN Committee of the Brehon Law Society. A 1970 Cambridge graduate, he received his law degree from the Inns of Court School of Law in 1971. He campaigned for a judicial inquiry into the Rosemary Nelson murder. He has served as US counsel to the ANC.
John Healy, executive director of Amnesty International USA, who worked for the US Peace Corps in Lesotho, South Africa, also spoke. He was a Franciscan priest in Maryland for three years, 1966-1969.
Conor Murphy, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Armagh, is a leading member of Sinn Fein and a onetime H-Blocks prisoner. He conducts a project for ex-prisoners.
Richard Norland, director of European affairs for the US National Security Council, served in Dublin as political counsellor from 1995 to 1998. He was a political officer at the US embassy in Moscow in 19881990.
Dr Dash hailed the Georgetown meeting as significant because all parties in Northern Ireland, including Sinn Fein, were represented. "Imagine if we could have them at the peace table," he remarked. "In South Africa, a minority government armed to the teeth gave up to Nelson Mandela."
He added: "In 1972, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Derry, in the Bogside, almost the entire Catholic community went on a peaceful march against internment. The IRA stayed away. The day ended with British paratroopers killing 13. The International League of Human Rights asked me to go to Derry and talk to the families. I recommended they talk to the investigators and I published Justice Denied.
"[Lord] Widgery exonerated the soldiers and gave no credence to the people of the Bogside. The Irish Government in 1997 had the courage to reproduce the evidence. That caused Tony Blair to reopen the hearings . . . The people of Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics, wanted the peace process to work."
The audience of students sat in fascinated silence as the disciplined discussion, which was confined to the experts on the dais, and was directed by Dr Dash, continued. Apparently audience participation was barred by the organisers. There were a few heated moments on the dais, but they passed as the panel members controlled their emotions in spite of their political allegiances.