THE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY: The Chief of Staff of the British defence forces is to give evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in London next Monday.
Gen Sir Michael Jackson, the most senior soldier in the British army, confirmed to inquiry officials yesterday that, subject to developments in the Gulf war, he would give his evidence about the killing of 13 unarmed civilians and the wounding of 13 others in Derry in January 1972, next Monday.
"We are expecting Gen Sir Michael Jackson on Monday of next week", an inquiry spokesman said. "It is a date that was set and agreed some time ago. We offered him that date and he accepted it, but because of what is going on in the Gulf, he may have to cancel at short notice and we appreciate that. "
On Bloody Sunday, Gen Sir Michael Jackson was unit press officer and a captain in the 1st Battalion of the parachute regiment and adjutant to Lt Col Derek Wilford, the regiment's commanding officer, who is currently giving evidence.
Soldiers from the regiment opened fire on marchers taking part in an illegal parade in Derry's Bogside.
Sir Michael, (59), began his army career learning Russian in the Intelligence Corps. He commanded NATO's Rapid Reaction Corps during the Macedonian conflict and was commander of the UN's Implementation Force in Bosnia in the mid 1990s. He also commanded the British K-force command in Kosovo.
In a 77 paragraph statement which he submitted to the inquiry in March 2000, Sir Michael described himself as "a young sprog" in the parachute regiment and said that on Bloody Sunday he believed there would be a reaction from the IRA because paratroopers would be "invading their turf".
His statement says that the IRA were very good at ambushes.
"It was a fundamental principle that we had to be prepared to be attacked at any time. We certainly did not use the arrest operation as an opportunity to 'teach the IRA a lesson or anything like that'. I want to be quite clear about that. Such theories are absurd", he added.
He said that his commanding officer Lt Col Wilford, whom he described as "impatient", shouted at him "get back from that window you bloody fool, you will be shot" when he tried to get a better view of the Bogside prior to the march.
Sir Michael says that when the paratroopers were deployed into the Bogside it "became almost immediately apparent that they had become involved in a firefight" and he said the paratroopers would not have opened fire if they had not been fired at.
"As I sprinted across wasteground I had an absolutely firm impression that I was being shot at. What I thought was 'some bugger is firing at me'. I could hear the crack of incoming rounds but cannot describe this further or distinguish it in my memory now from the noise that was all around", he said.
"All around me the soldiers that I saw had the postures of men who were under fire, who had been under fire or thought they were going to be killed."