A senior British army officer said it was "mad" to deploy the paratroopers in Derry on Bloody Sunday, it was revealed yesterday.
Maj Gen Peter Welsh made the comment to Sunday Times journalist Peter Taylor 20 years after British paratroopers shot dead 13 men in Derry on January 30th, 1972. Maj Gen Welsh, who was then the Lieut Col commanding the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Green Jackets, was observing the day's events from an army Sioux helicopter.
The shootings were carried out by the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. A week before Bloody Sunday they were caught on camera in violent clashes with civil rights marchers at Magilligan.
Maj Gen Welsh told the Bloody Sunday inquiry, sitting in central London, that he would not have told Brig Pat MacLellan, who headed 8 Brigade and was in charge of the whole operation that day, that he was "mad" to bring the paras to Derry. But he admitted that he used the word when speaking to Mr Taylor.
He told Mr Taylor that it was a madness probably because "I probably had too many drinks", he said.
At Magilligan, the Paras had been "a bit over the top", Maj Gen Welsh told the inquiry, adding that "perhaps they were not the best people". He said: "They were the reserve in Belfast and they had the reputation for being tough and they are tough.
"I suppose because we liked Derry and got on well with the people in Derry, we thought possibly a softer approach might be better." He told the inquiry he was aware that an operation to arrest rioters could be launched on Bloody Sunday, although he was not aware of the exact details.
Separation between peaceful marchers and the rioters was vital but difficult to pinpoint. "In my mind, there was never going to be complete separation because while the crowd moved south, some people would hang back and other people would run and join them."